Tai Chi Glossary > Qigong (气功)

Qigong (气功)

Definition: Qigong (气功) is the umbrella term for Chinese mind-body practices that regulate posture, breathing, and attention in order to cultivate and balance Qi. Ba Duan Jin, Wu Qin Xi, Liu Zi Jue, Yi Jin Jing and the standardised health qigong routines are all qigong.

Qigong is pronounced “chee-gong” (pinyin qìgōng; Wade-Giles ch’i kung). Literally the two characters mean “qi” — vital energy — and “gong” — work, skill, or cultivated attainment. It is sometimes written Qi Gong, Chi Kung, or Chi Gung in English, but all of those are the same word.

Qigong has roughly two thousand years of documented history, tracing back to daoyin — therapeutic stretching and guided movement — and tuna, breath retention practices. It is a health practice, not a religion, not a martial art, and not a substitute for medical care. Tai Chi and the health qigong routines both grew out of this same broader field.

The three regulations

Every qigong system, however different its movements, is built from the same three coordinated parts. This is the single most useful thing to know about the practice, because it is what separates a qigong exercise from ordinary stretching or gym work.

• Posture (调身, tiao shen): how the body is arranged — stance, joint alignment, where the weight sits.
• Breath (调息, tiao xi): how breathing is coordinated with the movement, usually through the nose, usually slow and even.
• Attention (调心, tiao xin): where awareness is placed — typically the Dantian, the lower abdomen, or the hands.

The traditional formulation is that the three must be brought together — the three regulations as one (三调合一). A routine that only works the posture, or only counts the breath, is not yet qigong.

What qigong is not

Four distinctions do most of the work of making the term precise, because “qigong” is used loosely in conversation and often wrongly in the media.

• Qigong is not hard qigong (硬气功). Hard qigong is a martial branch that trains striking power and physical conditioning; see our look at hard qigong training. It is one narrow branch of a much wider field.
• Qigong is not neigong (内功). Internal work refers to the skill layer underneath a martial art — how power is generated and controlled. It sits inside qigong as a technique, and is not a synonym for it.
• Qigong is not Tai Chi (太极拳). Tai Chi is a martial art whose forms are a specific branch of qigong. Our Tai Chi vs Qigong comparison covers the practical differences in goals and structure.
• Qigong is not a medical treatment and not a belief system. Anyone claiming that a qigong routine cures disease on its own is making a claim no evidence supports. Qigong is a practice for cultivation and general wellbeing, and it belongs alongside medical care rather than in place of it.

Where it came from

The oldest concrete evidence is the Mawangdui silk manuscript of Daoyin Tu (导引图), a Han dynasty pictorial guide to conditioning movements dated to roughly two centuries before the common era — among the earliest surviving systematic illustrations of exercise in the world. Earlier texts reference the practice in passing. The thread that runs through all of it is daoyin: stretching, joint mobilisation, and breath work used to treat illness and extend life.

Still and moving

Qigong splits most easily along one line.

• Still practice (静功, jing gong): seated or standing work where the movement is minimal or internal. Zhan Zhuang is the clearest example.
• Moving practice (动功, dong gong): the standing forms most people recognise — Ba Duan Jin, Wu Qin Xi, Liu Zi Jue.

Within those, qigong is also organised by intent: medical qigong, health qigong for the general public, martial qigong, and the hard qigong mentioned above.

The health qigong routines

China’s sports authority runs a public health qigong programme and has published standardised versions of a number of routines for general practice, each with a spoken-cue recording. Several are recorded in our free music library, with a full-length version available to members:

• Ba Duan Jin (八段锦) — eight movements, each linked to a body region
• Wu Qin Xi (五禽戏) — five animal styles, the most athletic of the group
• Liu Zi Jue (六字诀) — six character sounds paired with exhalations

What research has looked at

It is worth separating two things that are often run together.

Traditional theory holds that the practice moves Qi along the meridian network, accumulating it in the Dantian and circulating it through the body. That framework is internally consistent and is the logic the practice is built on.

Modern research on qigong has focused on measurable outcomes — balance, blood pressure, sleep quality, stress markers, and quality of life in older adults. Results vary by routine and population, and the field is still small. Our guide to qigong and chronic illness sets out the state of the evidence, including what has not been shown, and the benefits overview covers the wider picture.

Where to start

If you are new, do not start by trying to practise all of the above. Pick one short routine, learn its shape, and practise it daily until the three regulations start to feel like one thing. Qigong for Beginners covers which routine to pick first and which early mistakes to avoid.