  A survey is given on selected topics of physics in the non-perturbative,
hadronic sector of the QCD phase diagramme. Following a brief QCD primer, some
highlights of Lattice QCD are summarised. Chiral effective field theory as the
low-energy realisation of QCD is reviewed, with applications in pion-pion
scattering, the scalar form factor of the nucleon and the interpolation of
nucleon properties between lattice QCD results and actual observables. Chiral
SU(3) dynamics, incorporating the strange quark, is developed with examples
relating to low-energy kaon-nucleon interactions. The quest for quasiparticles
in QCD and their correlations, beyond the simple partonic pictures of hadron
structure, is discussed and aspects of QCD thermodynamics are explored in this
context.
