Is "danger" plus "opportunity" equal "crisis" in Chinese?
Is the Chinese symbol crisis made up of "danger" and "opportunity" as is often quoted?
First of all, the Chinese symbol crisis is not one symbol but two.
The symbols for crisis in Chinese are made up of these two words:
They are pronounced wei1 ji1.
wei means "danger; peril".
And ji means "opportunity; crucial point"
So literally wei plus ji equals "danger" plus "oportunity".
However in reality, a crisis is still a dangerous state of affairs - regardless of the language.
Crisis wei ji still means "a situation that has reached an extremely difficult or dangerous point".
However, a dangerous situation can become an opportunity if wei ji becomes zhuan3 ji1.
Zhuan ji means "turn for the better". Zhuan means "turn into". So zhuan ji means "turn into opportunity".
In this sense, the Chinese symbol crisis can mean "opportunity" in a time of "danger".
wei ji is commonly used as in
wei1 ji1 gan3 meaning "sense of crisis" and
wei1 ji1 si4 fu2 meaning "beset with danger; danger lurking in every direction".
