Although acupuncture has gained increasing acceptance throughout the world, a number of questions concerning its origins remain unanswered. Acupuncture is generally referred to as an Eastern system of healing that originated in China. However, it has also been suggested that acupuncture may have first arisen in India or even Central Europex. In this article we will discuss parallels between the theory and practice of acupuncture and the development of flood control in ancient China, which support the conclusion that acupuncture is a uniquely Chinese invention.
The techniques and terminology of flood control offer a vivid analogy of the therapeutic mechanisms of acupuncture. The meridians of the body are seen to correspond to the river courses of the earth, channeling the qi and blood which nourish the tissues, just as the rivers’ waters irrigate the land. Blockages in these energy rivers act as dams, obstructing the flow of qi and blood and causing it to back up in connecting channels. Needling the acupuncture points removes the obstructions, curing disease by reestablishing the regular flow of qi and blood, just as dredging a river clears away sediment, preventing flooding by allowing the water to flow freely.
These and similar descriptions have been applied to acupuncture since it first appeared as a complete system of healing early in China’s Western Han Dynasty (206 BC-24 AD). Many examples may be found in the Neijing (c. 104-32 BC), the oldest extant work on acupuncture. Such hydraulic terminology was employed not simply for its evocative imagery. Rather, it indicates the understanding the Chinese ancestors had attained by this time of the correspondences between Nature and Human, river and meridian, flood and disease. The development of flood control in China, which reached its peak late in the Warring States Period (476-221 BC), and the application of its principles to the healing of the human body, was an essential precondition for the invention for acupuncture (4). The context thus established was unique to China, and did not exist in India, Central Europe, or anywhere else in the classical world.
Water can capsize a boat, as well as float it. The dual nature of water – its ability to harm as well as help – has driven humanity to put great effort into harnessing its power. The history of flood control in China is as long as that of Chinese civilization. The ancient Chinese who lived in the Yellow River and Changjiang (Yangtze) River basins regularly experienced severe and protracted flooding, as well as the benefits of these rivers. This remains the case even today. This defining aspect of Chinese culture is reflected in one of China’s oldest and most popular legends, the story of how Great Yu controlled the flood. It is said that during the Wudi or Five Emperors Period (c. 2700 to 2000 BC), severe flooding spread over the land and brought great disaster to the people. After repeated attempts to obstruct the waters by erecting dikes and dams failed, Emperor Shun (c. 2100 BC) appointed Yu to harness the rivers and control the flood. Great Yu noticed and took advantage of the downward flowing nature of water, dredging canals according to the physical features of the terrain to lead the waters finally to the sea. After thirteen years of hard work, the floods subsided. Because of Yu’s great contributions Emperor Shun abdicated the throne in his favor, and Great Yu became the first Emperor of the Xia Dynasty (c. 2000-1500 BC).
It may be difficult to separate fact from legend in the case of Great Yu, but China’s long history of hydraulic engineering is indisputable. The great philosopher Guanzi (c. 725-645 BC), who lived along the lower reaches of the Yellow and Changjiang (Yangtze) Rivers, is quoted as saying Among the five kinds of natural disaster [i.e. flood, drought, wind-fog-hail-frost, pestilence, and locusts], flood is the worst Guanzi accordingly urged that control of flooding should take priority over other public works, and formulated detailed measures to prevent flood damage.
The most valuable principle the ancient Chinese learned from their work with flood control was that dredging or diverting water to flow naturally downward is superior to diking or other attempts to obstruct the water’s passage. Particular attention was therefore paid to the distribution of watercourses and the valleys in which they were located. The Classic of Watercourses (Shuijng), the world’s oldest monograph on watercourses compiled by Shang Qin (c. 1st century AD), discusses 137 watercourses in detail. The most famous commentary on this work, The Annotated Classic of Watercourses (Shuijing Zhu), written by Li Daoyuan (466-527 AD) during the Northern Wei Dynasty (386-534 AD), records a total of 1250 watercourses. As noted by British China scholar Dr. Joseph Needham, There seems to be no class of geographical literature in Europe quite corresponding to this (1). The Chinese ancestors’ special interest in watercourses laid the essential groundwork for their recognition of the meridians or energy rivers of the body, and the subsequent invention of acupuncture.
The Dujiang Canal (Dujiang Yan), the most famous water conservancy project of ancient China and the entire classical world, is a prime example of the use of dredging and water diversion for flood control. Completed late in the Warring States Period (476-221 BC), approximately contemporaneous with the appearance of acupuncture, the Dujiang Canal represents the peak of ancient Chinese hydraulic engineering, and has continued to play an important role in flood control, irrigation, and shipping in the Changjiang River basin up to the present day. The Dujiang Canal is located in Sichuan Province on the middle reaches of the Minjiang River, a tributary of the Changjiang River. The Minjiang River discharges approximately 86.8 billion cubic meters of water per year, more than any other branch of the Changjiang River and approximately one and a half times as much as the Yellow River. It drops over 3000 meters between its source and its middle reaches, where it levels off to run through the Chengdu Plain. These physical characteristics cause the Minjiang River to flow rapidly in its upper reaches, picking up and carrying profuse quantities of silt and gravel downstream, only to slow abruptly when it reaches the Chengdu Plain. As it slows, it deposits its burden of sediment, silting up the river course and causing frequent flooding. The Chengdu Plain is the result of this accumulation of silt and gravel over millions of years.
