The Masculinity of a Chinese Religious Healer beyond Wen-Wu: Attending to Wounds, Physical Contact, and Intimacy in the Healer-Patient Relationship

My paper argues for the category of the religious healer to be included in the conversation regarding Chinese masculinities. Using the case study of a contemporary Chinese American healer who employs qigong, fengshui, acupressure massage, and Buddhist chants, I explain how this religious healer attends to wounds in his community and for himself. Admitting one’s wounds and need for healing is a vulnerability not typically associated with masculinity. Through the dominant the lens of Chinese masculinity, the wen-wu (civil and martial) dyad, this healer had multiple teachers and is an autodidact, and practices baguaquan, a form of boxing martial arts. However, my case study aims to interrogate how my subject’s role as a religious healer moves beyond wen-wu. The theoretical contribution is to highlight what has been missing in scholarship on Chinese masculinities: physical touch and intimacy in the healer-patient relationship. His healing is not only physical, but also soteriological.