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Writer's pictureMiaw Ler, SIM
Mar 12, 20208 min read

Pain (2): Understanding Pain in the Chinese Culture through the lens of language.

Updated: Mar 19, 2020

“(I) have been thinking a lot about this pain as silent language and it is a helpful concept… What shocked me so much in your set readings, as I was saying to her, is that there seems no questioning of the starting points or 'philosophy' or epistemology of western medicine, which to me should be a starting point of medical anthropology. Otherwise one is just analysing other medical systems as 'symbolic' systems etc, instead of joining a wider search for holistic healing”. – Dr. P, University of Oxford

A warm email response that was given by a lecturer at Oxford University in 2018 after having a short discussion on this idea with him in a pub.


 

I proposed pain as silent language in 2018 in one of the assignments when I was in Oxford. A more concrete idea was shaped only when I was preparing my MSc. dissertation. I did not have the chance to provide a detailed discussion when I was in university, however, this idea has always stayed in my mind. Since well-being and mental health has become my major concern, I initiated #101healthcare project. Through these 101 topics that I am going to discuss throughout the blog, we can achieve the goal of understanding well-being. I have discussed the general idea of pain as a silent language in my previous blog. To delve deeper into the topic, today I am going to discuss pain in a specific culture, which is the Chinese culture through the study of language. It is crucial to compare the widely-used, socially-trained language with this pain language. I will look into the verbal and written language that we are using to express, describe, and explain the pain. I hope that this study might shed some light on how culture shapes and deciphers pain, which can be helpful in understanding how and why we response pain in a very different way. I am aware that I am not trained in the linguistic field, nor specialise in the language, but being a Chinese myself and a trained physician in Chinese Medicine, having spoken and used this language for nearly 30 years allows me to have some insight to this language and the Chinese Culture.


Before studying the Chinese culture through the lens of language, it is important to mention the complexity of Chinese language. It is insane, not to mention that there are many dialects and languages used in China. In this blog, I am going to discuss only the official Chinese language, the Han Language (汉语) that is widely used in their publishing and communication for thousands of years. I am going to study the ontology of Chinese scripts, a theoretical approach I used when I wrote my MSc. dissertation. I am aware that this approach is rather new. No one has yet used this method to discuss pain or death (my MSc. dissertation). Hence, I am hoping that this method can be used and accepted widely, as it is not only a critical way of studying language and the habitus but it is also an aesthetic way of sensing the language and the culture.

So, what is pain? How to describe, express or explain pain? How in the very first place does pain come into shape? How do we actually ‘feel’ pain? Who shapes this pain-memory language? Who is considered a victim of pain and who is not? Where do this pain-memory stay? Where and when is the formation of pain-memory? When to use or not to use this pain-memory language? Why do we have or need pain? These are the basic questions that we should look into when we discuss pain. -- Miaw

What is pain?

To actually give an answer to this, we have to finish answering all the questions mentioned. However, let’s briefly discuss it, by going straight to the Chinese Language. In this language, 疼 (Teng) and 痛 (Tong) are pain. These two characters are the most direct way of translating pain. Why do they have two characters to describe a situation – pain? Let’s study through the ontology of both characters.

  • First, the 疼 (Teng) that has two building blocks 疒(Chuang) sickness + 冬 (Dong) winter. A direct understanding of these two building blocks would be a sickness related to winter or cold. However, this cold has two indications, one is the winter-cold, and another one is the phenomenon of difficulties that they face during the winter season. Due to the scarce resources for food and warmth during wintertime, it is basically a metaphor to describe the pain and hardship that they have to face in this extreme season. Thus, 疼 (Teng) is used in two phenomena, one is during hardship and one is during the time when ones face problems related to a drop in temperature - cold.

  • Next, the 痛 (Tong), which constitutes of 疒(Chuang) sickness +甬(Yong) sewage (there is also the meaning of bell for this word, but in this context, it is more suitable to explain as sewage). Hence, there is a saying, “when there is a blockage, there is pain 不通则痛的意思”.

The similarity that both of the characters have is the 疒 (Chuang) building block. If you are new to this language, the way they construct words is by pictograms and compiling building blocks. Having this 病的部首, 疒(Chuang) blocking block indicates that they are related to sickness or illness. This 疒(Chuang) pictogram is seen as a sickbed, describing a man lying and resting on something because he is in pain or feeling unwell. Thus, it is believed that anything related to sickness or illness would have this 疒(Chuang) building block. However, please be aware that the meaning of sickness or illness is NOT limited to only the biomedical perspective. It is ambiguous to discuss about sickness, illness and disease. I still remember our very first class in Medical anthropology was actually the discussion of the definitions of sickness, illness and disease! It is definitely interesting to look into them, and please remember to stay open-minded! However, due to word and time limitation, I will have to skip that for now.


How to describe, express or explain pain? How in the very first place does pain come into shape? How do we actually ‘feel’ pain?

