The Daoyin Tu

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The Daoyin Tu (Guiding and Stretching Chart).

Between 1972-74, during exacavations at the Mawangdui (King Ma's Mound) Tombs in Changsha, Hunan Province, a silk painting now known as the Daoyin Tu was discovered. The painting was found in the tomb of Xin Zhui (Tomb 1), the wife of Chancellor Li Cang who was also buried at the site in Tomb 2. Dated to the end of the 3rd century BCE, the Daoyin Tu is believed to be one of the earliest depictions of 'health movements' - ancestors of modern qigong - and shows around 40 postures, animal movements, and gymnastic movements aimed at treating pain and improving health.

In addition to the Daoyin Tu, a wealth of other silk documents were found in the third tomb at the site. This tomb contained the burial of the son of Xin Zhui and Li Cang and included very early versions of the Dao De Jing, I Ching, and Zhan Guo Ce.



[Credit: Daoyin tu - chart for leading and guiding people in exercise for improving health and treatment of pain, containing animal postures such as bear walk. This is a reconstruction of a 'Guiding and Pulling Chart' excavated from the Mawangdui Tomb 3 (sealed in 168BC) in the former kingdom of Changsha. The original is in the Hunan Provincial Museum, Changsha, China. Credit: Wellcome Collection. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)]

[Image source (reconstuction): https://wellcomecollection.org/works/rrb7c7cm]

[Image source (original): https://wellcomecollection.org/works/sybqrqu7]

[Other sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mawangdui | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mawangdui_Silk_Texts]



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