Orientalist Fever: Qigong and Orientalism, East and West
by Paul Bowman
* April 2025 Asian Journal of Sport History & Culture *
Abstract
In Western discourse, the Chinese practice of qigong (氣功) is frequently depicted as ancient, timeless, magical and mystical. Such representations might therefore be regarded as ‘orientalist’, involving formulaic simplifications, myths, exoticisation, misrepresentation and othering. But, what do we see when we turn to the Chinese discourse about qigong? This work argues that, in 20th century China, qigong was already depicted as ancient, timeless, magical and mystical. Accordingly, I argue that something about qigong tends to pull practitioners – Eastern and Western – towards perspectives that might be called ‘orientalist’. However, this stretches the paradigm too far. So instead, I argue for the need to re-evaluate the paradigm of orientalism and indeed of the antiorientalist critical impulse itself. Orientalism is one of the constitutive paradigms of postcolonial studies and is an enduringly important tool in cross-cultural studies of all kinds. But, I suggest, despite being associated with an ethical commitment to responsibility and sensitivity in cross-cultural representation, antiorientalist criticism can easily become focused on the moral condemnation of Western representations. Therefore, the work concludes with a proposal for critical vigilance in the use of ‘orientalism’, to avoid judgmentalism, moralism, and essentialism when analysing cross-cultural practices and representations.
About the Author(s):
Professor Paul Bowman, BA (Hons), MA, PhD – School of Journalism, Media & Culture, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK. He is a Deputy Head of School and professor of cultural studies with specific interests and expertise in cultural theory and popular culture. From 2021-2024, I was also Acting Director of our MA in Cultural and Creative Industries. He is currently also Director of Recruitment and Admissions, and also Chair of the Research Ethics Committee. He is currently researching and writing about various martial arts and exercise practices in terms of affect theory. Topics include Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ), escrima, taiji, and the cross-cultural and postcolonial dimensions of Indian Clubs.
Paul is on the editorial board or advisory panel of numerous journals of cultural studies, cultural theory, popular culture, martial arts studies, and embodied research, and he currently teaches BA modules on film, cultural theory, media culture, the body and physical culture, and supervise MA dissertations on cross-cultural studies. He also supervises PhDs on a range of areas, including film, gender, ethnicity, postcolonialism, globalisation, cultural identity and cultural politics, as well as aspects of physical culture. (Source: https://profiles.cardiff.ac.uk/staff/bowmanp)
