This paper aims to bring to the attention of the Western reader instances of corporal behaviour implied in Chinese literary or artistic work, and to insist on the urgent need for gestural research in various cultural areas. In the article, a limited selection of Chinese gestural data is cited for illustration. The highly stylised hand configurations in the Chinese opera, the technical terms in martial arts or the spatial positioning of participants of different social status on a ceremonial occasion are not looked into. However, written expressions with explicit or less explicit gestural descriptions and a few concrete cases do constitute, among other items, the topics for this investigation.