Brief Eastern Medical History

Acupuncture and Eastern Medical History

The history of Eastern Medicine and acupuncture can be traced back thousands of years in China. For most of Eastern Medicine's history, the many different branches of care and treatment were separated by families into their specific families’ style.

To say that Eastern Medicine was unified as one primary form of care such as what is taught and practiced by most practitioners here in the west is far from completely accurate. True Classical Eastern Medicine was made up of these specific “family” styles where each treatment would come from a different family with different models, doctrines, and methods.

For example, the use of acupuncture needles would come from the family that utilized needles, herbs from the herb family, or Bone setting (similar to today’s Chiropractic ) from that given family. Within these families' styles there would be many different variations and specializations that would address a given condition in their specific ways.

Through the years, these families would refine their styles and pass down their secrets to the next generation of doctors within their families. These traditions were considered family treasures that were protected and only practiced by those in the family. This was an ideal situation for the development of the rich, vast knowledge of the methods, models, and doctrine of Classical Eastern Medicine. These medical families were seen as the scholars and sages of their respected times and regions. People would travel great distances to receive care from these masters of their families' styles.

The history of Medicine in China follows closely with that of the political regimes that were in power. Much like our medical history here in the States, the governing body would pass on the newest ideas that best suited their agenda. (Please see Michael Moore’s Sicko for more background on the history of medicine in the U.S.)

In China, the eventual coming into power of the Communists, led by Mao Ze-Dong in the 1940s led to the Cultural Revolution and the near elimination of Classical Chinese  Medicine. During this time the families that had been practicing medicine and had other scholarly interests were sent to work in the fields in the hope of balancing the scales between the poor and the wealthy, the educated and the laborer.

Mao quickly learned that the development of Western (Allopathic) style medicine was out of his vast country's reach at that time. He needed to bring back the traditions and art of the classical medicine of the people.

To do this, Mao created a "new" form of medicine, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). Prior to Mao and his creation of TCM, the families controlled their style and their doctrine. Mao found all these different styles and methods cumbersome and very difficult to teach to the masses. He unified the masters of many of the families (primarily from the herbal families) and mandated how Chinese Medicine would be defined, taught, and practiced. During this time, Masters like Master Tung left the Communist-controlled China for many other countries in Asia.  

Each country would take the classic texts and the family styles to create systems that allowed greater variation in doctrine and practice. Master Tung settled in Taiwan where he opened his final clinic based on his family's traditions and eventually passed them on to his apprentices. Due in part to the Cultural Revolution, Master Tung did not have family left to pass down his family’s secrets and traditions which lead to the first apprentice that he trained. Master Tung's Acupuncture is characterized by his unique methods of holographic imaging and extremity needling.

Following the Cultural Revolution, Mao changed his tune in regard to Chinese Medicine. He strengthened the country's connection to its history while still bringing ideas from the west into the country's health care system.

Chinese Medicine essentially came to the States following President Richard Nixon's visit in the early 1970s. While in China, one of his staff required an emergency appendectomy where he received Acupuncture as the form of anesthesia.