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ABSTRACT
The content of acupuncture points has been a long concerned issue in China. The ancients’ descriptions of acupuncture points in medical literature were all based on their observation of the body’s surface, and they didn’t have the modern concept of “acupuncture points” independent of body tissue. In modern times, with the foundation of anatomy in China, physicians of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) gradually developed the thinking paradigm of knowing the body through anatomy. Meanwhile, the acupuncture circle in Japan combined anatomy with their understanding of acupuncture points and added anatomical content to the entries on acupuncture points. After the translation and introduction of Japanese acupuncture literature, their understanding of anatomical acupuncture added to the Chinese physicians’ acupuncture knowledge in the Republican time. During this process, elite physicians and educators in the acupuncture community played a vital role. According to the Actor-Network Theory, the construction of anatomical knowledge of acupuncture points in the Republic of China resulted from multi-factor interaction. In the meantime, the conception of acupuncture point anatomy changed people’s original cognition of acupuncture points and resulted in the paradigm shift in TCM physicians’ body cognition.
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Glossary
Ding Fubao 丁福保
Cai Xiaoxiang蔡小香
Zhu Langxian 朱阆仙
Zhang Shanlei 张山雷
Bao Shisheng 包识生
Gu Mingsheng 顾鸣盛
Yang Ruhou 杨如侯
Cheng Dan’an 承淡安
Zhou Zhongfang周仲房
Zhou Boqin周伯勤
Huang Zhongping黄仲平
Zhang Junyi 张俊义
Yang Yiya杨医亚
Zeng Tianzhi曾天治
Zhao Erkang赵尔康
Chen Jingwen陈景文
Miao Zhaoyu缪召予
Notes
1 The original book of Huangdi mingtangjing has been lost, but Mr Huang Longxiang has a collection of proofs: Huangdi mingtangjing jijiao (China Medical Science and Technology Press, 1987) and the text of Huangdi mingtangjing in this paper was quoted from this collection.
2 Li Suyun, Xiyi dongchuan yu zhenjiu lilun renshi zhi yanbian, 2012.
3 See Zhang Jianbin, Zhang Hongru, Jin Xun, et al., “Yi jiuxue wei yiju,” 199–202; and Yang Pengyan, Luo Xi, and Xia Youbing, “Dui zhenjiu xueshu liupai de sikao,” 552–556.
4 See Zhao Jing, and Zhang Shujian, “Cong jiaoyu tizhihua dao zhishi tizhihua,” 147–159; and Zhang Shujian, “Xueshu tiaoshi yu tuoxie,” 31–35.
5 Chen Yuan, “Zhongguo jiepouxue shiliao,” 9–16.
6 Wang Jimin, “Zhongguo lidai yixue (xu I),” 261–268; Li Tao, “Jiuyi de jiepouxue,” 3; and Fan Xingzhun, “‘jiepou’ yu ‘jiebu’,” 328–330.
7 Niu Yahua, “Zhongri jieshou xifang jiepouxue,” 2005; and Li Jianmin, “Wang Mang yu Wang Sunqing,” 1–30.
8 The author has sorted out the morphological features of meridians and acupuncture points in Neijing, see Zhang Shujian, and Zhao Jingsheng, “Zaoqi jingmai renshi fangfa yu xingtai pingshu,” 29–30; and Zhang Shujian, “Zaoqi shuxue xingtai guannian chanwei,” 1127–1130.
9 Zhang Shujian, “Zaoqi shuxue xingtai guannian chanwei,” 1127–1130.
10 Huang Longxiang, Huangdi Mingtang jing jijiao, 95.
11 Wu Qian, and Zheng Jinsheng, Yizong jinjian, 1809.
12 Related studies include Su Jing, Xiyi laihua shiji, 132–154; and Shi Zheng, “‘Quanti xinlun shuzheng’ yanjiu,” 19–20.
13 See Gao Xi, “‘Jiepou xue’ zhongwen yiming de youlai he queding,” 80–104.
14 For related studies, see Zheng Yan, Zhongyi xue tizhi de jindai zhuanxing yanjiu, 2012; Qi Dan, Shenzhou yiyao zonghui yanjiu, 2013; Zhang Zengguo, Jindai zhongyi xuexiao jiaoyu shi yanjiu, 2008; Zhou Hongyan, Li Zhiping, and Li Hewei, “Jindai zhongyi jiaoyu de fan feizhi nuli,” 131–132; Zhang Bowya, Xiong Yiliang, and Duan Xiaohua, “Minguo zhongyi kecheng tixi jianshe tantao,” 48–53.
15 Zhang Shanlei, “Huangqiang zhushi li Zhongguo yiyao xuexiao,” 258–264.
16 Zhang Shanlei, the “introduction” to the “Yingyi hexinshi quanti xinlun shuzheng,” 204.
17 For a related study, see Zhao Jing, Minguo shiqi zhenjiu jiaoyu yanjiu, 2017.
18 Niu Yahua, and Feng Lisheng, “Ding Fubao yu jindai Zhong Ri yixue jiaoliu,” 315–329; and Zhang Shuang, “Ding Fubao yu jindai ‘xiyi dongjian’,” 89–94.
