Qi

In the <a href="/facts/Sinosphere/WY2269Xy">Sinosphere</a>, qi is traditionally believed to be a <a href="/facts/Vital_force/wYrVvfUf">vital force</a> part of all living entities. Literally meaning 'vapor', 'air', or 'breath', the word qi is <a href="/facts/Polysemous/en5BnYGW">polysemous</a>, often translated as 'vital energy', 'vital force', 'material energy', or simply 'energy'. Qi is also a concept in <a href="/facts/Traditional_Chinese_medicine/51rSRXua">traditional Chinese medicine</a> and in <a href="/facts/Chinese_martial_arts/KuosrvwT">Chinese martial arts</a>. The attempt to cultivate and balance qi is called <a href="/facts/Qigong/NeraDSa8">qigong</a>.
Believers in qi describe it as a vital force, with one's good health requiring its flow to be unimpeded. Originally prescientific, today it is a pseudoscientific concept, i.e. not corresponding to the concept of energy as used in the physical sciences, with the notion of vital force itself being abandoned by the scientific community.
<a href="/facts/Chinese_gods_and_immortals/9Wlmg9kY">Chinese gods and immortals</a>, especially <a href="/facts/Anthropomorphic/foTf9q24">anthropomorphic</a> gods, are sometimes thought to have qi and be a reflection of the <a href="/facts/Microcosm%E2%80%93macrocosm_analogy/vzdlMsfW">microcosm</a> of qi in humans, both having qi that can concentrate in certain body parts.

Qi open-in-new

Qi