Acupuncture Instrument Set
date: label: Date made
content: 1988
name: label: maker
content: Hwa To Brand
notes: label: Description
content: Acupuncture has gone in and out of fashion over the centuries in both China and the West. Part of a 2,000-year-old system of medicine that originated in China, acupuncture spread across Asia and the world with the migration of Asian peoples. In 2002, there were about 15,000 licensed acupuncturists in the United States.
label: Description
content: Despite its continuous currency in Asian cultures, acupuncture did not gain a wide audience in the United States until the 1960s and 1970s. The revival of interest came on the heels of reports from several American physicians traveling in China, <I>New York Times</I> reporter James Reston's dramatic 1971 acupuncture treatment following an emergency appendectomy while in China, and Richard Nixon's historic 1972 visit.
label: Description
content: Acupuncture involves the application of very small needles inserted at specific points on the skin. The needles work to balance the body's flow of qi (pronounced chee). According to Taoist religious teachings, qi encompasses the fundamental life force that flows throughout the universe.
label: Description
content: As practiced today, acupuncture is an East-West hybrid. Its transnational character emerged in the early 20th century as Western influence became more pronounced in medical schools in mainland China in the decades before the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC). In those years of the Chinese Republic, traditional Chinese medicine was discouraged as intellectual elites pressed for modernization and practitioners felt imperialist pressures from the West and Japan. After 1949, the communist PRC regime encouraged traditional Chinese medicine, and the system developed as understood today through the establishment of several medical schools and training sites. Later, traditional practitioners cautiously welcomed Western, allopathic knowledge in the 1960s and 1970s as overseas Chinese, trained in the West, returned home with scientific ideas.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: China
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Medicine
label: See more items in
content: Health & Medicine
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content: Cultures & Communities
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Kiehl's Inc.
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1989.0196.082
label: catalog number
content: 1989.0196.082
label: accession number
content: 1989.0196
objectType: label: Object Name
content: acupuncture instrument set
label: Object Name
content: instrument set, acupuncture
label: Other Terms
content: acupuncture instrument set; Pharmaceuticals
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: metal (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: plastic (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: black (overall color)
label: Physical Description
content: gold (overall color)
label: Physical Description
content: white (overall color)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 31.8 cm x 20.8 cm x 3.3 cm; 12 1/2 in x 8 3/16 in x 1 5/16 in
label: Measurements
content: overall: 1 1/4 in x 12 1/4 in x 8 3/4 in; 3.175 cm x 31.115 cm x 22.225 cm