Fang-chung shu

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Fang-chung shu (Chin., ‘arts of the inner chamber’). Taoist practices aiming at immortality (inner or outer, see ALCHEMY and NEI-TAN) through union with the powers of the opposite, i.e. through union of yin and yang. This might be through union of ch'i, breath, but the hoch'i practices (at new moon and full moon) were linked to sexual union—to which fang-chung shu refers as a general term.