Acupuncture in China
Acupuncture is available all over the world now. But, in 1988 in China, I wasn’t quite sure what it was all about.
I walked into what looked like an ancient torture chamber. A woman sat in a chair with her arms turned upward, needles sticking out of her hands. An elderly man sat quietly with his shoes off and needles coming out of his feet, ankles, and on the sides of his knees. A man in a white lab coat came over and twisted the needles while the elderly man winced. A woman lay with needles coming out of her neck, forehead, and arms. Another woman had a box on her back with smoke rising out of it.
A foreign student brought me to the acupunture clinic because of my hacking, bronchial cough. The place was dingy and dirty, which is not unusual in China. But the smiles of the doctors and attendants there welcomed me. One doctor approached me and, in decent English, asked me what the problem was. I then sat down on a tiny stool and he put needles into my neck. He explained that Chinese people have words to describe the sensations when the needles are in there, but westerners don’t know how to describe these feelings. For example, what is a “bitter” feeling in the physical sense?
I didn’t have a lot of hope that these needles would work. The treatment was uncomfortable, but I can’t say the needles were painful. Was it only coincidence that I managed to sleep through that night without coughing fits?
I returned for another treatment and was treated by an elderly doctor who didn’t speak much English, but had the kind of face that made you trust him. He took my pulse for a long time, and said he would “strengthen my constitution.” He had me lie down and placed needles in different spots on my body than the previous doctor. Again, the sensation was one of slight discomfort rather than pain.
My cough continued to recede, and I returned for five treatments in all. They charged me the equivalent of $25 in all.
Tags: Acupuncture in China; acupunture for bronchitis; teachi, Travel
