ABSTRACT
I remarked in Chapter 2 that qi could be understood as spiritedness, anger and dignity. In Matthews’ Chinese-English Dictionary (1972), “du qi” is translated as “to get in a rage and insist on doing something regardless of the consequences (945).” Although this is very close to what it means, we should further examine its literal meaning and psychological implications. In order to understand the metaphor of gambling, we can look at gambling with playing cards. In such a gamble, money is the stake, and different parties are betting on their cards. What people really care about is how much money they can win. Similarly, in a gamble for qi (spiritedness or dignity), qi is at stake, and people engaged in the game all have stifled qi. They are willing to take all kinds of risks to win qi. When wronged too much, one is likely to set life as a trump card to win one’s qi. This is the rough dynamics of committing suicide by gambling for qi.
