Abstract
Ivan Petrovich Pavlov (1849–1936) was a famous Soviet scientist. He made great contributions to a range of fields, including physiology, psychology, and education. In the 1950s Pavlovian theory was introduced into China. It was widely applied to scientific research, thanks in part to the political and ideological needs of Chinese Communist Party. Zhu Lian (1909–1978) was the first to use Pavlovian theory to explain the mechanism of acupuncture. The author of this chapter discusses the medical and political motivations for using Pavlovian theory to explain the effects of acupuncture.
The work described in this chapter was fully supported by a grant from the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China (Project No. 9041279, CityU 142707).
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Notes
- 1.
Bridie Andrews, “Tailoring Tradition: The Impact of Modern Medicine on Traditional Chinese Medicine, 1887–1937,” in Notions et perceptions du changement en Chine, ed. Viviane Alleton and Alexei Volkov (Paris: Collège de France, Institut des hautes études chinoises, 1994), pp. 149–166.
- 2.
Meridians (also “Jing mai”): they are the passages through which Qi and blood circulate, correlate the viscera with the limbs, connect the upper and lower parts with the interior and exterior of the body, and regulate the mechanisms of the various parts of the body. These include the Jing-mai (the channels) and Luo-mai (the collateral channels), and hence make the human body an organic whole. A distinction is made between regular meridians, usually referred to as the 12 meridians, and extraordinary vessels. The 12 meridians, together with Renmai (the anterior midline meridian) and Dumai (the posterior midline meridians), are called the 14 meridians. Shuai, Xue Zhong et al. (eds) (2006). Terminology of Traditional Chinese Medicine (Changsha: Hunan Science & Technology Press), p. 64. Acupoint (also “xue wei, xue dao”): a place on the surface of the body where Qi and blood of the channels and network vessels gather or pass. Through the meridians and network vessels, points are connected to other parts of the body and notably the bowels and viscera, whose state of health they can reflect. Various stimuli such as needling, moxibustion, massage, acupressure, and electroacupuncture can be applied at points to regulate internal functions. Wiseman, Nigel, Feng Ye, A Practical Dictionary of Chinese Medicine (Brookline: Paradigm Publication, 1998), p. 6. Zang fu (or viscera): the five viscera are organs of the chest and abdomen: heart, lung, spleen, liver, and kidney. The pericardium is considered a sixth viscus in meridian theory. The six bowels (paired by a functional relationship with their respective viscera) are the stomach, small intestine, large intestine, gallbladder, bladder, and triple burner. The function of the viscera is to produce and store essence, while that of the bowels is to decompose food and convey waste. Wiseman, Nigel, Feng Ye, A Practical Dictionary of Chinese Medicine, p. 49. For more traditional Chinese medical theories, see Manfred Porkert, The Theoretical Foundations of Chinese Medicine: Systems of Correspondence (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1974); Nathan Sivin, Traditional Medicine in Contemporary China (Ann Arbor: Center for Chinese Studies, University of Michigan, 1987).
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- 4.
Zhu Lian 朱璉, Xin zhenjiu xue 新針灸學 [The New Acupuncture] (Beijing: Renmin weisheng chubanshe, 1954).
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For more details, see Xu Xiaoqun, “National Essence vs. Science: Chinese Native Physicians’ Fight for Legitimacy,” Modern Asian Studies 31, no. 4 (1997): 847–877; Ralph C. Croizier, Traditional Medicine in Modern China: Science, Nationalism, and the Tensions of Cultural Change (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1968).
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Yu Yunxiu 余雲岫, “Kexue de guochan yaowu yanjiu zhi di yi bu” 科學的國產藥物研究之第一步 [The First Step in Conducting Scientific Research on Chinese Medicine], in Yu Yunxiu Zhongyi yanjiu yu pipan 余雲岫中醫研究與批判 [Yu Yunxiu on Chinese Medicine: Research and Criticism] (Hefei: Anhui daxue chubanshe, 2006), pp. 244–252.
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Volker Scheid, Chinese Medicine in Contemporary China: Plurality and Synthesis (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2002); Kim Taylor, Chinese Medicine in Early Communist China, 1945–63: A Medicine of Revolution (London: Routledge Curzon, 2005).
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Taylor, Chinese Medicine in Early Communist China, p. 17–19.
- 10.
E. M. Tansey, “Pavlov at Home and Abroad: His Role in International Physiology,” Autonomic Neuroscience 125, no. 1/2 (2006): 1–11. P.O. Makarov, “Ivan Petrovich Pavlov,” Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science, 31, no. 1 (1996): 77–80.