Pain is rather vague and abstract, it is difficult to describe or explain, like the air.

The famous philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein wrote in his book, the Logico-Tractatus Philosophicus: “The limits of my language mean the limits of my world”.

So, how the Chinese language explains pain? Referring back to these two words:

疼 (Teng), which is a verb 〈动〉 with two meanings:

  1. The unpleasant and painful feelings that might be caused by sickness, agitation, injury, coldness (winter) or any trauma因病、刺激或创伤而起的难受的感觉. E.g. 疼痛。头疼。In addition, I would like to mention this 疼痒, a noun with a direct translation of pain and itchiness. This is very interesting because this combination of two words bring out a very different meaning, first is the sufferings （疾苦）, second is stake and interest（利害、要害）

  2. The aching pain sensation due to the love and appreciation 喜爱，爱惜：疼爱。疼惜。心疼。This is rather peculiar and abstract meaning. I quite love the way how this philosophically constructed understanding in life about love and pain. Thus, in Chinese culture (and maybe others too) that love comes with sacrifices and pain. An aching heart description is quite common in many cultures, but with the context of knowing this language habitus, the love and appreciation hidden behind these words, it is then understandable that the meaning of 心疼(aching Heart) in Chinese Culture is the expression of my love and concern, rather than the pain. The painful love 疼爱 in Chinese Culture context is then easier to be understood as my dearest, whom I have feelings with to provide them my love and sacrifices to.

In short, 疼 (Teng) has explained a rather abstract and philosophical process, a verb of something causing some changes rather than an adjective, a description.


Secondly, 痛 (Tong) which can be a verb, adjective and adverb have quite a few meanings and usages:

Verb 动词:

  1. This first meaning is rather similar to 疼 (Teng), which is The unpleasant and painful feelings that are caused by sickness and injury 因疾病、创伤等而起的难受的感觉. E.g. 头痛、肚子痛、痛风、痛痒。This makes me wonder why do they need two different words to describe the same scenario? Hence, a further explanation is needed.

  2. Emotional sadness悲伤E.g.悲痛。哀痛。痛楚。痛惜。痛不欲生。

  3. Whole-heartedly, enjoyable, deeply and thoroughly尽情地，深切地，彻底地：痛击。痛悼。痛责。痛快。痛改前非。

Adjective形容词

  1. Physical pain, mental suffering and psychological pain 痛苦，身体或精神感到非常难受

  2. Grieved and sorrowful 悲痛、悲伤

  3. Intense sorrow痛切，沉痛恳切。如：痛楚（沉痛）; intense happiness/ delighted 痛快；尽兴; Harsh and bitter, severe 严酷；严厉

Adverb副词

  1. Extremely, deeply or bitterly 极；甚；尽情 如：痛口

  2. Thoroughly彻底地。如：痛毁（彻底毁坏）；痛歼（彻底歼灭）；痛矫（彻底矫正）；痛涤前非（彻底涤除以前所犯的错误）；痛悔（彻底悔恨）

  3. 深切地[deeply]。如：痛疾（深切地憎恨）；痛警（深切地警戒）

In short, 痛 (Tong) has been used in more ways as compared to 疼 (Teng). Through the study of the language habitus and the ontological meaning of this word, it seems that in the Chinese Culture they focus a lot on the flow and continuity, smoothness of everything. It is expressed that when there is a blockage, things will become unpleasant. It can be observed that when there is a blockage or error or discontinuity of something, other things will also be falling out, become stagnant or ill. Vice versa, when there is an error or illness, it can cause blockage and stagnation.


Language habitus and the study of the aesthetic in Chinese scripts on the ontological level are indeed amazing! I wish I have more time to write about them. But this blog will then be extremely long. By that time, I believe it is not just you who would fall asleep, I would also be falling asleep on my keyboard!


So, let me sum up, pain is indeed a very complex, vague, abstract and definitely philosophical phenomenon. Through this study of Chinese Language, we can understand the culture and the way they decipher pain. I love how profound is this language in explaining this universe. The most beautiful thing about these words is the complexity: hardship and love are seen as one. Basically it has the meaning of “you can't make an omelette without breaking eggs” 苦尽甘来. Last but not least, the philosophical teaching of the importance of the free-flow and smoothness, the continuity that plays an important role in life, society and the universe.


In summary, pain is important in life, as it has so much to play in an individual, family and community than one can imagine.

-- Studying pain in the Chinese Culture through the lens of language. Written by Sim Miaw Ler (12th March 2020)



Why do we have pain? Why do we need pain?

  • Pain as a language that could help us in many ways in life.

  • Pain as a treatment form (acupuncture)

  • Pain, the nerve and stimuli (medically understood), which basically acts as a very important defence mechanism

  • Pain, the number that shows on pain detection machine, the statistic (the partial part where you can measure)


No matter where you are, no matter what background you are from, I would love to hear from you. How to express or describe pain in your language/ mother tongue? Leave a comment below and share with us about your story!


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