Coupling qigong and electricity for a miraculous cure

While Lee's electric qigong treatment is new in Taiwan, it has been practiced in China for many years. Michael Cheung (鍾國強), the founder of the Qigong Culture Society of Taipei, is ambivalent about the effectiveness of electric qigong. Based on nearly 50 years of practice, he says qi can be sorted into three categories: material, physical and mental.

"In a material sense it is the same as light, sound or an electromagnetic field. It is a combined electromagnetic field. When a person exercises qi by using the proper techniques, then the radiation can be transformed into energy inside the body," he says. "And a person can only do that when he reaches `qi chi datian,'" [accumulated qi in the lower part of abdomen].

Qi chi datian is most important, Cheung says, adding that once a person is born, he or she is given qi that is stored in the lower part of the abdomen. As a person grows older, the qi in the body begins to leak out. "Without proper techniques to reproduce qi, a man becomes weak and gets sick easily," Cheung says.

He says Lee's electric qigong treatment is like rubbing a piece of iron against a magnet so that it becomes magnetized, and the good qi flows into the patient. But he reserves judgement about the medical effects.

"Electric treatment and qigong exercise are two different stories," Cheung says, believing electric treatment just scratches the surface of the skin and only represses the illness temporarily. "But when you practice qigong, it begins a long-term process that leads to the reorganization of your internal organs."

Cheung says qigong emphasizes meditation, breathing and harmonizing to create a peaceful connection with nature.

"But electricity is artificial. It is not the same as using the power of nature, so it does not last," he concludes.