Overview
Point names, the traditional means for identifying acupoints, have meanings that are, like the wind, hard to grasp. Yet enfolded in these often poetic words is a utility that involves the complex associations derived from the evolution of the Chinese language and the vast array of therapeutic analogies found in traditional medical works.
In discussing the point names, the authors examine the meaning, context, and significance of each acupuncture point to promote understanding of the point’s use in acupuncture practice. Guidelines for understanding the nature and structure of the Chinese language are offered, along with discussions of the Chinese rationale for naming points and point groupings. The reasoning for selecting the English names is offered so that readers may adapt the names for their own use. Each of the 363 points covered is listed according to the system currently used in China. Descriptions include the name in Chinese characters, in Pinyin, and in English. The classical location according to major Chinese texts, the associated point groupings, an explanation of point functions, and classical energetic associations are also noted. Further detail is provided by inclusion of channel relationships, five-phase relationships, and qi functions. Additional notes detail linguistic and practical considerations that have accrued to the point over time. Alternate names for the point are given, again in Chinese, Pinyin, and English. Indexes provide stroke order listings, point group names, and point lists for each character. A glossary of all the characters used in point names provides a definition for each Chinese character. This book provides much valuable theoretical and therapeutic information.
Author Information
Nigel Wiseman
Translator: Ten Lecutres on the Use of Formulas from the Personal Experience of Jiao Shu De
Author: Chinese Grammar for Life, Chinese Medical Characters Volume 1 to 5, Chinese Medicine Grammar and Vocabulary, Concise Chinese Materia Medica, Fundamentals of Chinese Acupuncture, Fundamentals of Chinese Medicine, Grasping the Wind, Introduction of English Terminology of Chinese Medicine, Jin Gui Yao Lue, A Practical Dictionary of Chinese Medicine,.
Nigel Wiseman received his bachelors degree in simultaneous German and Spanish interpretation and translation from Harriot Watt University in 1976, and his PhD in Complementary Medicine from the University of Exeter in 2000. He resides in Taiwan where he is a faculty member at Chang Gung University. He is an editorial board member of the Journal of Chinse Medicine (ROC), The China Medical College Journal (ROC), and Clinical Acupuncture and Moxibustion Journal (UK). He serves on the terminological standards committees of the People’s Republic of China and the World Health Organization.
Andrew Ellis
Andrew Ellis first studied Chinese medicine with Dr. James Tin Yau So at the New England School of Acupuncture. He left New England in 1983 to study Chinese language in Taiwan and apprenticed with Chinese herbalist Xu Fu-Su for several years. Later he studied internal medicine and gynecology at the Xiamen Hospital of Chinese medicine. While there, he also specialized in the study of acupuncture with Dr. Shi Neng-Yun and dermatology with Dr. Zhang Guang-Cai.
Contents
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In the late 1980s when books like Grasping the Wind were produced, the Chinese-language software was neither easy to use nor mature. This resulted in some printed output that did not match the proofed production files, usually in the most obvious places. This harmed the book’s reputation. Nonetheless, it remains the only source for a significant set of alternate names. Many of these give broad hints to how the Chinese thought about the points and their functions.