Acupuncture and Moxibustion
01 · Historical Records
The Zhao family's thunder-fire moxibustion began in the Tongzhi reign of the Qing dynasty and has a history of more than 150 years to date.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The Zhao family's thunder-fire moxibustion is a traditional Chinese medical therapy that uses a secret family recipe of thunder-fire moxibustion sticks, applies syndrome differentiation according to the channels and skin regions, employs the therapeutic concept of "covering an area to bring along the points," and combines distinctive moxibustion techniques to treat disease. Chongqing is the main area of distribution of the Zhao family's thunder-fire moxibustion. It has a subtropical monsoon humid climate with abundant rainfall and converging rivers, prone to rain and fog, dampness, muggy heat, and cloudy weather, with heavy moisture in the air. Hot summers and cold winters combined with this damp climate make people in Chongqing susceptible to attacks by cold-damp pathogens, and wind-cold-damp impediment conditions are common. During the Tongzhi reign of the Qing dynasty, Zhao Zhongde, a folk doctor of Zhao Family Slope in Bishan, Chongqing, modified the formula on the basis of thunder-fire divine needling, changed pressed moxibustion into suspended moxibustion, and founded the Zhao family's thunder-fire moxibustion therapy. The moxibustion manipulations of the Zhao family's thunder-fire moxibustion are divided into traditional and distinctive techniques. There are five traditional techniques: sparrow-pecking, small circling, horizontal, vertical, and oblique strokes. There are six distinctive techniques: ten-finger flushing, used for pain and emergency treatment of heart disease; the pulling-searing stroke, used for blocked fallopian tubes; the large spiral, used for central obesity; high mountain and flowing water, used for allergic rhinitis; sharing the autumn moon, used for dry eye; and array-setting, used for deficiency-cold conditions. The therapy uses secret-recipe thunder-fire moxibustion sticks and special moxibustion instruments. It is characterized by fierce firepower, potent medicinal force, and strong penetration, and can warm the channels and dispel cold, activate blood and resolve stasis, eliminate phlegm and remove dampness, and reduce swelling and relieve pain. The secret-recipe moxibustion stick can reach a surface temperature of 240 degrees Celsius. The ability to control temperature through the coordination of manipulation and instruments is the most distinctive feature of the Zhao family's thunder-fire moxibustion and is of important clinical value. The Zhao family's thunder-fire moxibustion belongs to traditional Chinese therapies, with unique therapeutic characteristics, traditional production craft, and distinctive moxibustion techniques, embodying profound traditional Chinese cultural features and strong regional characteristics.
The high heat of the thunder-fire stick
The formula burns at 240 degrees on the surface, and controlling that heat with special holders and moving technique is the craft's hallmark.
Covering an area instead of seeking single points
Differentiating by the dermal areas of the channels, a surface is treated in place of single points, as summed up in Zhao Shibi's book.
Sparrow-pecking and small circling
Two of the five traditional manipulations, lifting the stick in a pecking motion or circling it close over the area.
Ten-finger spreading thrust
A special manipulation for pain and cardiac emergencies, working with all ten fingers at once for a wide, rapid effect.
The pulling technique and the array pattern
One pulls along the channel line, the other lays out points in an ordered array for deficiency-cold patterns.
Suspending the stick instead of pressing it
Zhao Zhongde reformulated the stick and switched from pressing to hovering, which let the treatment be very hot without burning.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The Zhao family's thunder-fire moxibustion is spread with Chongqing as its center. Chongqing has a subtropical monsoon humid climate with abundant rainfall and converging rivers, prone to rain and fog, dampness, muggy heat, and cloudy weather, with heavy moisture in the air; hot summers and cold winters combined with the damp climate make people in Chongqing susceptible to attacks by cold-damp pathogens, and wind-cold-damp impediment conditions are common. Chongqing has deep, fertile soil, providing abundant and high-quality sources of medicinal materials and plants. The inheriting community numbers more than 800 people, concentrated in the Chongqing Zhao Family Thunder-Fire Moxibustion Traditional Medicine Research Institute and widely distributed among hospitals nationwide that use thunder-fire moxibustion; it also has some influence in Singapore, Japan, Korea, and parts of Europe and America.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Acupuncture and Moxibustion · Acupuncture and Moxibustion · Acupuncture and Moxibustion · Acupuncture and Moxibustion · Acupuncture and Moxibustion · Acupuncture and Moxibustion · Acupuncture and Moxibustion · Acupuncture and Moxibustion.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Chongqing has deep, fertile soil with excellent productive capacity, and the medicinal materials, plants, and animals that grow there are highly diverse. Thunder-fire moxibustion materials are therefore abundant and of high quality, which is one of the reasons the Zhao family's thunder-fire moxibustion has been transmitted and developed in this region for a hundred years. Through six generations of transmission, it has gradually formed distinctive academic views, academic thought, and moxibustion prescriptions and techniques. Zhao Shibi, the fourth-generation inheritor, authored the book "Chinese Thunder-Fire Moxibustion Therapy," in which, under the guidance of traditional Chinese channel theory, he summarized and proposed the therapeutic concept of "covering an area to bring along the points," guiding the clinical treatment of various diseases. At present, the Zhao family's thunder-fire moxibustion is spreading from Chongqing to the whole country and has already covered many provinces, municipalities, and regions; it also has some influence in Singapore, Japan, Korea, and parts of Europe and America. The inheriting community numbers more than 800 people, centered on the representative inheritors, concentrated in the Chongqing Zhao Family Thunder-Fire Moxibustion Traditional Medicine Research Institute, and widely distributed among hospitals nationwide that use thunder-fire moxibustion. The Zhao family's thunder-fire moxibustion has broad influence and possesses considerable cultural value and broad prospects for development. Liu Guangrui (recorded in the official file of the associated inheritor): Male, of the Han ethnicity, born in May 1956, a native of Chongqing. Using the three-needle-one-cup blood-pricking technique combined with extraordinary acupoints, he achieves good results for various traumatic pain conditions, stroke-induced hemiplegia, and brain disorders; skillfully employing medicated moxibustion and poultice therapy, he applies medicated moxibustion at selected points for gynecological ailments, stomach pain, and liver and kidney diseases, treating internally and externally; he pioneered a remarkable method for regulating qi, guiding stagnation, and resolving blood stasis, and has distinctive research and experience in visceral tuina and acupoint-based manipulation. He is a representative inheritor of Acupuncture (Liu's Pricking-and-Ironing Therapy), a third-batch national-level intangible cultural heritage item.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Wang Xuetai 01-0210
- He Puren 01-0211
- Liu Guangrui 03-1445
- Guo Chengjie 05-2944
- Li Ding 05-2945
- Shi Xuemin 05-2946
- Tian Conghuo 05-2947
- Zhang Jin 05-2948
- Lu Yanyao 05-2949
- Jin Ying 05-2950
- Huang Longxiang
- Han Shanming
- Chen Xiuhua
- Zhao Shibi
- Cheng Hongfeng
- Yang Jinsheng
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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