Qigong ─ Chinese Medicine or Pseudoscinece?

Qigong (CHEE-GUNG) has swept America as the newest approach to healing and was on the rise in China until the recent Falun gong crackdowns. This 2,500-year-old form of traditional Chinese medicine claims that the human body has channels (meridians) through which flows a substance known as Qi. While internal Qigong is essentially a relaxation and meditation technique, external Qigong is an alleged form of energy radiation emitted from the fingertips of "masters." Practitioners of this form of Qigong claim that they can heal serious diseases such as hypertension, glaucoma, asthma, ulcers, and even cancer.


This remarkable book, written by a group of Chinese scientists, discusses the nature and practice of Qigong and its various manifestations. They give special attention to the many pseudoscientific claims made for external Qigong and uncover a good deal of deception practiced by charlatans in the name of medicine. Exposed are such alleged Qigong practices as: clairvoyance, telepathy, weightlessness, energy discharge, energy-impregnated language (Qigong prescriptions), and much more.

Lin Zixin is retired editor-in-chief of China's Science and Technology Daily. Yu Li works in China's Ministry of Internal Trade and is one of China's most popular debunkers of pseudoscience. Guo Zhengyi is deputy director and Shen Zhenyu is research director of China's Popular Science Institute. Zhang Honglin is director of the Qigong research department of China's Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Zhang Tongling is professor of psychiatry at Beijing Medical University.