JOURNAL OF CHINESE MEDICINE NUMBER 29 JANUARY 1989
R E V I E W S
CHINESE ACUPUNCTURE AND MOXIBUSTION
by Deng Liangyue et. al.
Foreign Languages Press, Beijing. Hardback 544 pp.
FUNDAMENTALS OF CHINESE ACUPUNCTURE
by Ellis, Wiseman and Boss.
Paradigm Publications, Massachussets.Paperback 476pp.
These two books, published within a short time of
eachother, reflect the rapid growth of Chinese medicine
worldwide and the appearance of a growing number of
quality Chinese medicine texts in English. Until fairly
recently, although many books on acupuncture and
Chinese medicine had been published, few could be
recommended as reliable for the student and practi-
tioner.
Both these books are contenders for occupying the role of
standard textbooks, but although superficially similar,
there are significant differences.
Chinese Acupuncture and Moxibustion is the long-awaited
successor to The Essentials of Chinese Acupuncture, and
has been compiled by the joint efforts of the International
Acupuncture Training Centres in Beijing, Shanghai and
Nanjing, the Acupuncture Institute of China and the
Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine, to serve as
the basic textbook for the advanced courses held for
foreign students in China. The Essentials although
welcome when first published in 1980, has long been
regarded as excessively simplified and brief. Chinese
Acupuncture and Moxibustion remedies this by being
written to a much higher level.
Fundamentals of Chinese Acupuncture was compiled from
a number of Chinese sources as a textbook for first and
second-year students of acupuncture. Its scope is much
more limited than Chinese Acupuncture and Moxibustion
, the greatest part of the book being devoted to the
locations, functions, actions and needling of the
individual acupuncture points. In this respect, however,
it is far superior to Chinese Acupuncture and Moxibustion
and is the first book available in English to list the
energetic functions of all the points, rather than simply
their indications. Although the authors themselves
claim this to be a twentieth century development
resulting from “the unification of the theoretical bases of
herbology and acupuncture”, it is a valuable
development that integrates and gives meaning to the
simple indications of the points. In addition, as well as
the main point indications listed in modern textbooks,
the authors have included the older indications of the
points, expressed in traditional rather than modern
medical terminology e.g. “fear and fearfulness of
people”, “stiffness of the tongue in infants that prevents
suckling”, “not speaking for years” etc.
Additional brief sections cover basic needling insertion
and manipulation, moxibustion techniques, distribu-
tion of the channels, discussion of point categories and
approaches to selecting and combining points. There is
little that is new here, except a valuable section listing the
channel distribution to various parts of the body, for
example:
The Brain: The governing vessel homes to the brain
The bladder channel connects with the
brain The stomach channel divergence
passes through the eyes and enters the
brain
The are a few minor criticisms. There is a strange use of
the term ‘rotation’ in the naming of needle insertion
techniques. Not only do the description of the tech-
niques include no reference to rotating the needle on
insertion, but in clinical practice rotation upon insertion
is to be avoided wherever possible to reduce pain. Simi-
larly - and this is a fault shared with Chinese Acupuncture
and Moxibustion - a number of insertion techniques
describe the left hand being used to pinch or spread the
skin, whilst the right hand holds the handle of the needle.
In practice, with needles longer than one inch, it is
extremely difficult to insert a needle in this way without
bending it, especially if it is finer than 30 gauge. The
usual method is to support the body of the needle with
the ring or little fingers of the right hand, and interest-
ingly the illustrations in Chinese Acupuncture and
Moxibustion show this without referring to it in the text.
It may be that the emphasis on clean needle technique
has led to this aspect of needling being quietly skirted
around.
Finally, prospective buyers of this book should note that
it uses the same translation approach as Fundamentals of
Chinese Medicine (reviewed JCM No:25).
Chinese Acupuncture and Moxibustion is an altogether
more ambitious text. As well as the basic acupuncture
material covered in Fundamentals of Chinese Acupuncture
it includes sections on the history of acupuncture, basic
theory from Yin-Yang to the differentiation of
syndromes (including the 6 channels and the 4 stages),
diagnosis, principles of treatment, and the
differentiation and treatment of a wide range of diseases.
All this material is covered in much greater depth than
the Essentials .
Throughout, theory is well integrated with practice. The
section on moxibustion, for example, includes first a
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 JOURNAL OF CHINESE MEDICINE NUMBER 29 JANUARY 1989

discussion of the properties of moxa: “.... It is of pure adds nothing to the material available in the Essentials .
yang nature having the ability to restore the primary Secondly the translation of some chapters is rather poor
yang from collapse. It can open the twelve regular me- and reads uncomfortably. This, however, seems to be a
ridians, travelling through the three yin meridians to perennial problem for all material translated from the
regulate qi and blood, expel cold and dampness, warm Chinese which ranges between the occasional amateur-
the uterus and stop bleeding, warm the spleen and ishness of Chinese translations and the overly laboured
stomach to remove stagnation, regulate menstruation academic work of some Western translators.
and ease the fetus.... when burned, it penetrates all the
Although Chinese Acupuncture and Moxibustion is pri-
meridians, eliminating hundreds of diseases......”. This is
marily a textbook for advanced students, it has much to
followed by a detailed description of the functions of
offer any practitioner. Its range and quality is such that
moxibustion: 1. To warm meridians and expel cold, 2. To
it will replace the Essentials as the principal textbook in
induce the smooth flow of qi and blood, 3. To strengthen
most colleges.
yang from collapse, 4. To prevent diseases and keep
healthy, each with an explanation and quotes from the Peter Deadman
classics.
I have two criticisms of the book. firstly the section on the
locations and indications of the points is not up to the
standard of Fundamentals of Chinese Acupuncture , and

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