- 11.
Nobel Prize website, http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1904/pavlov-bio.html, accessed March 30, 2010. For more details about the life and theories of Pavlov, see Douglas Grimsley and George Windholz, “The Neurophysiological Aspects of Pavlov’s Theory of Higher Nervous Activity: In Honor of the 150th Anniversary of Pavlov’s Birth,” Journal of the History of the Neurosciences 9, no. 2 (2000): 152–163.
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Yu Miinling, “Learning from the Soviet Union: CPC Publicity and Its Effects—A Study Centered on the Sino-Soviet Friendship Association,” Social Sciences in China 26, no. 2 (2005): 100–111; idem, “A Soviet Hero, Paul Korchagin, Comes to China,” Russian History/Histoire Russe 29, no. 2–4 (2002): 329–355.
- 13.
Mao Zedong 毛澤東, Jianguo yilai Mao Zedong wengao 建國以來毛澤東文稿 (Mao’s Writings since the Establishment of the People’s Republic of China), vol. 4 (Beijing: Zhongyang wenxian chubanshe, 1990), p. 309.
- 14.
Wu Xiang 吳襄, Bafuluofu de shengping he xueshuo 巴甫洛夫的生平和學說 (Pavlov’s Life and Theories) (Beijing: Zhonghua quanguo kexue jishu puji xiehui, 1954); Zhao Yibing 趙以炳, Bafuluofu he ta de xueshuo 巴甫洛夫和他的學說 (Pavlov and His Theories) (Beijing: Zhongguo qingnian chubanshe, 1955). On true Pavlov’s political opinions, see B. P. Babkin, Pavlov: A Biography (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1949), pp. 152–60; N. A. Zagrina, “Ivan Petrovich Pavlov and the Authorities,” Neuroscience and Behavioral Physiology 39, no. 4 (2009): 383–385.
- 15.
Bafuluofu xuan ji 巴甫洛夫選集 (The Selected Works of Pavlov), trans. Wu Shenglin 吳生林 et al. (Beijing: Kexue chubanshe, 1955), preface.
- 16.
For example, Zhou, Junshang (ed), The Pavlovian Theory of Two Signal Systems and their Application (Bafuluofu Liangzhong Xinhao Xueshuo ji qi yingyong 巴甫洛夫兩種信號學說及其應用). Shanghai xinan yixue shushe, 1953. This book discusses how to apply Pavlovian theory into medicine, physiology, psychology, linguistics and education.
- 17.
William Chen, “Medicine and Public Health,” The China Quarterly 6 (1961): 153–169.
- 18.
Zhu Lian, Xin zhenjiu xue, p. 6.
- 19.
The current author cannot confirm whether Pavlov conducted this experiment or not. Zhu Lian, Xin zhenjiu xue, p. 23.
- 20.
Anonymous article entitled Mao Zedong de Zhongyi qingjie 毛澤東的中醫情結 (Mao Zedong on Chinese Medicine), on the website of the Chinese Acupuncture and Moxìbustion group, http://www.acucn.com/inside/news/200810/4727.html, accessed March 31, 2010.
- 21.
Xie Yongguang 謝正光, “Ping zhulian xin zhenjiu xue” 評朱璉新針灸學 (Review of Zhu Lian’s The New Acupuncture), Zhongguo xin yiyao 中國新醫藥 (China’s New Medicine) 31 (1956): 7–10. For the introduction of the latest research on meridian theory and neuroscience, please see Wang HuangJun, Ayati M. Hossein, Zhang Weibo, “Meridian Studies in China: A Systematic Review,” Journal of Acupuncture and Meridian Studies, 3, no. 2 (2010): 1–9.
- 22.
Chan Cunren陳存仁, Zhongguo zhenjiu wenxian shang san ge wenti de zongjie 中國針灸文獻上三個問題的總結 (Resolving Three Issues Raised by Chinese Acupuncture Texts), China’s New Medicine 33 (1958): 3.
- 23.
To cite two examples, Z. H. Cho, E. K. Wong, and J. H. Fallon, Neuro-Acupuncture (Los Angeles: Q-Puncture, 2001); Thomas Lundeberg and Irene Lund, “Acupuncture for Preconditioning of Expectancy and/or Pavlovian Extinction,” Acupuncture in Medicine 26 (2008): 234–238.
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Fan, K.W. (2013). Pavlovian Theory and the Scientification of Acupuncture in 1950s China. In: Cheng, Pk., Fan, K. (eds) New Perspectives on the Research of Chinese Culture. Chinese Culture, vol 1. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-4021-78-4_8
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