How Can Qi Be Felt?

The Example of Qigong Practice in Shanghai

Abstract

This paper focuses on Qigong practice in Shanghai, clarifying the role that bodily experiences, affect and imagination play in feeling qi. Anthropological research on Qigong usually focuses on analyzing the so-called “Qigong boom” in China from a historical perspective and does not sufficiently investigate the role of experiencing qi in Qigong. This paper aims at discussing how feeling qi emerges through the practice of Qigong. Firstly, I discuss the importance given to experiencing qi, showing that it plays a fundamental role in Qigong, although qi itself is rather loosely defined. Subsequently, I focus on Qigong practice, shedding light on the processes through which practitioners start feeling qi. I argue that bodily experiences grounded in affects and imagination play an important role in feeling qi, and that a focus on Qigong practice allows for a novel understanding of qi or feelings of qi as multiple bodily experiences, rather than as one single phenomenon as it has been theoretically conceptualized.