b. Acupuncture and Moxibustion (针灸 Zhēnjiǔ)

Acupuncture is a traditional Chinese medical treatment of pain or disease by inserting the tips of needles at specific points on the skin, while moxibustion treats patients by burning moxa strips or moxa cones above the skin to warm specific acupoints up to regulate the qi and blood of the body.

Clinically, acupuncture and moxibustion are adopted on different acupoints according to the pathogenesis diagnosed by traditional Chinese medical treatment. As a miraculous part of TCM, the acupuncture-moxibustion therapy has been spread to the world early in the 6th century.

There is a story between this old treatment and James Reston, former director of New York Times, who was sent to Beijing for covering news in July of 1971. During his stay in Beijing, Reston had a successful appendectomy but felt pain on the next day. With his permit, Doctor Li, who is an expert of acupuncture and moxibustion, treated Reston by acupuncture and moxibustion therapy. Unimaginably, Reston’s symptom eased and never relapsed after that. Returning to the USA, this famous journalist published an article about his personal medical experience in China, which made this old Chinese medical treatment known in his country.

So far, acupuncture and moxibustion have been used in over 120 countries and regions; in addition, acupuncture and moxibustion organizations, educational institutions and research institutes (such as Medical College of Paris University) were set up in the world. It is reported that acupuncture and moxibustion therapy is effective at 307 diseases, of which over 100 get significant effect. In 1980, 43 diseases were recommended to use the therapy by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Then in 1987, the World Federation of Acupuncture and Moxibustion Societies (WFAS) was established in Beijing, which marks acupuncture and moxibustion is officially notarized as a part of world medical community. On November 16th, 2010, this therapy was listed as “Intangible Cultural Heritage” by the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).