Xiaoming Cheng
The last day of 2022 happened to fall on a weekend. At noon Eastern time in Boston, I had a conversation over video chat with Dr. Hu Jun in California. Given the three-hour time difference, I thanked her for agreeing to do this interview so early on a weekend morning. The focus of this interview was a documentary Dr. Hu and her team were in the process of filming.
Dr. Hu and I are both alumni of Shanghai University of TCM. After completing her undergraduate degree at the Yunnan University of Chinese Medicine, she earned her doctoral degree at Shanghai University of TCM. Coincidentally, her advisor was Mr. Li Ding, who is a leading figure in the acupuncture community both locally in Shanghai and nationally throughout China. Li happened to have been one of my instructors when I was studying there. With this connection between us, my interview topics became more varied. Many people in the American TCM industry are familiar with New England Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine.
Dr. Hu. They know that she is glad to contribute to good causes and the pursuit of TCM ideals, and she is always striving to promote TCM culture and expand its influence. As a TCM practitioner, when she is not practicing in her clinic, she serves as the current president of the California Society of Chinese Medicine, as well as vice president of the World Federation of Acupuncture Moxibustion So cities, and president of the American Association of Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture (AACMA). Although she wears many hats, everything she does is marked by hard work and dedication.
When asked why she decided to film the documentary The History of Acupuncture in the United States, Dr. Hu was eager to share her story. Ever since July of 1971, when the New York Times columnist and reporter James Reston published an article on his acupuncture experience in Beijing, which was followed by President Nixon’s visit to China in 1972, Americans’ interest in acupuncture has only continued to grow. In April of 2022, the mainstream American magazine TIME published an article titled “Why Acupuncture is Going Mainstream in Medicine” full of facts that show acupuncture is gradually being accepted by conventional medicine while also exerting an extraordinary influence. The fact that, in only 50 years, a medical system from abroad could develop so quickly is both encouraging and inspiring to the acupuncture community.
By contrast, when acupuncture first entered the US along with Chinese laborers in 1846 around the time of the Gold Rush, it was regarded as a medical practice that required a Western medical license to perform because it involved needles piercing the skin and entering the body. Without such a license, this practice was illegal, so it could only be performed underground in semi-secrecy. Even when interest in acupuncture surged in 1972, contemporary laws caused many people to be jailed for practicing acupuncture. In response, TCM and acupuncture practitioners from all over the US embarked on an arduous struggle for the right to practice legally, from which emerged countless tales of joy and sorrow. Gathering, organizing, and presenting this history is extremely important for purposes of historical research as well as remembering our predecessors and educating future generations. In 2020, AACMA signed a contract with One in a Row Films to start filming a documentary on the early history of acupuncture legislation in California. This documentary is the first self-funded English film outside of China to focus on TCM history. After two years, it is already in the post-production stage.
Dr. Hu became solemn as she recounted the poignant history of Chinese people in the US and especially in the development of the American West. She said that many early immigrants were slaves who led extremely difficult lives. At the time, Chinese people were regarded as “outcasts” because of their cultural differences, to the point that a “Chinese Exclusion Act” was signed into law in 1882. In all of American history, no other ethnic group has ever been subject to such treatment. This period in history may require us to reflect on our own cultural roots. Out of all the races in the world, why did this law only target us Chinese people? As with the emergence of this law, the exclusion of Chinese people was not driven by capitalists or the government but rather was a rejection by other ethnic groups in the US. Chinese cultural values have always included the concept of “playing it safe”. In the context of the time, as people were coming to the US from all over the world to take part in the development of the West, all the laborers would join together and organize strikes to protect their interests. However, Chinese people, who were among the most numerous ethnic groups, were not willing to participate. Squatting in the corner eating their rice, they became known as a group that would rather let the capitalists cut their wages by 10% or more than strike. This culture not only confined them to slavery but could also make life hellish for laborers from other ethnic groups. At that time, all other racial and ethnic groups thought that the Chinese were selfish; they did not take part in any political activities, and they only cared about earning and saving money. This cultural stigma made it difficult for them to assimilate into mainstream society because they did not know how people should live, what their interests were, or how to protect their rights. They did not know how to tell society what they needed. At a glance, this film documents the gradual restoration of Chinese people’s awareness of their rights through the development of acupuncture in California.
