• Overview
  • Forms of Treatment
  • Prevalence and Use in the U.S.
  • Costs and Coverage
  • Licensure and Credentials
  • Transmission of Chinese Medical Thought
  • East Asian Medical Theory and Diagnosis
• Interventions
  • Acupuncture
  • Chinese Herbal Medicine
  • Meditative Exercises
• Conditions
  • Acupuncture and Smoking Cessation
  • Acupuncture in the Treatment of Hypertension
  • Tai Chi and Cardiovascular Health

Transmission of Chinese Medical Thought

Significant Events	Time
The process of wine making was discovered which led to traditional Chinese medical uses for combinations with herbs for anesthetic and general stimulation of joints. Bian stones, special tools used for scraping and piercing the skin, were used to treat disease and recorded in literature.	2000 - 1500 BC
Records of illnesses, medicines and treatment methods were inscribed on tortoise shells and flat cattle bones. Philosophical thinking of yin-yang and five elements was formed.	1700 - 1027 BC
Earliest record of herbs was written in the Poem Classic (Shi Jing). The theory of Six Pathogenic Factors was developed during this time to explain diseases, eliminating the theory of supernatural causes as a source for disease. Concepts of Qi, Blood (Xue), and Body Fluids (Jin and Ye) were used in medical diagnosis and treatment. Records of the famous physician Bian Que who lived in the fifth century BC are recorded.	1027 - 221 BC
The first Emperor Qin unified China and started construction of the Great Wall. Commerce on the Silk Road thrived between countries along the Roadís path, including trade in herbs . The earliest record of formularies, Prescriptions for Fifty-two Ailments (Wu Shi Er Bing Fang), was created on two silk manuscripts. In this text physicians began to generalize and summarize East Asian Medicine (EAM) and record the locations of meridians. Case reports of twenty-five patients are recorded by a famous second century BC physician Yi Chunyu in his text, Historical Records.	221 BC - AD 9
AD 25 - 220 is the period of the Eastern Han Dynasty and the following era, AD 220 - 265 is the Three Kingdoms Period. During these periods the earliest known materia medica is written. Entitled the Divine Husbandman's Materia Medica (Shen Nong Ben Cao), this text covers more than 365 medical substances, one for each day of the year. Medicinal functions were described according to symptoms. Principles of taste, property and correct composition of herbal prescription (chief, deputy, assistant and envoy herbs) are noted. This time period produced three additional texts of particular note, all of which are referenced today by many practitioners of traditional East Asian herbal medicine and acupuncture. The first of the three, Treatise of Cold Disease (Shan Han Lun) written by Zhang Zhong Jing serves as a source for subsequent prescription manuals. The Essentials from the Golden Cabinet Classic (Jin Gui Yao Lue), and The Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic (Huang Di Nei Jing Medical Canon) established the theoretical and philosophical foundations of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and subsequently traditional East Asian Medicine practiced throughout the world. The celebrated physician Hua Tou lived during this period. He was most famous for his performance of abdominal and back surgeries as well as the anesthetic formula he developed, Ma Fei Tan.	AD 9 - 265
This time period spans the Jin and the Southern Dynasties. Publications of note include Emergency Formulas to Keep Up One's Sleeve (Bei Jin Zhou Hou Fang), written by Ge Hong. The publication included simple, inexpensive formulas and acupuncture treatments. In the sixth century, Emperor Liangwu sent medical doctors to Korea, thus officially introducing acupuncture and moxibustion outside of China. China reached out to Japan when the Chinese Government presented the book Canon of Acupuncture to the Mikado of Japan in AD 552 . Also in the sixth century, Mi Yun from Dun Huang of China's Gansu Province introduced Hua Tuoís therapeutic methods and prescription to the Daochang State of north India.	AD 265 - 581
AD 618-907 is known as the period of the Tang Dynasty. The Thousand Ducat Formulas (Qian Jin Yao Fang) was written in AD 650-52 by Sun Si Mao during this era. The Newly Revised Materia Medica (Xin Xiu Ben Cao), the official materia medica of the Tang dynasty, was written. Active trade of herbs between China and India, Vietnam and Arabia introduced new medicinal substances into the materia medica. In the seventh century the Japanese government sent physicians to China to study Chinese medicine. In AD 702 the Japanese government issued an Imperial Order to copy the medical educational system of the Chinese Tang Dynasty and set up a specialty of acupuncture and moxibustion.	AD 618 - 907
