I will talk about Korean national flag. (North Korea, a hermit Stalinist totalitarian country, abandoned it and took it's own flag before the Korean war.) The Korean flag, created in the late 19th century, has a lot to do with Taoism and Taichi stuff.
The Korean flag is called Tae-Geuk-Gi /Tae-geuk-ghi/. The last letter Gi means flag. The first two letters Tae-Geuk literally are the same as Taiji in Chinese,
太 (great) 極 (pole).
So, when we say we practice Taiji, or Taichi, we are, or supposed to be, playing with these great poles. The confusion in the name: Chi in Tai-chi means pole, not energy, which is
氣 (energy, life force, pronounced as Ch'i or qi)
It's just a confusion in translating one language to the other. By the way, Qigong, which is
氣功 ( life energy cultivation),
can be called Chi-Gong also. The title of this blog, therefore, naturally contains double meaning, Chi, can be pole or energy. Maybe we can differentiate two words or two practices by writing it as Taiji and Qigong. Don't forget. When you practice Taiji, you are practically waving the Korean flag. ;-) Read more about the Korean flag here.
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