Regarding acupuncture, Dr. Hu said that prior to the advent of legislation, TCM culture and acupuncture in particular was not accepted by mainstream society outside of China. This was not an issue of scientific validity, but rather one of cultural awareness. In the early years of TCM practice, when problems occurred in the course of treatment or inadequate translations caused patients to develop misunderstandings, TCM practitioners would be dragged to court without the slightest hesitation, or they might face various administrative penalties. In order to safeguard their interests, over the last century TCM practitioners gradually realized that they needed to find a way to enact legislation and fight for the rights they deserved to protect themselves. This documentary showcases a wide variety of touching stories on the road to legislation, as well as how the process of fighting for laws to protect acupuncturists’ interests brought together the wisdom and hard work of innumerable people. This was not just dedication; more importantly, it was the spirit of the American Chinese struggle for rights. Throughout the filming process, Dr. Hu would drive over 100 kilometers every day to hear elders who had experienced these challenges pour out their stories, listening to their reflections on their transition from “minding their own business” to “strength in unity” . This conceptual change start- ed by throwing off the 2000-year-old cultural shackles deep in our hearts.
On the topic of choosing the theme for the documentary, Dr. Hu said that this film itself embodies a culture’s introspection and its own struggle for status. How can Chinese traditional culture and Western culture be blended together? In fact, in fundamental terms, while the cultures of various ethnicities, races, and countries all have their own characteristics, as a whole they should all be interconnected. They all serve to elevate humanity’s mental and spiritual life, manifesting as the emergence and sharing of knowledge and wisdom.
When talking about the filming process, Dr. Hu became somewhat emotional. To complete the filming of this documentary, despite limited funding, she still hired a famous director from the American movie industry. The reason for choosing this director was that he had prior experience filming material related to TCM culture and Chinese acupuncture.
Regarding the differences between Chinese and American culture, Dr. Hu described one incident to me: when filming segments, the director asked her to make an overview of Chinese acupuncture. Given that she had earned her graduate and doctoral degrees in China, one could say she was extremely well-versed in the history and culture of acupuncture, so she made a 90-minute speech on the topic. To her surprise, the director said he didn’t understand what she was saying, so he deleted the whole thing. Clearly, this director New England Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine was not used to our expression of Chinese culture. After three revisions, Dr. Hu finally used the most simple, systematic, and logical format possible to explain her view of acupuncture and the modern applications of acupuncture science, which just barely got the director’s approval. I could not help but smile as I listened; this description resonated with my own experience. I remembered that one of my students who was studying for his master’s degree in the US had told me a similar story. He said that when he first arrived in the US to begin his studies, there was one class in which the teacher as signed a topic for everyone to write a research report on as homework. He went to the library to look up information, gathered all the materials he could from past to present and all over the world, and wrote a few dozen pages of eloquent prose. As he handed in his work, he felt very pleased with how he had done; he thought that the teacher would definitely approve of his paper and might even praise him in front of the whole class. How satisfying that would be! But when he got his grade back, he found that the teacher had only given him a C. He was puzzled; why did this happen? A friend who was born and raised in the US and had gotten an A on the same assignment agreed to show his paper. My student was shocked to see that what his friend’s paper expressed was as simple as “I picked up a penny on the side of the road and gave it to a policeman, and the policeman said I was a good kid. ” How could a paper like this get an A? Confused, he sought out the teacher, who responded with one word: “logic” . The teacher said that his writing did not follow the general rules of how things developed, but rather was cobbled together like a patchwork. So that explained it; my student finally realized that writing papers here was just that simple, so simple that there was neither depth nor breadth.
