Yan Xin

b. 1949, Sichuan

Qigong master

Yan Xin is one of the best known contemporary Qigong masters. He promoted the practice of Qigong in China between 1986 and 1990. Yan Xin began to learn martial art techniques at the age of ten and between 1974 and 1979 he studied traditional Chinese medicine in college. Yan Xin began his career as a teacher, then worked as a doctor in Chongqing, Sichuan. In 1984, he was reported to be a ‘miraculous Qigong doctor’ by local media and caught the attention of the public.

In 1986, Yan Xin’s Qigong power was tested in a series of scientific experiments at several universities in Beijing. He was qualified by the government officials as a master of ‘scientific Qigong’, and became the first to launch ‘qi-emitting conferences’ (daigong baogao) in 1987. In one year, Yan Xin gave over two hundred of these conferences nationwide, which usually included a performance by Yan Xin of miraculous healing along with a collective trance. Since 1990, Yan Xin has been participating in Qigong research and promoting ‘Yan-Xin Qigong’ in North America. In September 1991, practitioners in the United States founded the International Yan-Xin Qigong Association, and are still organizing Qigong workshops across North America today.

See also: Qigong, history; Qigong, masters

Further reading

International Yan Xin Qigong Association (1999). Yan Xin Qigong Collectanea. St-Bruno (Quebec): Les éditions lotus.

Tie, Cheng and Ming, Zhen (eds) (1988). Guibao zhi guang: Yan Xin yü Qigong [Light of Treasures: Yan Xin and Qigong]. Beijing: Gongren chubanshe.

MENG QING