Acupuncture: Over 1500 years of globalization
The worldwide dissemination of acupuncture can be divided into four stages. Acupuncture has spread to at least 140 countries and areas to date.
First Stage: By around the 6th century AD, acupuncture had begun to spread to the neighboring lands of Korea, Vietnam, and Japan. Particularly in Japan, the fundamental texts of acupuncture were imported, absorbed, and studied with great care.
541 AD: Chinese practitioners were dispatched to Korea by the Chinese government.
552 AD: The emperor of China presents Japan a copy of the Classic of Acupuncture (a section of the Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine (Huangdi Neijing).
562 AD: Monk Zhi Cong brings the Manual of Channels and Acupoints (Mingtang Tu) and the Systematic Classic of Acupuncture and Moxibustion (Zhenjiu Jiayijing) to Korea and Japan.
754 AD: Jian Zhen, a high official of the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD), crosses the sea to Japan to promulgate Buddhism and Chinese medicine.
Second Stage: By around the 12th century AD, acupuncture had started to reach the Middle East via the Silk Road.
Third Stage: By the late 1500's to early 1600's, acupuncture had begun to filter into Europe by way of Japan and the Maritime Silk Road, transmitted by the Jesuits in particular.
1671 AD: Harvieu, a Jesuit monk, produces the first French translation of a work on acupuncture when he returns to France from Macao and Beijing.
1683 AD: Willem Ten Rhyne, a Dutch physician who visited Nagasaki in Japan in the early part of the 17th century, publishes Dissertatio de Arthride: Mantissa Schematica de Acupunctura, a Latin dissertation on acupuncture, in London and invents the European term "acupuncture."
1810 AD: The first recorded use of acupuncture in Europe occurs at the Paris School of Medicine when Dr. Berlioz employs it to treat a young woman suffering from abdominal pain. The Paris Medical Society describes this as a somewhat reckless form of treatment.
1823 AD: Acupuncture is mentioned in the first edition of the Lancet.
Fourth Stage: Since the early 1970s, acupuncture has spread dramatically throughout the world, catalyzed by Nixon’s historical visit to China and popularized by the World Health Organization (WHO).
1971: James Reston reports on his experience with acupuncture in Beijing in the New York Times. This article represents the first news of acupuncture to reach the English-speaking citizens of the United States, or at least the vast majority who have no daily contact with Asians.
1973: The American Journal of Acupuncture starts publication. The journal has played an important role in the clinical practice and study of acupuncture in the West.
1976: Dr. Bruce Pomeranz, a professor in the Department of Zoology at the University of Toronto, publishes an original article stating that analgesia in acupuncture is mediated by endorphins. His research is the first to utilize the Western scientific paradigm to explain why acupuncture works.
1979: An international conference on acupuncture, moxibustion, and acupuncture anesthesia sponsored by WHO is held in Beijing and attended by participants from twelve countries. Its purpose is to discuss ways in which priorities and standards for acupuncture may be determined in the areas of clinical practice, research, training, and transfer of technology. The conference draws up a provisional list of diseases that lend themselves to treatment with acupuncture.
1987: The World Federation of Acupuncture Societies (WFAS) is founded in Beijing. Today, the WFAS has 76 branches representing over 70,000 members from 43 countries and regions.
1997: The National Institute of Health (NIH) of the United States acknowledges the effectiveness of acupuncture in the treatment of a number of diseases.
1998: The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) launches a column devoted to alternative and complementary therapies.
2000: The British Medical Association (BMA) delivers a report on acupuncture and concludes that acupuncture is safe and effective for treating a number of diseases and disorders.