This period spans the Liao, Song, Jin and Yuan Dynasties. Materia Medica Arranged According to Pattern (Zheng Lei Ben Cao) was written; it contained over 1558 entries and was the major materia medica of the Song Dynasty. Various schools of medical thought regarding the best methods of treating disorders began to form. The 10-volume The Pulse Classic (Mai Jing) was written by Wang Su He.	AD 1038 - 1234
The most complete and significant herbal material medica was written in China, The Grand Materia Medica (Ben Cao Gang Mu) by Li She Zhen. It took 27 years for him to complete the work and includes over 1892 entries and 11,000 herbal formulas totaling 52 volumes. It is still published today in several languages. During the Ming Dynasty (AD1368-1644 ), many prominent Chinese physicians debated and refined their theories and treatments of using acupuncture and herbal medicine. Considerable summarization of previously recorded Chinese medical literature regarding pathophysiology and treatment was written during this period. In the fourteenth century, Chinese acupuncturist Zou Yin went to Vietnam to treat diseases for the Vietnamese nobles. Acupuncture and moxibustion were introduced to Europe in the 16th c. through the efforts of Jesuit priests and import businessmen.	AD 1279 - 1644
The Qing dynasty spans AD 1644 - 1911 and mid-way through this time the Chinese-European Opium War of 1840 was waged. The influence of Hippocrates and European medicine (essentially vitalism and humoral medicine) was brought to China by way of Jesuit missionaries. During this period, Chinese physicians began to incorporate European thought into their practices and developed a nascent style of integrative medicine. In 1928, the first integrative hospital in China, Jing Gang Shan Hospital, was established. In 1934, The Technique and Principle of Electro-acupuncture and The Study of Electro-Acupuncture were written by Tang Shi Cheng, starting the use of elecro-acupuncture in China. During the same period, the noted Chinese practitioner Tang Zhong Hai wrote a comparision of traditional Chinese and biomedical medicines. His work ushered in the Dual Diagnosis model of integration, which describes a patient receiving both a biomedical and a Chinese medicine diagnosis and is commonly used in China today.	AD 1644 - 1949
The Encyclopedia of Traditional Chinese Medicinal Substance (Zhong Yao Da Ci Dian) was published. The text contains 5767 entries. In 1950, Chairman Mao Zedong developed policies aimed at uniting doctors of Western and traditional Chinese medical schools. In the 1950s, China gave assistance to the Soviet Union and other Eastern European countries in training acupuncturists. Felix Mann learned acupuncture during this time and began writing his books which were the first systematic popular introduction of acupuncture to the European and American reading public. Acupuncture entered popular American discourse in the early 1970s when the New York Times reporter James Reardon gave an account of its therapeutic effects during his bout with appendicitis in China while he was reporting on then President Nixonís visit. The first school of East Asian medicine in the United States, the New England School of Acupuncture (NESA), was founded in Boston.	AD 1950 - 1977

Sources

• R Bivins. "The Needle and the Lancet: Acupuncture in Britain, 1683-2000," Medical Acupuncture, June 2001, 19(1): 2-14.
• L Dorfer, M. Moser, F. Bahr, et al, "A Medical Report from the Stone Age?" The Lancet, September 18, 1999, 354(9183):1023-1025.
• David Gosling. "Thailandís Bare Headed Doctors," Modern Asian Studies, 19(4): 761-791.
• JJ Hurtak. "An Overview of Acupuncture Medicine," Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, October 2002 8(5): 535-538.
• F. Klein-Franke, Z. Ming, D. Qi. "The Passage of Chinese Medicine to the West," American Journal of Chinese Medicine, 29(3-4): 559-565.

Historical Sources also include

• Classics from Traditional Chinese Medicine, History of Medicine Division, National Library of Medicine, NIH, October 19, 1999 ‚ May 30, 2000. See http://www.nlm.nih.gov/hmd/chinese/chinesehome.html.
• Cheng Xin Nong, Ed., Chinese Acupuncture and Moxibustion, Revised Ed. Beijing: Foreign Languages Press, 1987, 1999.
• Evergreen Herbs and Medical Supplies, LLC Catalog 2002-2004, 2002.