Chinese Character for Air in Chinese...

宙 means universe, cosmos, or outer space in Chinese, Japanese Kanji, and old Korean Hanja.

This can also mean air or midair depending on context.

In Korean, this can mean eternity in some contexts.

In Japanese, this can also be the female given name Haruka.

空軍 is “Air Force” in Chinese, Japanese Kanji, and old Korean Hanja.

If you're an airman, this could be the title for you.

空氣 means air or atmosphere in Chinese, Japanese Kanji, and old Korean Hanja.

This is an unusual title for an Asian calligraphy wall scroll, but many of our western customers have requested it.

While 空氣 is common in Chinese and Korean Hanja (and ancient Japanese Kanji); please note that in modern Japanese, the second character is written as 気, with slightly fewer strokes. If you want the modern Japanese version, please click on the character to the right. Both versions are understood by native Chinese, Japanese, and many (but not all) Korean people. You should choose the appropriate version based on the intended audience for your calligraphy artwork.

天空 means sky in most contexts but it can also refer to air, space, the heavens, or ether.

風 means wind in Chinese, Japanese Kanji, and old Korean Hanja.

風 can also mean air, breeze, or draft. Used as a metaphor, it can mean style or manner.

See Also:  Kamikaze

愛國者 is the most common way to write patriot in Traditional Chinese and old Korean Hanja.

In another context, this can refer to the MIM-104 Patriot surface-to-air missile.

This literally translates as “love [of] country person.”

查拳 is the title for the Chaquan, Chāquán, or Cha Quan style of Chinese martial arts.

The meaning is “Inquisitive Fist,” and it falls under the category of the Northern Schools.

Cha Quan features graceful movements and acrobatic stunts (often flying through the air). Many different forms of weapons are used in Cha Quan.

空無 is “nothingness” in a Buddhist context.

The first character means empty but can also mean air or sky (air and sky have no form).

The second character means have not, no, none, not, or to lack.

Together these characters reinforce each other into a word that means “absolute nothingness.”

I know this is a term used in Buddhism, but I have not yet figured out the context in which it is used. I suppose it can be the fact that Buddhists believe that the world is a non-real illusion, or perhaps it's about visualizing yourself as “nothing” and therefore leaving behind your desire and worldliness.
Buddhist concepts and titles often have this element of ambiguity or, rather, “mystery.” Therefore, such ideas can have different meanings to different people, and that's okay. If you don't get it right in this lifetime, there will be plenty more lifetimes to master it (whatever “it” is, and if “it” really exists at all).

Soothill defines this as “Unreality, or immateriality, of things, which is defined as nothing existing of independent or self-contained nature.”

吸入 is a Chinese, Japanese, and old Korean word that means inhale, inhalation, or to breathe in.

吸 by itself can mean to inhale or suck in.
入 means to enter (in this case, the body), so it clarifies that this is the true inhalation of air into the body.

If you need a reminder to breathe (slow down and take a deep breath), this may be the word you want hanging on your wall.

讀萬卷書行萬里路 is a lifelong suggestion for expanding your horizons by gaining knowledge, experience, and seeing the world.

Of course, this was written long ago when it was hard to travel 10,000 miles (at least 1000 years before the invention of the airplane).
With air travel and the business I'm in, I often achieve that lifetime goal on a monthly basis.
However, I am a little behind in the book count.

Note: An ancient Chinese mile (里 or lǐ) referred to in this proverb is about a third of a British/American mile. However, at that time, this was a great distance to travel.

起重機 refers to the huge machine that lifts materials high into the air as crews construct huge buildings.

A customer requested this specifically after some confusion over the bird by the same name.

In an odd twist, while they don't know this name in English sounds like a bird; the building crane is jokingly called “The real national bird of China” because of the accelerated level of construction in Beijing and elsewhere ever since preparations began for the 2008 Olympics. As of 2018, construction has barely slowed.

If you want the type of construction crane that drives down the road, please note that the word is totally different for that kind of “vehicle crane.”

道天地將法 is a list of five key points to analyzing your situation from the first chapter of Sun Tzu's Art of War.

