Acupuncture and Moxibustion

Ⅸ-5Traditional MedicineShanghaiBatch 3 (2011)Extension Item

01 · Historical Records

The Lu family acupuncture therapy arose in the late Qing and early Republican period and is one of the acupuncture schools with the greatest influence at home and abroad in modern and contemporary China. The most crucial figure in its formation and development was Lu Shouyan.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

Lu Shouyan's biological father, Li Peiqing (a disciple of Chen Mulan), was long known as the "Magic Needle". Lu Shouyan received family instruction from childhood; at the age of 18 he had completed his studies and began practicing medicine, soon winning fame in Shanghai. He made substantial contributions to the inheritance, popularization, advancement, and improvement of acupuncture medicine. During his lifetime, Lu Shouyan was renowned for giving equal weight to pulse diagnosis and needling: in diagnosis he began with the pulse signs, and only after the principles of the pulse were clear did he discuss the selection of points along the channels and collaterals; hence the emphasis on pulse-taking to improve diagnostic accuracy. In treatment he also advocated the use of extraordinary methods, not being bound by conventional techniques in the pursuit of efficacy. Lu's needles were also specially improved: he created the Shouyan-style gold-and-silver filiform needles and stainless-steel filiform needles, with varying weight and thickness to suit different purposes. He was also the first in China to carry out experimental research on acupuncture manipulation, converting the needling process into measurable and comparable records. In terms of transmission, Lu Shouyan founded the New China Acupuncture Society and correspondence classes, training talent through both master-apprentice inheritance and school teaching; he also created an electric glass teaching model of the channels and acupoints, so that for the first time the positional relationships of the channels and acupoints could be presented with a light-demonstration teaching aid.

The Shouyan-style needles

Lu Shouyan developed gold-silver and stainless needles of differing calibre, treating the needle itself as part of the technique.

Taking the pulse before needling

Emphasis on pulse diagnosis makes the approach systematic: the pulse guides which channel and point to choose.

Warming needles and retained needling

Warming needling and retained needle-moxibustion, with treatment of winter complaints in summer, changed the rhythm of one-shot needling.

The electric glass teaching model

This electrically lit glass model was the earliest modern visual aid for teaching the channels and points.

The society and its correspondence courses

Founded the school society and correspondence courses, training practitioners by apprenticeship and by classroom teaching at the same time.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

The Lu family acupuncture therapy is a summation of the academic thought and academic experience of the Lu school of acupuncture, represented by Lu Shouyan.

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04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

At present, Lu Shouyan's direct disciples are all advanced in years and there is a shortage of successors; the application and study of the Lu family acupuncture therapy are in danger. Academically, the Lu family acupuncture tradition integrates the whole field and forms a system of its own; medically, its needling technique is exquisite and its effects come as swiftly as the answering beat of a drum, winning fame at home and abroad and forming a distinctive medical style. Its achievements in acupuncture medicine mainly include: 1. Devoted study that refined and completed acupuncture theory; 2. Emphasis on pulse-taking to improve diagnostic accuracy; 3. Advocacy of extraordinary methods to improve clinical efficacy; 4. Being the first in China to conduct experimental research on acupuncture manipulation, promoting the scientific development of acupuncture; 5. Promotion of warm needling, latent needling and latent moxibustion, and the treatment of winter diseases in summer, with far-reaching influence; 6. Improvement of the needles, creating the Shouyan-style gold-and-silver filiform needles and stainless-steel filiform needles; 7. Founding the New China Acupuncture Society and correspondence classes, training large numbers of talented people through both master-apprentice inheritance and school teaching; 8. Creating the electric glass teaching model of the channels and acupoints, the earliest provision of modern visual teaching aids for the teaching of acupuncture and the channels; 9. Writing books and establishing theories, spreading academic thought and exerting an important influence in acupuncture circles at home and abroad. Lu Yanyao (recorded in the official file of the associated inheritor): female, of the Han ethnic group, born in March 1944, died in May 2016, from Shanghai. She was a representative inheritor of the fifth national-level batch of the intangible cultural heritage project "Acupuncture (Lu Family Acupuncture Therapy)".

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗

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