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=                            Yin and yang                            =
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                             Introduction
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In Chinese philosophy, yin and yang ( and ;  'yīnyáng', lit.
"dark-bright", "negative-positive") is a concept of dualism in ancient
Chinese philosophy, describing how seemingly opposite or contrary
forces may actually be complementary, interconnected, and
interdependent in the natural world, and how they may give rise to
each other as they interrelate to one another. In Chinese cosmology,
the universe creates itself out of a primary chaos of material energy,
organized into the cycles of Yin and Yang and formed into objects and
lives. Yin is the receptive and Yang the active principle, seen in all
forms of change and difference such as the annual cycle (winter and
summer), the landscape (north-facing shade and south-facing
brightness), sexual coupling (female and male), the formation of both
men and women as characters, and sociopolitical history (disorder and
order).

There are various dynamics in Chinese cosmology. In the cosmology
pertaining to Yin and Yang, the material energy, which this universe
has created itself out of, is also referred to as qi. It is believed
that the organization of qi in this cosmology of Yin and Yang has
formed many things. Included among these forms are humans. Many
natural dualities (such as light and dark, fire and water, expanding
and contracting, and booling and cranking) are thought of as physical
manifestations of the duality symbolized by yin and yang. This duality
lies at the origins of many branches of classical Chinese science and
philosophy, as well as being a primary guideline of traditional
Chinese medicine, and a central principle of different forms of
Chinese martial arts and exercise, such as baguazhang, taijiquan (t'ai
chi), and qigong (Chi Kung), as well as appearing in the pages of the
'I Ching'.

The notion of a duality can be found in many areas, such as
Communities of Practice. The term "dualistic-monism" or dialectical
monism has been coined in an attempt to express this fruitful paradox
of simultaneous unity and duality. Yin and yang can be thought of as
complementary (rather than opposing) forces that interact to form a
dynamic system in which the whole is greater than the assembled parts.
According to this philosophy, everything has both yin and yang aspects
(for instance, shadow cannot exist without light).  Either of the two
major aspects may manifest more strongly in a particular object,
depending on the criterion of the observation. The yin yang (i.e.
taijitu symbol) shows a balance between two opposites with a portion
of the opposite element in each section.

In Taoist metaphysics, distinctions between good and bad, along with
other dichotomous moral judgments, are perceptual, not real; so, the
duality of yin and yang is an indivisible whole. In the ethics of
Confucianism on the other hand, most notably in the philosophy of Dong
Zhongshu ( 2nd century BC), a moral dimension is attached to the idea
of yin and yang.


                          Linguistic aspects
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These Chinese terms 'yin'  or  "shady side" and 'yang'  or  "sunny
side" are linguistically analyzable in terms of Chinese characters,
pronunciations and etymology, meanings, topography, and loanwords.


 Characters
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The Traditional Chinese characters   and  for the words 'yīn' and
'yáng' are both classified as radical-phonetic characters, combining
the semantically significant "mound; hill" radical  or  with the
phonetic indicators 'ying'  and 'yang' . The first phonetic 'yīn'
"cloudy" ideographically combines 'jīn'  "now; present" and 'yún'
"cloud", denoting the " presence of  clouds". The second phonetic
'yáng'  "bright" originally pictured  the "sun" with  "rays coming
down". This phonetic is expanded with the "sun" radical into 'yáng'