Acupuncture needles: Spoon Needle (chi zhen), Chinese

Chinese woodblock print from an edition of 1680 (19th year of the Kangxi reign period of the Qing dynasty). It shows the structure of the Spoon Needle (chi zhen), one of the ancient 'Nine Needles' (jiu zhen) of acupuncture. It has a relatively long body, with a blunt, rounded 'tail' and a sharp tip. It is 3.5 cun [Chinese inches] in length. It was mainly used to exert pressure on the tracts so as to obtain Qi, and to draw out malign Qi (xieqi).

IMAGE TITLE: Illustration of the Spoon Needle (chi zhen)