Early TCM practitioners in the US were often faced with lawsuits due to differences in cultural awareness or misunderstandings in the course of clinical practice. Everyone knows about the movie The Gua Sha Treatment; this movie depicts the situation at that time. Cupping is yet another example. In the past, cupping was subject to widespread skepticism in mainstream American society, to the point where practitioners who performed cupping were brought to court on accusations that cupping caused physical harm. Fortunately, cupping has now been normalized as a therapeutic procedure in the US, with many American athletes, such as star swimmer Michael Phelps, swearing by the practice. At present, an increasing number of Americans are aware that cupping is a very good treatment method. It is not only used by acupuncturists, but also by physical therapists, osteopaths, tui na practitioners, and massage therapists.
When I asked Dr. Hu about the AACMA, she told me that the purpose of the AACMA is to promote the role of TCM in the American wellness and healthcare indistries. It has done a lot of specific work to facilitate TCM’s entry into the mainstream American medical field. Founded in 1973, the AACMA persistently worked to drive the legalization of TCM. Later, other TCM groups were established one after another, such as the advisory committee on acupuncture founded by the AACMA and American TCM Society. In particular, the establishment of the California Accreditation Commission for Acupuncture and Herbal Medicine, which signified that graduate and doctoral students could study acupuncture in the US. Currently, the AACMA has over 500 registered members.
Returning to the topic of comparing Chinese and Western cultures, Dr. Hu said that TCM and Western medicine differ in their clinical approach to patients. TCM prioritizes a big-picture understanding of life and the body. In more specific terms, TCM treatment is more than just a therapeutic procedure; it may be better described as a form of compassion for others. This awareness is an embodiment of the entire life form and realm of existence, viewing the world and humanity as a unified whole. TCM prioritizes respect for life and understanding the life processes of the human body. It has a deference to the harmonies and relationships among humans, nature, and the universe, incorporating all kinds of connections to culture, lifestyle, health, geography, diet, and other aspects of the human life process into its system. It emphasizes the interconnectedness of the system as a whole. When this thinking is applied to the treatment process, it manifests as a culture of compassion for others. In contrast, Western medicine is a mechanistic system of point-to-point relationships among therapeutic procedures that excludes the interpersonal context. The same is true of modern medical and scientific research methods. That is to say, a research lab conducts experiments to exclude all other indeterminate factors, so all that is left is a single active factor. Interestingly, we almost never see anyone from the American medical industry suing acupuncturists, while there are hundreds of lawsuits against Western medical practitioners every year.
I asked Dr. Hu, as a member of the TCM community, how she merged her self-adopted mission with that of fellow professionals and TCM enthusiasts who shared her sense of purpose in order to collectively promote the development of the American TCM industry. She summed up her thoughts with confidence: At present, the development of TCM in the US has already moved beyond the difficult exploratory stage. The TCM community has learned how to protect itself by finding strength in unity.
With regard to promoting TCM culture, Dr. Hu mentioned her interactions with the consul at a forum held by the Consulate in California during the Chinese Dragon Boat Festival last year. Dr. Hu said that when a non-Chinese person takes an interest in Chinese culture and consults with an acupuncturist to see if they can help with his illness, from the point when he enters the acupuncture clinic up to and including the completion of the entire treatment process, he is opening himself up to the influence of Chinese culture. This is the process by which Chinese culture can be spread. The mission of the TCM community is to help more people understand how Chinese culture approaches life and health. Westerners’ individual experiences in the process of accepting Chinese culture can inspire greater understanding and awareness.
As I listened attentively, I pondered the past struggles in the development of TCM in the US and in Chinese culture that this documentary depicted. We know that this was a misunderstanding between different national cultures and the starting point to resolve misunderstandings is communication. This is precisely where the value of this documentary lies. The development of TCM in the US is a microcosm of the struggles of Chinese people in the US. We hope that this documentary inspires and encourages Chinese people to become politically active, enabling Chinese voices to be heard by more people and thereby promoting the spread of exemplary Chinese culture in the US.
