Ding Yun was not the first person to write articles explicitly opposing and refuting the fakeness of qigong and martial arts, but she was the most vehement and the one who presented facts and reasoned arguments.
She was the most well-reasoned and convincing refuter.
In the past, when some authors submitted manuscripts saying qigong was fake or martial arts couldn't be that powerful, most of them simply cited a lack of scientific basis.
However, they failed to specify what exactly was unscientific.
Ding Yun's manuscripts, on the other hand, were different.
She didn't critique those qigong masters from a scientific perspective at all. Instead, she meticulously dissected those widely circulated martial arts manuals, revealing which parts were plagiarized from which books, which sentences in classical Chinese had errors, and so on.
If a forged manual had a specific era indicated, Ding Yun would also point out idioms and allusions that shouldn't have appeared in that period, mocking and criticizing them.
Most people, unable to understand the martial arts manuals, didn't blame the manuals themselves. They believed it was their own lack of ability and thought that the obscure, incomprehensible manuals were the genuine ones, and only qigong masters had the right to interpret them.
What Ding Yun did was to shatter this sense of mystery.
She also took the opportunity to popularize hypnosis and psychology, explaining to people how qigong masters could make someone unable to stand with just a finger, or how they could make people feel a warm current flowing within their bodies.
Once certain things are revealed,
it's like a magic trick or a performance being exposed.
As long as everyone can do what those so-called masters claim to do, the mystery will naturally be broken.
People will then naturally realize they've been deceived.
Initially, Ding Yun's exposés of forged martial arts manuals were merely considered interesting by the newspaper editors. The qigong masters could still find excuses to defend themselves, saying things like, "You don't understand. How can outsiders comprehend matters of the inner circle? Those manuals are encrypted, filled with professional jargon, and might seem fake, but they are only useful when interpreted by us."
Then, the first to be impacted were
the people selling the manuals.
Because many of them advertised their manuals as rare, authentic, and secrets that anyone could learn upon reading. A flourishing sunrise industry was collapsing due to just a few articles by Ding Yun!
Some packed up their remaining stock and changed professions.
But some were unwilling to give up.
They began to consider printing interpretive versions of the manuals by the masters.
And then, they naturally faced Ding Yun's second wave of impact, which dug into the roots of qigong.
That is, the true in-depth interpretations.
Articles that completely exposed their magical secrets.
To be honest, upon receiving those manuscripts, the editors did a cursory read and then experimentally followed the descriptions in the articles. They found that it was indeed true, and that ordinary people could perform seemingly miraculous feats, just like qigong masters, by following the instructions.
The editor immediately realized the magnitude of the situation.
He knew even more clearly that once these articles were published, their newspaper would ignite public opinion, and their recent actions would no longer be seen as sensationalism but as integrity, refusing to collude with the fraudsters.
Then, he naturally reported it to the editor-in-chief.
The editor-in-chief reported to the owner behind the scenes. They all reviewed the manuscripts and held a meeting. Even though they knew publishing this content would offend many people, they still decided to proceed with publication.
Not only would they publish it, but they would also increase their publicity.
They would become the flag bearers for promoting science and combating fraud.
The newspaper owner even personally contacted Ding Yun, hoping she would become a columnist for their newspaper, specializing in writing this kind of content.
Promoting science and combating fraud.
Ding Yun agreed. After all, she had many strange popular science stories from shows like "Approaching Science" in her memory, and the manuscript fees at that time were quite good.
What was wrong with writing them to earn some pocket money?
Thus, both parties easily reached an agreement.
Ding Yun also suggested that they could send people to collect more cases, specifically those where people had died or their conditions had worsened due to trusting qigong for a cure and delaying proper treatment, so these could be publicized together.
This would also serve as a warning to the public and increase credibility.
Following this, the newspaper naturally ramped up its publicity and, just before Ding Yun's winter break, released a special issue that detonated this bombshell.
It caused an unprecedented sensation and nationwide shock.
All the so-called masters were left speechless,
unable to explain themselves.
And everyone who read the newspaper, as long as they had a functioning brain or had personally tried some of the simple techniques mentioned in the articles, and indeed managed to perform seemingly miraculous feats that required no inner energy or qigong, were utterly bewildered.
Some who had secretly believed in it and hadn't told many people quickly and secretly threw away their martial arts manuals and master's explanations, never looking at them again.
They were too ashamed.
The more educated they were, the more embarrassed they felt.
Shameful!
How could they have been so easily deceived?
Some who had been practicing for a long time, and had even spontaneously acted as promoters, rallying many people to practice together and believe in a certain master, either felt immediate shame and turned to confront that master for an accounting.
Or they remained stubborn and unwilling to listen,
refusing to accept this reality.
Many major newspapers, after a few days, seemed to react as if just realizing what had happened and joined the criticism.
Investigations were initiated against some of the masters.
Instantly, the formerly widespread public adoration
sharply turned into nationwide condemnation.
And those who had just finished printing the master-annotated versions of martial arts manuals and hadn't sold many were on the verge of tears.
Of course, this was one aspect. On the other hand, the Science Daily, where Ding Yun had been submitting her articles, and Ding Yun's pen name, "Little Science Whiz," became the biggest winners.
After this incident, one saw its sales surge by millions.
The other became a great writer and a learned scholar.
Ordinary readers wouldn't delve deeply into who was behind the pen name "Little Science Whiz." They only felt that while many experts and professors couldn't expose the scams of those qigong masters, "Little Science Whiz" had done so with solid evidence and had even figured out the principles behind their deceptions.
They naturally considered this "Little Science Whiz" to be incredibly capable, awesome, and a big shot.
They also greatly enjoyed the "Approaching Science" series of articles that Ding Yun later published under the "Little Science Whiz" pen name.
For example, a dog suddenly barking wildly might not be because it saw a ghost,
but because its bare feet stepped on a live wire.
Spitting blood might not be due to being haunted by a ghost, but simply bleeding gums, or the presence of electricity everywhere in the house could be a faulty voltage tester. They genuinely strived to use various stories to guide people to use a scientific perspective to understand what was happening with seemingly strange events around them.
Not to mention, these stories were quite captivating.
People enjoyed reading them immensely.
Ding Yun's manuscript fees also began to climb rapidly.