China has one of the oldest known medical systems in the world. The actual historical origins are extremely ancient and therefore understandably obscure and vague. There are many myths and legends of warriors who were pierced in various parts of their bodies by spears or arrows and that ailments mysteriously disappeared.
We can gain a little insight into just how old it may be however, through various archaeological finds. In the seventies, Archaeologists discovered stone needles that dated as far back as between 8000 and 5000 bc. Archaeologists believe these were used as some sort of primitive Acupuncture. Later examples of needles were made from different materials, bamboo and bronze, there are some excellent examples still in existence from the XIA dynasty which was 2205 to 1176 bc. 4500 years ago.
The HAN dynasty which dates between 206 BC to 220 AD was a period of concentration in TCM terms – when there were a lot of compendiums and encyclopedias written about Chinese medicine. Some of the most basic and fundamental texts were written in this 400 year period and these reflected all the medical knowledge going back further than when written records were invented.
If you would like to learn more about this ancient medicine we will be taking applications for the Acupuncture Training course 2024 intake from January. You can also find the course prospectus on the ICTCM website.
