The Mother of China's Scientific Acupuncture & The Road She Paved to Globalization of Needle Therapy

In Nov 3-5, 1997, an academic conference on acupuncture was held by National Institute of Health (NIH) in Maryland, USA. Han Ji-sheng 韩济生 (1928 - ), a Neurophysiology professor from China, was the first speaker at the meeting with a speech titled “Acupuncture activates endogenous system of analgesia.”

A Turning Point for Acupuncture's Global Recognization

This conference became a historical turning point where acupuncture started to be recognized globally in biomedical mainstream. After the conference, the NIH declared that there was sufficient evidence of acupuncture’s value to expand its use into conventional medicine, and also recommended that acupuncture be taught in medical schools.

A Political Task Changed A Scholar's Academical Life

Han, a Western medical scholar graduated from Shanghai Medical College in 1953, had never thought of relating himself in any way to acupuncture research until 1965. “I flatly did not believe acupuncture”, Han looked back on his past. Han started the research on acupuncture analgesia in 1965 which was a political task assigned to him during China's movement of “Western medical doctors studying Chinese Medicine” demanded by Mao Zedong.

Accomplishing this politically-initiated task turned Han a worldwide famous figure in acupuncture science. He became the first in discovering that serotonin and opioid peptides are the two main chemical substances mediating acupuncture analgesic effect. Since 1979, he has been invited to lecture at?more than 100 universities and institutions in 26 countries, and has been supported by NIH for the study of Neurobiology of Acupuncture Analgesia for 13 consecutive years.

A Foundation Stone Laid over A Glass of Wine

Han's academical life could have been much different if Mao's intervention had never happened, so could the development of scientific acupuncture in the world. But Mao's intervention specifically into acupuncture might not have happened if Mao had not read a book “New Acupuncture” authored by an obstetrician physician-acupuncturist Zhu Lian (1909 – 1978).

Zhu, as the director of the Institute of Acupuncture of China at the time, mailed her book to Mao in March, 1955. One month later in an evening on April 15, Mao banqueted Zhu and had a talk with her over a glass of wine.

“Palvov's neurology theory provided a key to explain the mysteries of acupuncture. Conversely, acupuncture could provide plentiful clinical materials for neurological research... so further research on acupuncture would greatly push on the reformation of medical theory. Right?” Mao asked . “Yes”, replied Zhu.

“Today I propose a toast to the long live of acupuncture,” Mao got up. “Acupuncture is the essence of essence of Chinese medicine...I further toast to the publishing of New Acupuncture and hope it be translated as soon as possible into foreign languages, this is a big contribution by our country to the world.”

By the late 1950s, New Acupuncture had been introduced to Soviet Union, North Korea, Vietnam and other countries. Thus, Zhu Lian's acupuncture book laid the first foundation stone of the road leading to the global scientization of acupuncture.

A Slogan Changed A Girl's Career Forever

But just until about 10 years ago Zhu Lian had been an obstetrician and had known nothing about acupuncture. How come that she wound up being a knowledgeable acupuncture scholar with such a high prestige that a talk with her over a cup of wine could have shaped the vision of the most powerful man in the communist China of the 20th century?

In 1931, a 21 years-old girl graduated from a Western medical school – Obstetric School in Suzhou, China. She had ever since worked as a Western OB/GYN doctor until 1944 when she, as deputy director of Yan'an Military Hospital, attended a meeting in which Mao Zedong, the leader of Chinese communists party, put up a slogan “Western doctors should learn Chinese medicine and help Chinese medicine doctors to be scientific”. Mao's slogan changed this girl's career forever - from a Western obstetrician doctor to an acupuncture scholar. The girl's name was Zhu Lian.

The Birth of Scientific Acupuncture in China

Zhu Lian immediately started to learn acupuncture from an experienced Chinese acupuncture doctor Ren Zuotian 任作田 in Yan'an, where the headquarter of Mao's communist guerrilla government was located. In 1949 when the Communists were winning the Civil War, Zhu completed an acupuncture handout for teaching based on her Western medical knowledge and acupuncture clinical experience. This handout was published in 1951 with the book name "New Acupuncture".

Zhu's professional background allowed her to view acupuncture from a broad range of perspectives. The book interpreted acupuncture not on the basis of yin-yang and 5 elements but on Russian scientist Ivan Pavlov's neurological theory. The key points of Zhu's “New Acupuncture” included:

- Yin-Yang, 5 elements were discarded and replaced with neuroscience;

- The conception of Zang-fu organs was thrown away;

- The 12 Jing-Mai vessel (meridians) system were rejected;

- The traditional acupoints were retained but re-arranged on a “newly designed” human body consisting of sections, divisions, such as head, neck, chest etc.

In 1950, Zhu was appointed by Mao's communist government the positions of Vice President of the China Academy of Chinese Medicine and Director of the Institute of Acupuncture. In 1951 - 1954, acupuncture textbooks were compiled by Chinese Medicine training schools across the country aiming to train the existing Chinese medicine practitioners in terms of modern science. All of the textbooks followed Zhu’s acupuncture system.

The early 1950s was a time when a scientization movement of acupuncture in China was in full swing. It was in this time a girl became the mother of China's scientific acupuncture, and her work paved the road leading to the global recognition of a Chinese healing art -- needle therapy, although an abrupt closure of the road to a scientific healing art soon followed.

The 1950s became a weird turning point in acupuncture history.

References

Han Ji-Sheng 韩济生, Acupuncture and endorphins, Neurosci. Lett. 2004 May 6, 361(1-3):258-61

National Institutes of Health, NIH Consensus Development Conference on Acupuncture, November 3-5, 1997, Bethesda, Maryland

Zhang Shu-jian 张树剑，Zhu Lian's New Acupuncture: Academic System and acupuncture science initialization, Zhongguo Zhen Jiu 中国 针灸, 2015 Nov;35(11):1199-202

Zhu, Lian 朱琏，New Acupuncture 新针灸学, 1951, People's Publish House人民出版社