place their beds on tortoises, and their families do not remove the beds until those boys have died of old age." Thus, these animals have lived at least fifty or sixty years, and, given that they can dispense this long with food or drink and still not die, it shows that they are far different from common creatures. Why should we doubt that they can last a thousand years? Isn't there good reason for the Genii Classics to suggest we imitate the breathing of the tortoise? (3, tr. Ware 1966: 56-57) Another interpretation is putting a tortoise into, rather than on a bed. "It is allegedly common in the area of the Yangtse and the Huai to put a tortoise into the bed in childhood; when people die of old age, the tortoise is still alive. (tr. Eberhard 1968: 321). This Baopuzi context repeatedly mentions cranes and tortoises (Chinese exemplars of longevity) using daoyin calisthenics without xingqi. For instance, "Knowing the great age attained by tortoises and cranes, he imitates their calisthenics so as to augment his own life span" (Ware 1966: 53); "Therefore, God's Men merely ask us to study the method by which these animals extend their years through calisthenics and to model ourselves on their eschewing of starches through the consumption of breath" (1966: 58); "the tortoise and the crane have a special understanding of calisthenics and diet" (1966: 59). The c. 2nd-century to 1st-century BCE Huangdi neijing (Inner Canon of the Yellow Emperor) uses xingqi (行氣) five times in the Suwen (素問, Basic Questions) and three in the Lingshu Jing (靈樞, Spiritual Pivot) sections. For instances, the Suwen (經脈別論, Treatise on How to Distinguish the Vascular System) section says, The force of the pulse flows into the arteries (經) and the force of the arteries ascends into the lungs; the lungs send it into all the pulses (百脈), which then transport its essence to the skin and the body hair. The entire vascular system unites with the secretions [毛脈合精] and passes the force of life on to a storehouse [行氣於腑], which stores the energy and vitality and intelligence. These are then transmitted to the four (parts of the body), and the vital forces of the viscera are restored to their order. (21, tr. Veith 1949: 196) And Suwen (太陰陽明論, Treatise on the Region of the Great Tin and on the Region of the 'Sunlight') says, The