On Qi

Song YingxingJun 2024

3.6

Word count: 9.6K words
Chapters: 7

Summary

Between heaven and earth there is either form or qi; if not qi, then form. What stands between form and qi is water and fire. Qi transforms into form, and form returns to qi, yet the common people practice this daily without knowing it. Qi that gathers and never again transforms into form is the sun and moon. Form that takes shape and never again transforms into qi is earth and stone. Qi that falls from tens of thousands of li, passing through dust and strange climes, congeals into form: this is the meteorite becoming stone. Qi that falls from several hundred ren, becoming form yet unable to hold firm: this is rain and hail. What first appears as qi transforming into form and is seen by people, and finally as form transforming into qi and is unseen by people: this is vegetation, living people, birds and beasts, insects and fish, and the like.

Editor's review

On Qi is a short natural-philosophical treatise by Song Yingxing, separate from The Exploitation of the Works of Nature. It revolves around the mutual transformation of form and qi, drawing the sun and moon, earth and stone, meteorites, rain and hail, vegetation, humans, beasts, insects, and fish into a single explanatory framework. Its value lies not in offering modern scientific conclusions but in showing how a Ming dynasty scholar used the idea of qi transformation to encompass the generation and dissolution of all things in heaven and earth. The writing is concise, the inferences dense, and the tone strongly speculative. The book repeatedly stresses that the common people practice this daily without knowing it, showing that the author is concerned with the principles behind everyday experience rather than with abstruse talk. It can be read both as a sample of ancient Chinese views of nature and as a way to observe how the proposition of the mutual transformation of form and qi unfolds in traditional thought. It suits slow reading in a quiet setting, working through the chain of reasoning sentence by sentence with the help of annotations; it is not a light book for casual browsing.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in ancient Chinese natural philosophy and qi theory
Those who want to understand Song Yingxing's thought beyond The Exploitation of the Works of Nature
Readers with some classical Chinese who are willing to work through the text sentence by sentence
Researchers concerned with the proposition of form-qi transformation in traditional cosmology

Not a good fit for

Readers seeking modern scientific explanations or practical knowledge
Those with weak classical Chinese who need a word-for-word vernacular translation to read
Casual readers who prefer story-driven or entertaining content

Reading tips

Read through once, marking examples such as the sun and moon, earth and stone, meteorites, and rain and hail, then return to how the author classifies them.
Keep paper and pen to draw a diagram of the qi-form-qi transformation, which helps grasp the argument's structure.
Look up rare expressions such as 'dust and strange climes' in the annotations first; do not force a word-for-word literal rendering.
After finishing, compare with relevant chapters of The Exploitation of the Works of Nature to appreciate how the same author writes differently in different genres.

版权信息
论气序
形气化五章
气声九章
水非胜火说四章
水尘三章
水风归藏

FAQ

What does On Qi mainly discuss?

It mainly discusses the mutual relationship between form and qi, including how qi transforms into form, how form returns to qi, and the special position of water and fire between form and qi, illustrated with examples such as the sun and moon, earth and stone, meteorites, rain and hail, and vegetation, humans, and beasts.

Can someone without a foundation in classical Chinese read this book?

It will be quite difficult. The original reasoning is compact and the terminology concentrated; without classical Chinese training one easily stays at the literal surface. It is advisable first to use an annotated edition or introductory guide to understand the concept of qi transformation before entering the original text, otherwise reading efficiency will be low.

What is the relationship between this book and The Exploitation of the Works of Nature?

Both are by Song Yingxing, but with different emphases: The Exploitation of the Works of Nature records production techniques, while On Qi leans toward natural-philosophical speculation. Reading them together shows how the author links concrete experience with abstract principles.

Do the claims in the book still hold today?

They should not be measured directly by modern scientific standards. Their significance lies in presenting the explanatory mode and thought structure of ancient qi theory; readers may treat the book as material for intellectual history rather than as natural-scientific conclusions.

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About the author

Song Yingxing Author · Chinese · 1587–1666

Song Yingxing (1587–c. 1666), courtesy name Changgeng, was a native of Fengxin, Jiangxi, and a scientist and thinker of the Ming dynasty. After failing the metropolitan examination five times, he turned to practical learning and, while serving as an instructor in Fenyi, completed Tiangong Kaiwu (The Exploitation of the Works of Nature), a systematic record of agricultural and handicraft techniques hailed as "China's seventeenth-century technological encyclopedia"; Joseph Needham called him "the Chinese Diderot." The library holds 12 of his works, including several editions of Tiangong Kaiwu (public-domain, annotated, translated, and illustrated versions) as well as related compilations from the Siku Quanshu and the Chinese ancient material culture series. His writing is grounded in field observation and practical technology, clearly classified and concretely detailed, covering crop cultivation, textiles, metallurgy, papermaking, and weaponry, with data and operating procedures that reflect an empirical and people-oriented approach. His work has had a profound influence on later studies of the history of science and technology and of material culture.