Chan's Chinese Column

 The Chinese character for Lung is 肺  (fei) . The Lung in Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is often referred to as the “Master of Qi”. 

 The Yin organ Lung is paired with its Yang counterpart, the Large Intestine. Together, they  are responsible for the intake of pure Qi and the elimination of waste. Lung Qi is the propelling force behind the Large Intestine's downward action of transporting and elimination of waste materials. 

The Lung opens into the nose and controls respiration. It dominates Qi by transforming inhaled air into Qi and distributing it throughout the entire body,  through the dispersion and descent of Qi.   

The chinese radical 209, nose, 鼻 (bí) is made up of three components. The top character is self, 自 (zì), with field,  田 (tián) in the middle and the bottom strokes representing strings of nasal discharge.  

               nose                   self              field

Interestingly,  the pictogram for self, 自 (zì), was originally based on the nose. Over time, the character  represented “self” because people usually pointed to their nose when referring to themselves.