Acupuncture in ancient China: how important was it really?
10.3736/jintegrmed2013008
- Author:
Hanjo LEHMANN
1
Author Information
1. Deutsches Institut für TCM, Cranachstr. 1, D-12157 Berlin, Germany. Lehmann@tcm.de
- Publication Type:Journal Article
- MeSH:
Acupuncture Therapy;
history;
Books;
history;
China;
History, 17th Century;
History, 18th Century;
History, 19th Century;
History, 20th Century;
Humans;
Medicine, Chinese Traditional;
history
- From:
Journal of Integrative Medicine
2013;11(1):45-53
- CountryChina
- Language:English
-
Abstract:
Although acupuncture theory is a fundamental part of the Huangdi Neijing, the clinical application of the needle therapy in ancient China was always a limited one. From early times there have been warnings that acupuncture might do harm. In books like Zhang Zhongjing's Shanghanlun it plays only a marginal role. Among the 400 emperors in Chinese history, acupuncture was hardly ever applied. After Xu Dachun called acupuncture a "lost tradition" in 1757, the abolition of acupuncture and moxibustion from the Imperial Medical Academy in 1822 was a radical, but consequent act. When traditional Chinese medicine was revived after 1954, the "New Acupuncture" was completely different from what it had been in ancient China. The conclusion, however, is a positive one: The best time acupuncture ever had was not the Song dynasty or Yuan dynasty, but is now - and the future of acupuncture does not lie in old scripts, but in ourselves.
