Gymnastics 151
including those resulting from falling, fighting, a sprained waist or a
choked chest. Indeed, he himself became so powerful only because he
took it. Truth is, his “All Nourishing Power-Increasing Pill” had no
miraculous effects whatsoever, but swallowing it did not cause much
damage either.”^38Internal energy could be channeled not only for offensive but also for defen-
sive purposes. The ability to withstand a blow is often analyzed in Qing manu-
als in terms of qi circulation. The early seventeenth century Sinews Transformation
Classic teaches a systematic method of qi cultivation that results in a body resil-
ient to injury. Training proceeds from qi circulation and massaging to pound-
ing of the body with increasingly harder objects from a wooden pestle and a
wooden mallet to a pebble bag. The practice is expected to forge a body “as
hard as iron and stone,” so much so that one would be able to “smash a tiger’s
brain with his fist” and “cut an ox’s neck with his palm.”^39 By the mid-eigh-
teenth century such methods were commonly practiced, as is attested by ver-
nacular fiction. Wu Jingzi’s (1701–1754) Unofficial History of the Scholars (Rulin
waishi) celebrates a valiant hero who relies on qi circulation to withstand court
torture.^40
Qing methods of hardening the body were known by the generic labels of
Golden Bell Armor ( Jinzhong zhao) and Iron Cloth Shirt (Tiebu shan), imply-
ing that the practitioner manipulated his qi into an impenetrable shield.^41
There were some, even among the bureaucratic elite, who believed that such
techniques could avert injury not only from bare-handed blows but also from
sharp weapons. A government official named Ruan Zutang (fl. 1890), who
served as circuit attendant of Xuzhou, Jiangsu, commented on the Golden Bell
Armor: “where the qi moves, even a fierce chop cannot penetrate. But if one
loses concentration, then the blade will enter.”^42 The physical exercises of hard-
ening were sometimes joined by ritual procedures. Some martial artists en-
hanced the efficacy of qi circulation with charms, spells, and prayer to valiant
deities. A Daoist priest who became entangled in the 1813 Eight Trigrams up-
rising was said to have practiced the Golden Bell Armor by “swallowing charms
and circulating his qi” (chifu yunqi).^43 Late nineteenth-century members of the
Big Swords militia likewise practiced breathing techniques and pounded their
bodies with bricks, while at the same time swallowing charms that were burnt
and mixed in water.^44 Hardening the body was simultaneously a martial tech-
nique and an invulnerability ritual.
The association of some qi-circulation techniques with ritual procedures
might suggest that the concept of qi was occasionally colored with a supernormal
aura. We have seen that the qi implied diverse things to different martial artists.
It was a method of breathing and a technique of mental concentration, and it
suggested a harmony of intent and action as well as an unhindered delivery of
force. It is possible, however, that some practitioners—especially those involved
in sectarian activities—attributed to their hidden qi miraculous powers as well.