Chapter 1: Introduction: A Concept Read Backwards

Today, when we discuss the character "qi" (气), we tend to preemptively categorize it as belonging to the realm of metaphysics or mysticism. The root of this judgment lies less in a close reading of Pre-Qin texts and more in a cognitive inertia—projecting the various mystical connotations later appended to "qi" back onto its original context in Pre-Qin thought.

However, if we return to the Pre-Qin classics themselves, to the very sites where "qi" was first used, we discover a starkly different picture: "Qi" was never an abstract philosophical invention, but rather a high-level abstraction by the Pre-Qin people of observable, perceptible, and verifiable natural phenomena. It sought to unify and explain what we today distinguish as "matter," "energy," and "information."

Why do we say this$3 This requires us to elaborate from three perspectives:

First, the etymology of "qi" itself points to physical experience. The qi of breathing, the qi of steam, the qi of wind and rain—what the Pre-Qin people referred to as "qi" began with the most intuitive bodily sensations and observational records of natural phenomena, rather than abstract contemplation.

Second, the core propositions of Pre-Qin theories of qi—that qi gathers to become life, and dissipates to become death; that the qi of heaven and earth does not lose its order—are essentially Pre-Qin expressions of the laws of conservation of matter and transformation of energy. These propositions are not poetic metaphors but serious answers to the fundamental physical question: "From whence do all things come, and to where do they go$4"

Third, the concept of "qi" served the function of information theory in the hands of the Pre-Qin thinkers. From the "essence qi" (精气) discussed in Guanzi's Neiye to Master Mencius's "vast, flowing qi" (浩然之气), "qi" was not only the fundamental substance constituting the world but also the carrier of information that connected heaven and humanity, and pervaded the inner and outer realms—it explained epistemological questions like "How does one perceive the world$5" and "How does the mind correspond with things$6"

Therefore, the central thesis of this paper is: Pre-Qin theories of qi are not metaphysics but a cognitive revolution that occurred over two thousand years ago. Through the unified abstraction of "qi," they attempted to break down the barriers between the material and spiritual worlds, and between natural and humanistic orders. The depth and ambition of this thinking deserve our re-examination with a serious scholarly attitude.

Below, we will begin from the origins in ancient myths and folklore, follow the evolutionary trajectory of Pre-Qin thought, and peel back layer by layer the physical underpinnings of "qi."