Qiu's qigong healing performances left observers puzzled, wondering how Qiu's murmurs and movements could have a therapeutic effect. This chapter first accounts for qigong from the outsider's viewpoint by identifying five stages of social interaction in the therapeutic process. The insider's view, discussed thereafter, explores Qiu's ‘logic’ of healing. There is evidence that it was primarily grounded in the notion of ‘life-for-life’, although Qiu also spoke about restoring balance, as is characteristic of Chinese medicine or any other scholarly medical tradition. The concept of qi and how it relates to conceptions of the body in qigong and Chinese medicine is explored at the end of the chapter.

The outsider's observations

Qigong therapy was not passively consumed but characterised by interaction between healer and client. As an outsider I could observe five different stages: (1) the client's choice of therapy, (2) the healer's effort to recruit clients, (3) mutual commitment, and (4) reaching consensus about the termination of treatment. Yet, even if treatment was successful, the healer-client relation was often not dissolved. The last stage concerned (5) the conversion of client into ‘friend’ (pengyou).

Choice of therapy

Most of Qiu's clients had turned to qigong as a last resort after consulting all kinds of other therapists. Many had previously sought treatment in government hospitals. Depending on the ailment they suffered, they had consulted biomedical and/or TCM doctors and private practitioners of ‘Chinese medicine’ (zhongyi), ‘herbal medicine’ (caoyi), or traditional ‘massage’ (anmo). Only a few had been to another qigong healer.