ch’ing Chinese term meaning (1) ‘essence’, ‘essential’; (2) ’emotion’, ‘passions’. Originally, the ch’ing of x was the properties without which x would cease to be the kind of thing that it is. In this sense it contrasts with the nature (hsing) of x: the properties x has if it is a flourishing instance of its kind. By the time of Hsün Tzu, though, ch’ing comes to refer to human emotions or passions. A list of ‘the six emotions’ (liu ch’ing) soon became fairly standard: fondness (hao), dislike (wu), delight (hsi), anger (nu), sadness (ai), and joy (le). B.W.V.N.