Amazing video of the power of chi

If this was the demonstration from "Ring of Fire" I'm not surprised it was removed. That is commercial footage (shown on the PBS series Adventure) which took something like 15 years to produce. The clip is impressive enough that it was used as part of the series title sequence. Most of it was filmed in Indonesia.

It is, I'm afraid, easy to fake. Essentially a fuse (some very different types can be used) hidden in the crumpled paper. Traditional healers frequently see confidence in their abilities an important part of their stock in trade. Some of them (NOT a blanket condemnation -- or a condemnation at all for that matter) feel no qualms about fake demonstrations to promote that confidence. There is a different cultural attitude here (not that different, western doctors have been known to prescribe placebos -- they believe, likely correctly, that it is best for their patients). In some cases, its not really meant to be taken literally, its understood as a mythic metaphor and a demonstration of the practitioners skill *in invoking that metaphor*.

Note: I am strenuously not saying "You can't trust them foreigners". I am saying that "You can't trust your own cultural assumptions and values" when dealing with people from a radically different culture.