The origin of bloodletting therapy

The earliest written records of bloodletting therapy in traditional Chinese medicine can be found in Huangdi Neijing, such as "those who stab collaterals stab the blood vessels of small collaterals"; "Chen is removed and evil blood is also produced." It is clearly pointed out that pricking collaterals and bloodletting can treat madness, headache, rage, heat asthma, epistaxis and other diseases. According to legend, bloodletting at Baihui point cured Prince Guo's "corpse syncope" and Hua Tuo treated Cao Cao's "head wind syndrome" with acupuncture bloodletting. During the Tang and Song Dynasties, this therapy has become a major principle of Chinese medicine.

According to New Tang Book, Tang Gaozong's "dizziness and blindness" was cured by bloodletting on his head. By the Song Dynasty, this method had been incorporated into the rhyme of acupuncture "Jade Dragon Fu".

In the Jin and Yuan Dynasties, Zhang's medical records about acupuncture in The Scholars were almost all about acupuncture and bloodletting to get the effect, and he thought that acupuncture and bloodletting was the fastest way to attack evil. From the Ming and Qing Dynasties, bloodletting was very popular and acupuncture developed rapidly. Triangular needle can be divided into coarse needle and fine needle, which is more suitable for clinical application. Now disposable acupuncture is more suitable for clinical application and people's self-treatment. Yang Jizhou's "Acupuncture Dacheng" recorded the medical records of acupuncture and bloodletting in detail. Ye used this therapy to cure throat diseases; Zhao Xuemin and Wu Shangxian collected many bloodletting therapies and compiled them into a series of exquisite versions and Li Long's parallel prose.

The theoretical basis of western bloodletting therapy is Hippocrates and Galen, medical saints from ancient Greece. They say that human life depends on four kinds of body fluids, blood, mucus, black bile and yellow bile, which correspond to gas, water, soil and fire respectively, which is close to China's "golden wood fire, water and soil", with more "gas" and less "Jin Mu".

The ancient Greeks believed that blood was dominant in the four kinds of body fluids, and Dr. Galen believed that blood was produced by the human body and was often "surplus", just as the Ziyin school of Chinese medicine said that "Yang often has excess yin and is often insufficient", so Chinese medicine nourished yin and ancient western medicine bled. Galen also linked the subcutaneous arteriovenous blood vessels of the human body with the internal organs of the body, so-called "exterior-interior", which caused different diseases. Blood drained on the exterior-interior blood vessels, for example, the blood in the right arm vein was used to treat liver diseases, and the blood in the left arm vein was used to treat asplenia.

In Chaoshuling Village, Beitai Township, Quyang County, Hebei Province, China, an old Chinese medicine practitioner used a blade to cut the blue blood vessels on his ears and put a little blood, and added the secret recipe of sulfur and egg butter to treat tinea. Its effect is very good and has been restored.