Claim of qigong sparks skepticism

LANZHOU - After claiming a "magical" achievement among a group of qigong practitioners, a local health department in Northwest China now finds itself in the center of widespread mockery and  skepticism.

The Health Department of Gansu Province organized a nine-day qigong course for health officials and medical workers this month. "After the qigong training, 41 of the 47 practitioners have successfully opened up Conception Vessel (ren mai) and Governor Vessel (du mai)," said a statement posted on the department's official website on Tuesday.

"They feel vigorous after the accomplishment. Their old diseases are now relieved or cured, and their diet, sleep, and bowel movement are back to normal," it said.

Eyebrows were quickly raised after a staff worker with the department posted the claim on weibo.com, China's most popular microblogging site, with many questioning how the practitioners could make the progress in such a brief period, or, whether it is achievable at all.

According to ancient Chinese medical theories, the Conception and Governor vessels, located at different acupuncture points, control the flow of the human body's Yin and Yang energy, respectively.

By practicing qigong, an exercise to align breath and movement, people are trained to feel the body's "qi," considered to be an active principle present in any living thing that flows through their bodies. With sufficient practice, people are said to be able to open up the two vessels, thus giving them access to infinite energy.

Popular kung fu fictions mention that martial arts masters -- often practitioners of qigong -- become undefeatable after opening up the two vessels. But it requires years or even decades to accomplish this.

Although hundreds of millions of Chinese still practice qigong to keep fit, some netizens said the two-vessel claim sounds "just too magical" in the real life.

"If they're capable of doing that, I really hope these health officials can teach everyone in this country this skill so no one will get sick again," said a netizen screenamed Huluyao Lulu.

However, Liu Weizhong, director of the Gansu Health Department and the man behind the nine-day qigong course, said the practice is not as mysterious as it sounds.

"We've all been reading kung fu novels and watching kung fu movies since we were kids. Because of the misleading information in those novels, many of us think that opening up the two vessels is a very difficult thing to do, but I want to tell you . . . it is not supernatural kung fu," Liu said in a weibo post.

Liu, 55, is known for actively promoting traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). He triggered a debate last year when he tried to convince people of the medical benefits of pig feet, claiming that hundreds of patients had recovered after having his pig feet soup.

Li Yingcong, a professor at the Gansu Institute of TCM, said qigong is not as magical as described in kung fu novels.

"As an important stage in qigong exercises, opening up the Conception Vessel and the Governor Vessel means letting the 'qi' inside one's body flow freely to coordinate Yin and Yang, but there is no way of telling whether one's two vessels are opened up or not because it's just a feeling of the practitioner, " Li said.

The Gansu health department said in the latest statement on Thursday that misunderstanding over the qigong claim was a result of insufficient work to introduce TCM theories among the public.

China allows both modern Western medicine and traditional Chinese medicine, including acupuncture and herbal medicine, in the practice of medical treatment.

However, unlike experience-based traditional Chinese medicine, modern Western medicine considers the meridian system, the network in the human body consisting of acupuncture points and vessels, non-existent, as no evidence has proved its existence, said Li Tiantian, who holds a Ph.D. in bioinformatics.