China publishes first official acupuncture book

China released the country's first official collection of books on the ancient therapy of acupuncture. Acupuncture is part of traditional Chinese medicine therapy that involves insertion of fine metallic needles into the body to relieve pain and cure diseases.

The 30-volume China Acupuncture Treasury contains 97 ancient records on acupuncture, of which 48 were recently discovered, the Global Times reported. Published by the Beijing Science and Technology Press, the collection features modern clinical medicine annotations to complement the ancient documents, including overviews, clinical applications and references. Renowned acupuncture specialist He Puren is the chief editor of the collection.

What is acupuncture?

Acupuncture is an ancient Chinese healing technique which works on the principle that piercing certain points in the body with needles can stimulate the body s natural self-healing ability. Needling the acupuncture points stimulates the nervous system to release chemicals in the muscles, spinal cord and the brain. These chemicals either change the experience of pain or they trigger the release of other chemicals and hormones, which in turn influence the body s own internal regulating system.

Read more about acupuncture here.