The History of Acupuncture and Acupuncture Today

Acupuncture is believed to have originated in China. Documents date back to a few hundred years leading up to the Common Era. Many artifacts such as sharpened stones and bones (also known as ‘bian’) that date from about 6000 years ago have been identified as possible instruments used in acupuncture.

The earliest documented records found, which are written on acupuncture have been found in the <Huang Di Nei Jing> dating from approximately 2000 years ago. The first official text found, is known as the <Nei Ching Su Wen>. There have been documents found in the Ma-Wang-Dui tomb in China, and although they do not refer to acupuncture, they do mention meridians (although very different to the diagram used today).

Acupuncture slowly expanded into other areas such as Japan, Korea, Vietnam and Taiwan, which came with many altercations to the initial methods; however, there were many events prior to this that helped to shape acupuncture as it is today both on a socially and technically.

Acupuncture was very popular during the periods between the Han and Song Dynasties; however, there came a period after this, where the interest in and status of acupuncture started to go downhill, and people took a keener interest in herbalism. Many people came to believe that acupuncture was a less prestigious practice, which commonly became associated with other practices such as alchemy, moxibustion and midwifery. From the beginning of the 19th century, acupuncture was mostly only practiced by Asian immigrants living in Chinatowns.

In the years following the Chinese Civil War, the communist party leaders would mock and ridicule Chinese medicine (which included acupuncture), claiming it to be superstitious, illogical and recessive, as it contradicted the initial ‘scientific’ approach to the new society.

The leader of the communist party (Chairman Mao) later took back the idea, claiming that "Chinese medicine and pharmacology are a great treasure house and efforts should be made to explore them and raise them to a higher level.” Acupuncture continued to grow and develop into what it is today.

Since then, acupuncture has developed in many Western countries as well as Asian. With aspiring practitioners and many more generations to come, it is important to reflect upon how acupuncture came to be as it is today.