This reads like a 5-part military proverb. Sun Tzu says that to sharpen your skills, you must plan. To plan well, you must know your situation. Therefore, you must consider and discuss the following:

1. Philosophy and Politics: Make sure your way or your policy is agreeable among all of your troops (and the citizens of your kingdom as well). For when your soldiers believe in you and your way, they will follow you to their deaths without hesitation and will not question your orders.

2. Heaven/Sky: Consider climate / weather. This can also mean considering whether God is smiling upon you. In the modern military, this could be waiting for clear skies so that you can have air support for an amphibious landing.

3. Ground/Earth: Consider the terrain in which the battle will take place. This includes analyzing defensible positions, and exit routes, while using varying elevations to your advantage. When you plan an ambush, you must know your terrain and the best location from which to stage that ambush. This knowledge will also help you avoid being ambushed, as you will know where the likely places in which to expect an ambush from your enemy.

4. Leadership: This applies to you as the general and your lieutenants. A leader should be smart and be able to develop good strategies. Leaders should keep their word, and if they break a promise, they should punish themselves as harshly as they would punish subordinates. Leaders should be benevolent to their troops, with almost a fatherly love for them. Leaders must have the ability to make brave and fast decisions. Leaders must have steadfast principles.

5. [Military] Methods: This can also mean laws, rules, principles, models, or systems. You must have an efficient organization in place to manage both your troops and supplies. In the modern military, this would be a combination of how your unit is organized and your SOP (Standard Operating Procedure).

Notes: This is a simplistic translation and explanation. Much more is suggested in the actual text of the Art of War (Bing Fa). It would take a lot of study to master all of these aspects. In fact, these five characters can be compared to the modern military acronyms such as BAMCIS or SMEAC.

CJK notes: I have included the Japanese and Korean pronunciations but in Chinese, Korean and Japanese, this does not make a typical phrase (with subject, verb, and object) it is a list that only someone familiar with Sun Tzu’s writings would understand.

This 氣 energy flow is a fundamental concept of traditional Asian culture.

氣 is romanized as “Qi” or “Chi” in Chinese, “Gi” in Korean, and “Ki” in Japanese.
Chi is believed to be part of everything that exists, as in “life force” or “spiritual energy.” It is most often translated as “energy flow” or literally as “air” or “breath.” Some people will simply translate this as “spirit,” but you must consider the kind of spirit we're talking about. I think this is weighted more toward energy than spirit.

The character itself is a representation of steam (or breath) rising from rice. To clarify, the character for rice looks like this:
Steam was apparently seen as visual evidence of the release of “life energy” when this concept was first developed. The Qi / Chi / Ki character is still used in compound words to mean steam or vapor.
The etymology of this character is a bit complicated. It's suggested that the first form of this character from bronze script (about 2500 years ago) looked like these samples:
However, it was easy to confuse this with the character for the number three. So the rice radical was added by 221 B.C. (the exact time of this change is debated). This first version with the rice radical looks like this:
The idea of Qi / Chi / Ki is really a philosophical concept. It's often used to refer to the “flow” of metaphysical energy that sustains living beings. Yet there is much debate that has continued for thousands of years as to whether Qi / Chi / Ki is pure energy or consists partially or fully of matter.

You can also see the character for Qi / Chi / Ki in common compound words such as Tai Chi / Tai Qi, Aikido, Reiki, and Qi Gong / Chi Kung.

In the modern Japanese Kanji, the rice radical has been changed into two strokes that form an X.

The original and traditional Chinese form is still understood in Japanese, but we can also offer that modern Kanji form in our custom calligraphy. If you want this Japanese Kanji, please click on the character to the right instead of the “Select and Customize” button above.

More language notes: This is pronounced like “chee” in Mandarin Chinese, and like “key” in Japanese.
This is also the same way to write this in Korean Hanja where it is Romanized as “gi” and pronounced like “gee” but with a real G-sound, not a J-sound.
Though Vietnamese no longer use Chinese characters in their daily language, this character is still widely known in Vietnam.

See Also:  Energy | Life Force | Vitality | Life | Birth | Soul