Trailer
Summary
Can healing be real if science can't measure it?
Between Qi and Science: My Experience of What Can’t Be Measured is a six-episode audio memoir about qi, Chinese medicine, and the limits of Western biomedicine. It follows a Cantonese immigrant sweatshop worker who became a self-taught community healer in Brooklyn's Coney Island. His son, Dr. Kin Cheung, a scholar of religion and Buddhism, takes us on the journey of living with and learning from his father.
The story starts with a teenage encounter with qigong (hei gong). From there it traces the sweatshop labor, poverty, and immigration that shaped a "wounded healer." Later episodes dig into acupuncture, placebo research, and the politics of "traditional medicine." Other episodes cover Asian American masculinity and stereotypes, and the challenge of holding mainstream medicine, Chinese healing practices, and Buddhism as equally real.
The series blends personal narrative, oral history, and religious studies scholarship. It's for listeners interested in alternative medicine, Asian American stories, religion and science, and healing and grief across generations.
Created by the Institute for Religion, Media, and Civic Engagement (IRMCE), in collaboration with the Asian Pacific American Religions Research Initiative (APARRI) through generous funding from the Henry Luce Foundation as part of the Under Gods project.
Executive Producer: Brad Onishi
Producer: Andrew Gill
Original Music, Scoring, and Engineering: Scott Okamoto
Story Editor: Leah Payne
Production Assistance: Kari Onishi
Cover Art: Eric Zwierzynski
Straight White American Jesus
The flagship show examining Christian nationalism and democracy.
Listen Now
Reign of Error
Explore how religious and ideological extremism—especially white Christian nationalism—has become central to U.S. politics in the Trump era and beyond.
Listen Now
