In the last forty years hundreds of books and manuals have been written on acupuncture. The vast majority of them (of which I have a good proportion on my bookshelves) are just variations of a set pattern, copied, translated or “inspired” by previous publications, whether in Chinese or non-Chinese languages.

Actually it is very easy to write and publish a book about the subject (at least it used to be easy 20 years ago). The formula, the structure, the contents were ready. I can open nearly any Chinese book, and the table of contents is the same. Let’s take as an example amongst others:In 1978 the Institute (or College or Academy) of TCM of Nanjing published a manual called Zhenjiuxue鍼灸學 which can be translated as: Study of Acupuncture and Moxibustion. It is a title used by many authors.

1.      It is part of a governmental controlled set of books on the topic (the same goes for Chinese medicine as a whole). Each Institute, or College or University is entitled to publish the same book (more or less) for the benefit of the students. This one has 286 pages packed with small size characters and the same illustrations as in all the other books.

2.      Initially the contents were part of a book which came out in 1964. The edition I possess dates from 1973, and it has 400 pages, not because it contains more information but because its size is smaller!

3.      Actually it is quite a good manual.The table of contents runs for ten pages, which is very easy if you list all the points. I will try and extract the important topics:

-        Introduction on the different kinds and categories of channels and points, their meaning and indications (in a broad sense). 20 pages.

-        The pathway and point locations of the 12 Main channels, and their 364 points (or is it 365? Who cares) . 90 pages.

-        The other groups of channels (and no, I will not give you the names). 20 pages

-        The important points which are not on the channels themselves. 10 pages

-        Techniques for using the needle.

-        Techniques for using moxibustion.

-        Other kinds of instruments for stimulating the points (and no,…), plus auriculartherapy, cranial acupuncture, acupuncture analgesia. These last techniques were not part of the first edition because they had not yet become official or not yet invented (during the so-called Cultural Revolution). 47 pages.

-        How to treat various conditions and disorders. 70 pages.

-        Reference books. 40 pages. 

Ah! Not a word on the Five Elements, on the Qi, on diagnostic techniques (including pulse and tongue). The answer is simple: this manual is made for students in Chinese Medicine. Those topics are of course dealt with at length in their general courses, so it is not necessary to mention them here. However in quite a few manuals there are chapters on those subjects. It makes the book thicker and strengthens the links between the theory of acupuncture and the theory of TCM. If in 1979 (to take a date at random) I had translated this book and had it published I am nearly sure that it would have had a great success. And we are far from the enormous books on a very complicated acupuncture that are coming out nowadays, not in China, but in our countries. But people are sometimes fascinated by quantity more than by well thought quality…. 

I don’t want to be carried away by my obsessions. There are still some very good and reasonably sized manuals published nowadays, faithful to the Chinese books. I respect their attitude, but mine differs. I explain it partially in my book: Revisiting Acupuncture, Volume III.  See: www.acupuncture-plus.eu

  A page taken at random in the manual. It is written in “baihua”, vernacular language, and uses simplified characters. If it had been written in “wenyan” 文言, classical Chinese, and in classical characters, there would be even more information. But it would then be much more difficult to read!