Chinese word for "crisis"
| Crisis | |||||||||
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| Traditional Chinese | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simplified Chinese | |||||||||
| Hanyu Pinyin | wēijī | ||||||||
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| Transcriptions | |
|---|---|
| Standard Mandarin | |
| Hanyu Pinyin | wēijī |
| Wade–Giles | wei-chi |
The Chinese word for "crisis" (simplified Chinese: ; traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: wēijī) is frequently invoked in Western motivational speaking as being composed of two Chinese characters respectively signifying "danger" and "opportunity". This is, however, largely incorrect, as the primary meaning of the character pronounced jī (simplified Chinese: ; traditional Chinese: ) is not "opportunity".
American linguist Benjamin Zimmer has traced mentions in English of the Chinese term for "crisis" as far as an anonymous editorial in a 1938 journal for missionaries in China. But its use probably gained momentum in the United States after John F. Kennedy employed this trope in speeches in 1959 and 1960:
In the Chinese language, the word "crisis" is composed of two characters,
one representing danger and the other, opportunity.
Referencing the word has since become a staple meme for American business consultants and motivational speakers, as well as gaining popularity in educational institutions, politics and in the popular press. For example, in 2007, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice applied it during Middle East peace talks. Former Vice President Al Gore did so both in testimony before the U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee, in the introduction of An Inconvenient Truth, and in his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance lecture.
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