Vol 21, Issue 3/2005

Order is a Virtue!?
On the current state of Qigong in China

In May of this year, representatives of the Chinese Health Qigong Association came to Germany to present new officially-sanctioned standardized forms. These are versions of the »Eight Brocades«, the »Five Animal Frolics«, the Yijinjing, and the »Healing Sounds« revised on the basis of historical and sports-medicine research. In the ensuing meeting with the TQJ it became clear how drastically Qigong activities of any kind have been restricted in the wake of protests by followers of the Falun Gong movement. All teachers have been required to register with and submit to testing administered by a specially-created bureaucratic authority, there now being regulations across all areas concerning such issues as qualifications, facilities used, and group size. To counteract the potential for uncontrolled outgrowths within the practice of Qigong, groups of experts were formed tasked with standardizing traditional forms, which are now to be propagated throughout China and the rest of the world.

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