Talk:Qigong

Reporting by Sichuan Daily

Hi Bon courage, regarding your revert I agree with you that the quote from Sichuan Daily is an exceptional claim and should not be cited as evidence for the supernormal.

But to be clear on my intentions, I wanted to say: the incident at reported by Sichuan Daily and the subsequent reports by some Chinese newspapers on supernormal powers did create a "Qigong Fever" in China and attracted quite some supporters and critics, and led to then Communist Party Secretary Hu Yaobang's "Three No's" policy.

The above can be found in Chinese wikipedia page Qigong Fever: https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-hans/气功热

I thought that was quite fascinating and had wanted to include this in this article (with additional sources that I can try to find) but only had time to include the precursor part (Sichuan Daily quote). But I would certainly like to include the criticisms and catalyst effects that had on Chinese society. Thomas Meng (talk) 04:54, 12 August 2026 (UTC)

Do we really want to air the stuff from a rubbish source? More suitable for RationalWiki maybe. Bon courage (talk) 05:19, 12 August 2026 (UTC)

Bon courage You seem to be a bit skeptical of that incident still. But just to reassure you, the Sichuan Daily incident was widely known in China at the time. The book Qigong Fever (published by Columbia University Press), describes the incident in detail (p.60—61):

Sichuan Daily reporter Zhang Naiming, having heard about the matter, also went to Dazu to find out about this strange boy who could read with his ears [...] On hearing the report, Provincial Governor (and future Premier of China) Zhao Ziyang ordered the provincial Science Commission to investigate and to support research on the phenomenon if it was verified, while Provincial Party Secretary Yang Chao received Tang Yu in person.

Zhang Naiming's report was published as a front page story on 11 March 1979. The article included a photograph of Tang Yu with Yang Chao. The publication of this story in a Party newspaper, openly supported by the most powerful leader of one of China's largest provinces, could only be interpreted as an encouragement to investigate and publish such types of phenomena. The report on Tang Yu—who was now living under special protection in Chengdu's most prestigious hotel, the Jinjiang-was reproduced by the press throughout China.

I do agree with you that the source I used in the edit you reverted, The Paper (newspaper), may not be completely trustworthy. But the incident itself and the cultural phenomenon it brought to Chinese society was significant. Thomas Meng (talk) 04:27, 13 August 2026 (UTC)

Find a source that says that then. But airing this obvious nonsense is undue. Bon courage (talk) 05:53, 13 August 2026 (UTC)