[ **up: [[Sānbǎo 三寶 (Three Treasures)]] | [[Chinese folk religion]]** ] --- # Qi 气 (氣 in Traditional Chinese) --- In traditional Chinese thought, *qi* is ‘traditionally believed to be a vital force’ and part of all living entities.[^1] It is the [[2025-0323. 'The basic stuff out of which all things are made is called qi.'|'basic stuff out of which all things are made']].[^2] --- The attempt to “cultivate and balance” qi is called [[Qigong]].[^3] (*See:* [[Qigong]].) - [[@oh_fudgecakes, 'Qi Deviation is a very real concept'|Qi Deviation is a very real concept]] --- ## Translation into English > As an axiomatic concept with a wide range of meaning, the word *qi* has over the years been translated in numerous ways. Different translators render it into English in three different ways: > > 1) “psychophysical stuff,” because it involves phenomena one would consider both psychological — connected to human thoughts and feelings — and physical; > 2) “pneuma,” drawing on one early etymology of the word as vapor, steam, or breath; and > 3) “vital energy,” accentuating the potential for life inherent to the more ethereal forms of *qi*.[^4] --- ## Qi and traditional Chinese medicine - [[Sānbǎo 三寶 (Three Treasures)|Three Treasures]] --- ## History ### Prior to the Han dynasty [[2024-0607. Prior the Han, qi was a protean word of many and variable meanings (air, breath, mists, shades of the dead, cloud forms, etc).|Prior the Han, qi was a protean word of many and variable meanings (air, breath, mists, shades of the dead, cloud forms, etc).]][^5] --- ### Third century BCE #### Sound and qi [[2024-0415. From around the mid-third century BCE, it was posited that sound measured cosmic qi.|From around the mid-third century BCE, it was posited that sound measured cosmic qi.]][^6] [^1]: ‘Qi’, *Wikipedia*, updated 18 March 2025, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qi. [^2]: Asia for Educators, ‘The Chinese Cosmos: Basic Concepts’, *Religion in China*, retrieved 15 April 2024, http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/cosmos/bgov/cosmos.htm. Adapted from Stephen F. Teiser’s *The Spirits of Chinese Religion.* [^3]: ’Qi’, *Wikipedia*, updated 18 March 2025, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qi. [^4]: Asia for Educators, ‘The Chinese Cosmos: Basic Concepts’, *Religion in China*, retrieved 15 April 2024, http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/cosmos/bgov/cosmos.htm. Adapted from Stephen F. Teiser’s *The Spirits of Chinese Religion.* [^5]: Nathan Sivin & G. E. R. Lloyd, ‘Why Wasn’t Chinese Science about Nature? With a Discussion of Concepts of Nature in Ancient Greece and Comparisions’, *The Way and the Word*, last updated 7 September 2003, https://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~nsivin/wayword.html. [^6]: Noa Hegesh, ‘[[Hegesh. ‘Mind the Gap_ Acoustical Answers to Cosmological Concerns in First-Century B.C.E. China’, 2021.|Mind the Gap: Acoustical Answers to Cosmological Concerns in First-Century B.C.E. China]]’, *Isis*, vol. 112, no. 4 (2 December 2021), p. 646.