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Article: Qigong Fever; Body, Science, and Utopia in China.(Book review)
- Article from:
- Journal of Social History
- Article date:
- June 22, 2009
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2009 Journal of Social History. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Qigong Fever; Body, Science, and Utopia in China. By David A. Palmer (New York: Columbia University Press, xii plus 356 pp. $34.00).
For most non-Chinese, qigong is a mysterious exercise that combines patterned breathing and movement in order to increase health, happiness, and (according to some) wisdom. Westerners who study qigong are usually told that it is a discipline thousands of years old, that the regime they practice happens to be the only authentic version, and that their teacher is its only authentic exponent.
This remarkable study will come as a shock to many readers, from the first sentence on: "Modern qigong was launched in the 'Liberated ...