Translating tai chi and transforming qigong in British media culture

Bowman, Paul ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2264-7596, Aziz, Izzati and Ma, Xiujie 2023. Translating tai chi and transforming qigong in British media culture. East Asian Journal of Popular Culture 9 (2) , pp. 173-190. 10.1386/eapc_00106_1

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Abstract

There are a growing number of studies of the history and spread of taijiquan and qigong. However, there are few studies of taiji or qigong in the media. Based on a study of British media archives, this article traces the construction and representation of taijiquan (‘tai chi’) in British media. In doing so, it establishes and evaluates the meanings and values that have been imputed to the practice in British media discourse. It first examines key representations of tai chi before the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020, but proposes that the pandemic changed its status. It argues that popular understandings of COVID-19 as a respiratory infection led to an upsurge of interest in ‘breath-focused’ practices. In this context, taiji could have stood to gain in popularity. However, the article suggests that the difficulties of learning taiji – especially during a time of social isolation – meant that it was not taiji but the related and hitherto lesser-known practice of qigong that saw an increase in popularity. It concludes with a reflection on ‘authenticity’ and the status of some new translation-constructions of hybrid taiji-qigong practices.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Journalism, Media and Culture
Publisher:	Intellect
ISSN:	2051-7084
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	27 September 2023
Date of Acceptance:	10 February 2023
Last Modified:	08 Nov 2024 02:15
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/162791

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