Posted by C3W Admin on February 5 2025
On 11 January 2025, the National Acupuncture Anaesthesia Clinical Research Alliance (国家针刺麻醉临床研究联盟) was officially launched in Shanghai, bringing together representatives from 68 medical institutions across China [figures 1]. The initiative aimed to accelerate the nationwide adoption of “modern acupuncture anaesthesia,” a reportedly TCM-Western integrative approach focused on “preoperative assessment, combined acupuncture-drug anaesthesia, and postoperative recovery acceleration.” Spearheaded by Yueyang Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine (岳阳中西医结合医院), a leading TCM hospital founded in 1952 and affiliated with Shanghai University of TCM, the programme was framed by official media as a significant step toward revitalizing and standardizing acupuncture anaesthesia across China. However, instead of a triumphant reception, the announcement immediately ignited heated controversy. On Chinese social media like Toutiao (头条) and WeChat (微信), many questioned the scientific validity of acupuncture anaesthesia, calling it a politically motivated revival of outdated techniques. Others expressed concerns over patient safety, arguing that its past failures were being ignored in favour of ideological promotion. By briefly tracing the history of acupuncture anaesthesia, this blog will analyse the motivations behind its renewed promotion and explore the shifting landscape of China’s healthcare system.
Figures 1, Inauguration of the National Acupuncture Anaesthesia Clinical Research Alliance, 11 January, 2025.
Acupuncture anaesthesia, also disputably referred to as “acupuncture analgesia,” involves the use of needling as a substitute for conventional chemical anesthetics, providing pain relief or analgesia sufficient for major surgical procedures. It was first developed in 1958 during the Great Leap Forward (1958-1960), a period of intense political mobilization that demanded rapid medical innovation. However, amid numerous claimed medical experiments of the time, its use in minor surgeries such as thyroidectomy and tooth extractions failed to gain significant attention, especially after the movement subsided.
The first significant momentum emerged in the mid-1960s when the Shanghai First Tuberculosis Hospital (上海第一结核病医院, now Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital) successfully performed pulmonary lobectomies using acupuncture anaesthesia [Figure 2]. This breakthrough drew the attention of central authorities, aligning with their broader agenda of advancing medical self-reliance and positioning acupuncture anaesthesia as a flagship scientific achievement. As China sought to assert its global influence, particularly in competition with the Soviet Union, the technique was elevated as a symbol of the nation’s medical innovation and an alternative to Western medical science. The second wave of push came in 1969, as military tensions with the Soviet Union escalated, culminating in the Zhenbao Island Incident (珍宝岛战役) in March of the year. Amid nationwide war preparations, the Chinese government urgently repurposed acupuncture anaesthesia as “war medicine,” launching a hasty and large-scale nationwide rollout to ensure its availability in case of conflict. This move was not only a pragmatic response to potential wartime shortages, as acupuncture anaesthesia conserved scarce anaesthetic supplies, but also an ideological campaign amid the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), reinforcing the promotion of indigenous medicine as a symbol of anti-imperialist resilience. In the early 1970s, China unveiled acupuncture anaesthesia to the world with great fanfare, igniting the well-known “acupuncture fever” that captivated the global medical community. Domestically, the government intensified its rural expansion—by the end of 1974, over one million surgeries had been performed using the technique, a figure that surged to two million by 1979 [figure 3].
Figure 2 Performing acupuncture anaesthesia before pulmonary lobectomy in ca. 1963.
Figure 3 Acupuncture anaesthesia surgery performed on a makeshift operating table in a rural setting, 1970s.
As China shifted from class struggle to economic modernization under Deng Xiaoping’s leadership in the late 1970s, acupuncture anaesthesia, once a politically charged symbol of Maoist medicine, largely faded from national priorities. Research and large-scale promotion came to a halt, dismissed as a relic of ideological mobilization rather than a scientifically robust technique. However, a handful of institutions quietly sustained research on acupuncture anaesthesia. Notably, Yueyang Hospital has been studying the technique since the 1990s, striving to refine its clinical application. In 2018, the hospital successfully performed coronary angiography under acupuncture anaesthesia, an achievement hailed as “a renewed source of confidence in the method”, as reported by the authoritative news outlet The Paper (澎湃新闻) [Figure 4].
Figure 4 Coronary angiography performed under acupuncture anaesthesia at Shanghai Yueyang Hospital on May 25, 2018. https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_2152689
While ongoing research into acupuncture anaesthesia has demonstrated potential benefits—particularly as an alternative for patients with anaesthetic drug allergies—the decision to not only revive but actively promote the technique on a national scale in early 2025 appears unusual and aggressive. The historical trajectory of acupuncture anaesthesia provides key insights into this resurgence. Throughout its history, the technique has been more closely linked to periods of ideological mobilization than to purely medical advancements. Its initial rise coincided with the radical campaigns of the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution, whereas pragmatic economic shifts—such as the early 1960s readjustments and post-1980s reforms—led to its decline. Its latest revival aligns with a broader resurgence of cultural conservatism and nationalist medicine, which has gained traction over the past decade. The state has increasingly positioned TCM as both a symbol of national identity and a strategic asset in the global pharmaceutical landscape, exemplified by policies such as the 2019 directive Opinions on Promoting the Heritage and Innovative Development of Traditional Chinese Medicine (《中共中央国务院关于促进中医药传承创新发展的意见》). This shift is not merely about preserving medical heritage but also serves a larger geopolitical agenda, paralleling initiatives like the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which frames Chinese medicine as a tool of soft power and global influence.
Some observers have also drawn parallels between the 1969 expansion of “war medicine” and the current geopolitical climate. Amid growing global instability and heightened discussions on strategic preparedness, concerns over potential disruptions in medical supply chains have intensified. In this context, ensuring self-sufficiency in anaesthesia has gained renewed attention, with acupuncture anaesthesia once again being reframed as a low-resource alternative in scenarios where conventional anaesthetic supplies may be limited.
While some may find it surprising that China, as a major pharmaceutical producer, faces anaesthesia shortages, the crisis in drug procurement and declining anaesthetic quality points to deeper systemic issues. The most immediate and pressing factor behind the revival of acupuncture anaesthesia might be the deteriorating effectiveness of state-procured anaesthetics, a direct consequence of China’s centralized drug-bidding system. The centralized volume-based procurement policy (集采)—designed to secure lower prices through bulk purchasing—has significantly reduced drug costs but has also raised serious concerns about quality. In recent years, anaesthesiologists have increasingly reported that these anaesthetics fail to provide reliable sedation, requiring higher but unsafe doses to achieve the desired effect. This issue has sparked widespread concern within the medical community. In January 2025, Zheng Minhua (郑民华), a prominent surgeon at Shanghai Ruijin Hospital (瑞金医院), publicly criticized the declining quality of generic anaesthetics, warning that some patients were not fully sedated during surgery. His remarks, which quickly gained traction online, drew comparisons to COVID-19 “whistleblower” doctors, highlighting the severity of the problem. Against this backdrop, the renewed push for acupuncture anaesthesia appears as a state-backed response to growing concerns over anaesthetic shortages and declining drug efficacy, offering an alternative amid mounting frustrations in China’s healthcare system.
However, unlike its previous state-led campaigns, the 2025 revival of acupuncture anaesthesia has sparked immediate controversy, with scepticism dominating online discourse. Whether this initiative will lead to meaningful clinical adoption or fade once again into political symbolism remains to be seen.