Attempts to control flooding around the Minjiang River commenced early in the Warring States Period (476-221 BC). During the reign of King Zhao of Qin (306-251 BC), Li Bing (c. 286-231 BC), the local governer, was given the responsibility for bringing the river under control. Following an intensive survey of the area’s geological features and the distribution of its watercourses, Li Bing designed and built the great Dujiang Canal water conservancy project.
The Dujiang Canal consists of three main sections Fish Mouth (Yu Zui), Precious Vase Outlet (Baoping Kou), and Flying Sand Weir (Feisha Yan). (See diagram.) Fish Mouth, the upper end of a long bifurcating dam down the middle of the Minjiang River, marks the beginning of the Dujiang Canal. Originally constructed of bamboo cages filled with rocks, this dam was renovated in modern times using steel-reinforced concrete. The bifurcating dam splits the Minjiang River into the two channels of the Dujiang Canal, the Inner and Outer Rivers. The Outer River is used for primarily for flood control, as well as some irrigation and shipping, while the Inner River is used mainly for irrigation.
After the two channels diverge at Fish Mouth, the Outer River flows past the bifurcating dam and downstream for several hundred kilometers, eventually feeding into the Changjiang (Yangtze) River. The Inner River runs along the other side of the dam, which directs it into Precious Vase Outlet, a gorge cut through Yulei Mountain at the time of the Dujiang Canal’s construction. After emerging from the gorge, the Inner River continues for several hundred kilometers, branching off into numerous irrigation channels until it finally runs out. Flying Sand Weir, a lowered section of the bifurcating dam, is located shortly before Precious Vase Outlet and serves as a spillway in times of high water. It diverts excess water from the Inner River to the Outer River, preventing it from entering Precious Vase Outlet and thus preventing flooding. Furthermore, temporary dikes are erected each year during the dry season to alternately dam the Outer and Inner Rivers. This allows dredging of the profuse silt and gravel deposited along this section of the Minjiang River, in accordance with Li Bing’s directive to dredge channels deep, build dikes low.
In much the same way that acupuncture frees the flow of qi and blood through the meridians by removing blockages at their most accessible point, the Dujiang Canal takes full advantage of existing geographical features to direct the waters of the Minjiang River into the most beneficial channels. The construction of this great work of hydraulic engineering prevented flooding and effectively irrigated over 5000 square kilometers of bottomland in ancient China’s Shu Prefecture, today’s Sichuan Province. Ever since, the region has been known as the Heavenly Land of Plenty.
A fundamental tenet of Chinese holistic philosophy is that human beings are a microcosmic reflection of Nature, and the processes of the human body may be therefore be comprehended by observing and analyzing the phenomena of the universe. Because Human and Nature are governed by the same laws, their disorders may be managed using the same principles. Their understanding of Nature heightened by their success in hydraulic engineering, the Chinese ancestors holistically applied the central principle of effective flood control – encouraging the desired flow by clearing channels rather than by erecting barriers – to social administration and the treatment of human disease and disorder. Recognizing the correspondences between the rivers of the earth and the meridians of the body, the healers of the human body (who were geographers and philosophers as well) cleared the meridians by puncturing with needles to promote the flow of qi and blood and cure disease, just as the healers of the earth dredged the rivercourses using picks and shovels to direct the waters and control the flood. The Lingshu section of the Neijing, also known as the Zhenjing (Classic of Acupuncture), draws the correspondence unequivocally Those versed in the laws of Nature excavate a pond at its lowest point, so that the water within the pond can be drained off and strenuous labor avoided. According to the same logic, they dredge the meridians at the acupoints, the cave-like depressions where qi and blood converge. In this way, the meridians can be freed with ease.
The unique mastery of flood control attained by the Chinese ancestors, exemplified by the Dujiang Canal, was a direct outgrowth of the geographical conditions they faced (2). The invention of acupuncture, a unique system of healing, would also not have been possible without a number of distinctive elements that emerged and converged only in ancient China. One of these essential preconditions was an understanding of the principles of flood control, and the holistic application of these principles of Nature to curing the ills of human body. The fact that this mastery of the waters was achieved solely in China supports the conclusion that acupuncture originated in China and nowhere else in the classical world.
The Dujiang Canal is a marvel in the history of world flood control. Acupuncture is unparalleled in the history of world medicine. Not only do flood control and acupuncture both exemplify the height of Chinese culture, but their continued use over thousands of years confirms the value of the Chinese holistic principles that they embody.
Notes and references
1. Joseph Needham. Science and Civilization in China.. Vol. 3. Cambridge Cambridge University Press, 1959, 22516.
2. Due to the topographical features of the Nile valley, the Nile’s periodic floods are beneficial, irrigating and fertilizing the fields on its banks rather than wreaking destruction. The ancient Egyptians therefore never developed flood control methods, and in fact prayed for the flood if it did not occur on time. The ancient Greeks lived on and around islands, and were oriented primarily towards the sea rather than rivers. Certainly they made no attempt to manage the sea, which remains unconquerable even today. And although traces remain of the canals of Mesopotamia and aqueducts of ancient Rome, they were used primarily for irrigation and municipal water supply rather than flood control, and fell into ruins long ago.