19 Chen Bangxian, Zhongguo yixue shi, 189.
20 The number of Japanese medical texts translated by Ding Fubao varies, so this is an approximate number.
21 For related studies, see Liu Shiyong, Wushidao yu liuyedao Riben xiyang yixue de xingcheng yu kuosan, 2018; and Chen Wei, “Jindai Riben dui xifang yixue de jieshou,” 247–259.
22 Kimura Touyou, Shinsan shinji hikkei, 14–15.
23 Satou Toshinobu, Shingaku shinron, vol. 3, 1889.
24 Kida Masamitsu, Kyūhari ana kekkōyō-gaku, 17.
25 Okamoto Aio, Jisshū kyū hari-ka zensho, “preface.”
26 Ibid., 23.
27 Bao Shisheng, “Jiepou xue,” 1–4.
28 Gu Mingsheng, Zuixin shixi xifa zhenjiu, 1.
29 Ibid., Prologue.
30 Ibid., 3.
31 For a study of the Traditional Chinese Medicine Improvement Research Society, see Liu Yang, and Zhang Peifu, “Jindai zhongyi kexue jianzhi hua zhi haoshi,” 96–99; Wang Zhibin, “Zhongyi gaijin yanjiuhui yanjiu,” 5–10; and Ji Zhenghan, and Zu Na, “Shanxi sheng zhongyi gaijin yanjiuhui banxue shimo,” 246–249.
32 Yang Ruhou, Lingsu shengli xinlun, 9–10.
33 Ibid., chapter 11, section 6.
34 Chengtanan’s research is relatively rich, with more important results such as Xia Youbing, Cheng Dan’an yanjiu, 2011; and Zhang Jianbin, and Xia Youbing, Cheng Dan’an yiji, 2017.
35 Li Naiqi, and Liu Xiaobin, “Zhou Zhongfang, a famous acupuncturist in modern Guangdong,” 380–382.
36 The time of publication of Zhou Zhongfang’s Zhenjiu xue jiangyi has been variously stated, and according to Li Naiqi and other examinations, it is thought to have been properly published in 1934–1938, See Li Naiqi, and Liu Xiaobin, Jindai guangdong zhenjiu mingjia Zhou Zhongfang.
37 For studies on the collation of Chinese translations of Japanese medical texts during the Republican period, see Liu Kechen, and Zhang Shujian, “Jinxiandai hanyi Riben zhenjiu yiji shuyao,” 555–560; and Gang Weijuan, “Minguo shiqi zhenjiu yiji yanjiu xianzhuang,” 148–151.
38 Relatively little research has been done on Zhang Junyi and the Oriental Acupuncture and Moxibustion Research Society, which can only be glimpsed through the writings compiled by Zhang. For more studies on Yang Yiya, see Gao Fuhui, Zhao Shibin, and Tan Shifen, “Yang Yiya jiaoshou yixue zhuzuo jianmu,” 48–49; and Xing Haijiao, Yang Jijun, and Zhang Xuanping, “Yang Yiya xiansheng shengping shiji,” 150–154.
39 Zhang Junyi, Gaodeng zhenjiu xue jiangyi, 2.
40 Zhao Erkang, Zhenjiu miji gangyao, 3.
41 Zhu Lian, Xin zhenjiu xue, 10.
42 Zhang Junyi, Wenzhi xue jiangyi, 1.
43 Yang Yiya, Zhenjiu jingxue bianlan, 26.
44 Yang Yiya, Jinshi yixue zhenjiu quanshu, 132.
45 The practice of public human anatomy in Japan has continued since the Edo period, represented by Yamawaki Toyo and other medical doctors, but the description of local anatomy varies, and the introduction of anatomical results by Japanese acupuncturists in the Meiji period was not from one source. This issue is currently lacking in research, pending for the future.
46 Zeng Tianzhi, Zhenjiu yixue dagang, 1.
47 The history of acupuncture in the modern era is a public case between Zhao Erkang and Cheng Dan’an, which is mentioned in the letters between Zhao and his disciples and friends, but no research has been published.
48 Cheng Dan’an, Zhongguo zhenjiu zhiliao xue, 1931.
49 “The theory-loaded theory,” a famous proposition by the American philosopher of science Norwood Russell Hanson (1924–1967), is the idea that no observation is purely objective, and that observers with different intellectual backgrounds observing the same thing will different observers with different knowledge backgrounds will come up with different observations. The “Theory-loaded theory” destroys the scientific rationality sought by logical positivism.
50 “Actor-Network Theory” is a social science theory that relies on a network system model to present the dynamics of relationships between actors, which are heterogeneous and include not only human but also non-human actors, such as nature, and artificial objects, ideas and concepts. Human and non-human actors are intertwined in practice, constructing and co-evolving with each other, resulting in dynamic, indivisible, evolving networks.
51 For discussion, see Zhao Jing, and Zhang Shujian, “Cong jiaoyu tizhihua dao zhishi tizhihua,” 147–159.
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Shujian ZHANG
ZHANG Shujian is a professor at Institute of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, Chinese Academy of Chinese Medical Science. His main research area is the history and philosophy of Chinese traditional medicine, and his representative monograph is Rethinking Chinese Acupuncture: A History of Ideas, published by Social Sciences Academic Press in 2020.