Mo PaiArchive
Cover of Qigong Fever: Body, Science, and Utopia in China by David A. Palmer

The wider qigong literature

Qigong Fever: Body, Science, and Utopia in China

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Why it is on this list

The definitive account of the 1980s–90s boom: the mass movements, the grandmasters, the state-backed research into emitted qi, and the crackdown that ended it. Essential context for the era the Ring of Fire footage aired in.

Related article: Qi Gong, and What It Shares with Mo Pai

Also on the “The wider qigong literature” shelf

Cover of Chinese Medical Qigong by Tianjun Liu and Kevin W. Chen (editors)

Chinese Medical Qigong

The closest thing to an institutional textbook, including the clinical research literature and its limits — which is where anyone interested in the "external qi" claims should start.

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Cover of Qigong Meditation: Embryonic Breathing by Yang Jwing-Ming

Qigong Meditation: Embryonic Breathing

A whole book on filling the lower dan tien — the stage Mo Pai calls level 1 — with the classical sources translated alongside. The single closest published treatment of what the Mo Pai foundation is doing.

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Cover of Qigong Meditation: Small Circulation by Yang Jwing-Ming

Qigong Meditation: Small Circulation

The sequel, on the microcosmic orbit: the three gates, the two vessels, and the whole circuit that Mo Pai calls level 2 — including the traditional cautions about forcing it.

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