Historic Perspectives of Chinese Acupuncture

Historic Perspectives of Chinese Acupuncture
Developed in the 20th Century
Yemeng Chen, L.Ac., FICAE
American Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine
New York Institute of Chinese Medicine
155 First Street
Mineola, NY 11501
BLOOMING LOTUS, INC.

Chinese acupuncture has experienced the wax and wane within the past one hundred years. Although the imperial government banned acupuncture in the beginning of the 20th century, the late stage of Qing dynasty, acupuncture was still applied by the populous. When the Qing Dynasty ended, traditional Chinese medicine was still not in a position to exercise it abilities. Due to its distinguish therapeutic effects, well received by the populous, acupuncture was not destroyed and has still been handed down to this very day. In the 1930Ìs, some scholars made lot of effort to educate and spread acupuncture to academics. In the second half of the 20th century, acupuncture has been rapidly and extensively developed both in the technological reform and scientifically based research. I believe that in the history of Chinese acupuncture, this period is the another optimal time for development as it was in the Ming dynasty (1368 Ò 1644).
I will emphasize the top events of what happened to Chinese acupuncture in the 20th century in the following.
Invention of Electro-Acupuncture
One of revolutionary inventions for acupuncture profession was Electro-Acupuncture, which was first introduced by Shi-Chen Tang in 1934. In his thesis entitled ÏThe Research on the Science of Electro-AcupunctureÓ, he introduced the invention of electro-acupuncture and the impact of electric current to the bodyÌs skin, nerve, vessels and sensory organs based on experimental research. During the 1950Ìs,
Longyu Zhu and other scholars had done extensive research on this issue. After the 1960Ìs, electro-acupuncture instruments have been widely used in the clinic. It really broadened the ranges of acupuncture indication and significantly increased the therapeutic effect on certain diseases such as neurological disorders. It also led to the possibility of successful acupuncture ...