Chinese Acupuncture Before Communism
Most people agree that acupuncture is a medical technique that has been practiced for thousands of years. And most people agree that acupuncture practice originated in Asia, specifically in China. So, over time, the number of acupuncture treatments carried out must be counted in the order of billions!
So it’s quite surprising to find that the acupuncture practiced today by most acupuncturists, and known of by the general public, is a relatively new medical technique, created following the chinese communist revolution of 1949, and known as traditional chinese medicine (TCM).
As with most revolutionary movements, what went before the revolution is consigned to history, discarded in favour of new revolutionary principles. Such has been the fate of classical chinese medicine (CCM), and of chinese acupuncture in particular.
The chinese communist revolution of 1949 was particularly severe in it’s efforts to eradicate the old ways. Books were burned, the intelligentsia silenced, old practices banned and a new communist approach was lauded as evolutionary progress.
Consequently, there is very little that is traditional in the modern chinese acupuncture paradigm. In it’s efforts to wipe the slate clean and create a new world order, chinese communism disassociated itself from a chinese heritage built over thousands of years. CCM was but one casualty of the communist cause.
Stripped of a medical model that had endured literally since the beginning of recorded time, chinese communism attempted to modernise chinese acupuncture to bring it in line with the symptomatic approach of modern western medicine. Gone was the principle of health through balance that distinguishes CCM from TCM.
This radical shift in medical doctrine was underpinned by cherry picking two CCM diagnostic techniques – ‘the differentation of syndromes’ and ‘the eight conditions’ – and presenting them as the basis for medical treatment. These two diagnostic techniques became the pillars, the foundation, for TCM. In this way, communist acupuncture practice could align with the symptomatic medical approach of modern western medicine.
However, time and evolution moves us along, and so it is in the field of medicine. Western medicine is progressing from a symptomatic approach to illness to a genetic understanding of illness. Ironically, what was discarded and rejected by the communist revolution i.e. CCM, becomes relevant in the light of the birth of genetic medicine. The medical model underpinning CCM is an energetic model, a mirror to the emerging genetic model of western medicine. One might say that genetic medicine, with it’s emphasis on the material building blocks of life, is a yin medicine in relation to the yang medicine of CCM which emphasises the energetic forces that create, control and sustain material life.
Despite the best efforts of chinese communism in its aim to obliterate the energetic model at the heart of CCM, this ancient alchemic model has survived intact. In these modern times this ancient knowledge elevates the practice of acupuncture from merely symptomatic treatment of illness to an energetic treatment of illness. In this way, the acupuncturist becomes a master acupuncturist.
The clinical methodolgy and practice of master acupuncture has been published in the latest publication of the prestigious European Journal of Chinese Medicine (pages 33-36). Here is the online link:
https://phoenixtcm.org.uk/the-european-journal-of-chinese-medicine-volume-iv-english/
For acupuncturists who aspire to become master acupuncturists, the curriculum that enables this transition is freely available. Here is the online link:
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