I've always assumed that the phrase "If X is her Yin, then Y is her Yang" meant two positive traits, X and Y, that were not extensions of each other, but rather opposites that complemented each other.
Upon looking up Wikipedia, I came to realize that while Yin and Yang are opposing forces, Yin is typically negative and Yang is positive(see note 1. below).
Is that right? Can I still use if to describe two opposing but positive traits, or is there a better phrase for it?
- This is a Wikipedia entry on Yin & Yang.
In Chinese philosophy, yin and yang, which are often shortened to "yin-yang" or "yin yang", are concepts used to describe how apparently opposite or contrary forces are actually complementary,[Note 1] interconnected and interdependent in the natural world, and how they give rise to each other as they interrelate to one another. Many tangible dualities (such as light and dark, high and low, hot and cold, fire and water, life and death, male and female, sun and moon, and so on) are thought of as physical manifestations of the duality of yin and yang. This duality lies at the origins of many branches of classical Chinese science and philosophy, as well as being a primary guideline of traditional Chinese medicine,[1] and a central principle of different forms of Chinese martial arts and exercise, such as baguazhang, taijiquan (t'ai chi), and qigong (Chi Kung), as well as in the pages of the I Ching.
