Beijing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine Clinic

This is a video I took in March 2010 at the Beijing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine clinic. Watch in awe as the pharmacist bangs out a prescription quickly and accurately using a traditional brass hand scale.

Mao Zedong's Gold Needle Treatment

Watch this video in full-screen HD on youtube

Apparently Mao Zedong was treated for some kind of eye condition with golden needles. The tour guide mentions "jin zhen (something something)" - the jin zhen is 金针, but all that means is that the needles used were made from or more likely coated with gold. The second part of the phrase probably describes what was being done with the needles. If anyone knows what she's talking about please let me know!

I took this video at some kind of "Chinese medicine center" which was way out in the middle of nowhere near the Ming Tombs, north of Beijing. I had exactly the experience of Acupuncture Carl - you can read his comment following Bob Flaw's post here. They wouldn't write me a prescription but said I should spend 350rmb for some pills, which is like US$50. No thanks! I never pay retail for herbs if I can help it.

9000 Needles

9000 Needles is the story of Devin Dearth, a champion bodybuilder and family man from Kentucky who suffers a devastating stroke. After a hospital stay and physical rehabilitation, he is sent home, still with limited mobility. Desperate for further treatment, Devin's family searches and somehow has the good fortune to find Dr. Shi Xuemin and the Tianjin acupuncture hospitals he is affiliated with. And then...? I don't know, all I've seen is the trailer above.

I admit that I am excited about the possibility that this film could bring greater awareness of how effective acupuncture is and can be. I'm also looking forward to watching interviews with the famous acupuncture doctor Shi Xuemin. However, the film also looks like an incredibly moving story about a family struggling through some tough times. The film was actually made by Devin's brother Doug Dearth.

It's coming to L.A. for two screenings in the next few weeks. One is a benefit screening in West Hollywood (tickets are $40), and the other is at Oasis Theater on Wilshire (tickets $10). I'll be going to one of them. If you're an acupuncturist, acupuncture student, acupuncture school administrator, or just enjoy a good movie, be sure to watch!

On the web:

• 9000 Needles Official Website
  
• Where to Watch - a list of upcoming screenings.
  
• Acupuncture for Stroke Rehabilitation: Three Decades of Information from China featuring an article on Dr. Shi Xuemin and his particular method of acupuncture for stroke. (Google Books link)
  
• Dr. Shi Xuemin's profile on the website of Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

Treating Winter Diseases in Summer

Children getting herbal plasters

Here's an interesting story about the use of herbal plasters in the summertime to prevent illness in the winter. It might strike you as an odd idea, but here's the theory...

With the cold weather in winter, the human body tends to contain excessive yin energy due to insufficient yang energy, which makes people liable to attract diseases such as bronchitis, rheumatism, bronchial asthma and cold in the spleen and stomach.

Treating winter ailments in summer means that summer, a season when yang energy peaks, is the time to nourish yang energy for winter, thus relieving and preventing those chronic cold-related ailments that plague people during the chillier months.

You can read the whole story here...

A1/H1N1 Flu Prophylactic

金银花 Jin Yin Hua, 板蓝根 Ban Lan Gen, 甘草 Gan Cao, 薄荷 Bo He

The four herbs above are currently being used in China to make a drink that prevents the flu due to H1N1 virus. Below is the full story from CCTV.com:

A type of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) to prevent the A1/H1N1 influenza, dubbed the “flu prevention drink”, goes on sale on July 2, in every drugstore and hospital dispensary for TCM medicines.

The prescription was formulated and issued by the Committee of Experts for Flu Prevention and Control under Beijing Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine to cope with the A1/ H1N1 influenza and the recent hot weather. The daily adult prescription consists of 3 grams of Honeysuckle, Woad root, Liquorice root and Peppermint. After it is mixed with boiled water, it can be gargled or drunk as a tea substitute. It can be used for seven consecutive days. According to experts from the administration, the prescription can be used by people of all ages, children and even pregnant women. If people don’t like the taste, they can add rock sugar or honey to it, without altering the effect of the medicine. It can be purchased in every drugstore or hospital dispensary for TCM medicines and a daily dose will only cost little more than one yuan.

Detroit Native Loses Over 250 Pounds at Chinese Weight-Loss Clinic with the Help of Acupuncture

Here is an interesting article from USA Today about obesity in China. The focal point of the article is Alonzo Bland, who won a year-long stay at the Aimin Fat Reduction Hospital, courtesy of China Connection, a firm that promotes medical tourism to China.

Side note: mixed in with the straight-ahead reporting is a curiously out-of-place bit of chest-beating propagandizing. Apparently China was "kept thin by poverty and communist policies in the 20th century" rather than rice farming and vegetable eating. It's even funnier when you consider the whole quote:

The once-slim Chinese nation, kept thin by poverty and communist policies in the 20th century, is now on the fast track to a U.S.-style obesity crisis.

Gee, who should we cheer for? The Chinese government, which has finally seen the light and unleashed capitalism, prosperity, and therefore obesity on the people? Or America? (still the world leader in something! Obesity, in this case)

Chinese Pharmacy Pictures

As long as we're looking at pictures, here are some beautiful pictures of traditional Chinese pharmacies.











Credits: Eric Lafforgue, solemnyeti, cblee, *Alexander*, Holly Gilbert. All these and more found on flickr.

From the Life Archive

This photo was made by Carl Mydans in 1941 near Chongqing in Sichuan. Take a look at how long the needles are! Most of the Life Magazine photo archives have been released and are searchable on google image search. Take a look at these photos of an herb doctor who specializes in tiger medicine - he keeps a live tiger in a cage. There are lots of images from the past century on all kinds of subjects.