Editorial policy

How movement descriptions are written

• Every movement is described in sequence, step by step, in plain language
• No step relies on an image to make sense — the text must work on its own
• The seated version is given for every movement, in every case
• Cautions are listed for every movement, including the ones that seem obviously safe
• Repetition counts are given rather than left to interpretation

How pages are reviewed

Each movement page carries three things at the bottom: who reviewed it, when, and whether the review is complete. Pages still awaiting review say "Awaiting review" rather than pretending otherwise. Data comes from a single source file, so a correction propagates to every page that uses it rather than being fixed in one place and missed in another.

How research is used

We cite studies to show that a practice has been studied and what was measured. We describe findings in the terms the study used. We do not turn a reported finding into a claim about what will happen to a reader, and we include a section on the limitations of the evidence rather than only the positive results.

Why the form names differ between sources

Chinese movement routines have no single settled English naming. The Chinese Health Qigong Association publishes an official English edition of each routine, and those official titles are often long and clinical because they were written as literal translations. Independent teachers, meanwhile, use short descriptive names that are easier to say in a class.

We print both wherever we can. Each form of the Twelve-Section Brocade on this site carries the official English title from the published English edition alongside a short descriptive name, so you can check either against the source you are working from.

• The official English title — quoted verbatim from the published official edition, so it can be verified
• The descriptive name — what we use in headings and instructions, because it is what people say out loud
• The Chinese name and pinyin — because the Chinese name is the only unambiguous identifier

Where we depart from the official English titles

Not all official English titles are usable on a site like this one. Two of the eight official titles for the standing Baduanjin routine include a medical claim in the title itself, and we do not reproduce claims of that kind. For those two movements we use a descriptive name only, and we say so here rather than quietly varying the wording.

This is an editorial decision, not a disagreement about the movement. The movements are the same ones the official routine describes.

What we refuse to publish

• Claims that the practice produces a medical result, or that it changes the course of any named condition
• Pages about a specific disease with a purchase button on them
• Supplement, course or affiliate promotion of any kind
• Content generated without human review and attributed to the author
• Movement descriptions we cannot trace to a named source

Corrections

If you are a practitioner or teacher and a description does not match how the movement is taught in the standard, please tell us. Corrections are reviewed the same way as original content and reflected in the review date on the affected pages.