Jiang Weiqiao 蔣維喬

Jiǎng Wéiqiáo 蔣維喬 (1873-1958)

An important educator, politician, and lay Buddhist of the Republican period. He is also a seminal figure in the development of modern qìgōng.

• Born 1873 (Tóngzhì 同治 12) in Wǔjìn County 武進縣, Jiāngsū 江蘇
• Died 1958 in Shànghǎi 上海
• Name 名: Zhúzhuāng 竹莊
• Courtesy Name 字: Wéiqiáo 維喬
• Alternate style name 別號: Yīnshìzi 因是子

Biography:

In 1892, he received his xiūcái 秀才 degree. After getting his degree, he became familiar with the scientific and technical translations produced by the Jiangnan Arsenal 江南機器製造總局, which caused him to become increasingly interested in Western Learning 西學.

In 1895, he tested into the Nánqīng Academy 南菁書院 in Jiāngyīn 江陰. One of his classmates there was Dīng Fúbǎo 丁福保.

In 1914, he published Master Yīnshì's Meditation Method 因是子靜坐法, in which he tried to establish a qìgōng 氣功 scheme on scientific grounds. For this reason, he is often cited as one of the fathers of modern qìgōng. Jiǎng's book was based on Okada Torajirō's 岡田虎二郎 (1872-1920) 岡田氏靜坐法^[1]

In 1949, he was elected chairman

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Major Works:

• History of Chinese Buddhism 中國佛教史, 1929. This was based on on 支那仏教史綱 by Sakaino Satoru 境野哲 published in 1907. It was revised and republished by Huáng Chànhuá 黃懺華 in 1940.

• Master Yīnshì's Meditation Method 因是子靜坐法. Commercial Press, 1914. This book was based on

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Notes:

1. ↑ Otehode, 243-244.

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References:

Otehode, Utiraruto. “The Creation and Reemergence of Qigong in China.” Yoshiko Ashiwa and David L. Wank, eds. Making Religion, Making the State: The Politics of Religion in Modern China. (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2009), 241-265.

Yú Língbō 于凌波, ed. Xiàndài fójiào rénwù cídiǎn 現代佛教人物辭典 (A Dictionary of Modern Buddhist Persons), 2 vols. (Taipei: Foguang, 2004), 2:1580a-1582b.