by GrahamB on Fri Aug 19, 2022 3:35 am
It's true "Qigong" is a modern term to describe what were individual systems and had their own names, or were called Tao Yin - it got really popular in the 1950s. I keep meaning to read the well recommended book Qigong Fever all about this, but it's still on my "To do" list.
From Wikipedia:
Qigong in 20th-century China
The communist era
Concerted efforts to re-establish Chinese culture under a new ideology began after the creation of the People's Republic of China in 1945. The new ruling government under the leadership of Mao Zedong rejected all ties to traditional Chinese philosophies such as Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism. Instead, the Chinese government promoted a socialist view. Through a series of government directed programs that lasted for nearly three decades (1949–1976), the entire fabric of Chinese society was torn apart and reorganized. It was in this environment that the current attitude toward qigong was born in Mainland China.
Mao Zedong himself recognized the conflicting aims between the rejection of feudalistic ideas of the past and the benefits derived from those ideas. Traditional Chinese medicine was a clear example of this conflict. His solution can be summarized by his famous phrase "Chinese medicine is a great treasure house! We must make efforts to uncover it and raise its standards!", which legitimized the practice of traditional Chinese medicine and created an impetus to develop a stronger scientific basis.[22] The subject of qigong underwent a similar process of transformation. The historical elements of qigong were stripped to create a more scientific basis for the practice.[23]
In the early 1950s, Liu Guizhen (劉貴珍) (1920–83), a doctor by training, used his family's method of body cultivation to successfully cure himself of various ailments.[24] He then promoted his method to his patients and eventually published a book, Qi Gong liaofa shiyan (氣功療法實驗) to promote his successes. His efforts to re-define qigong without a religious or philosophical context proved to be acceptable to the ruling government.[25] The popularity and success of Liu's book and the government's strong support for Traditional Chinese medicine resulted in the formation of qigong departments within universities and hospitals that practiced Traditional Chinese medicine. As a result, the first institutional support for qigong was established across China, but this practice remained under tight control and had limited access by the general public.[23]