Q4. What
is the difference between the Chinese and Western Calendar?
The Western calendar (the Gregorian Calendar)
is a Solar calendar based on the earth turning around the
sun.
Chinese calendar is primarily
a Lunar calendar based on the moon turning around the earth.
It's actually a Lunisolar Calendar. Unlike the Greek or Islamic
Lunar calendar, the MONTHS in the Chinese calendar are based
on the moon ; but the YEAR in the Chinese calendar is based
on the sun. It uses Intercalary months -- add one more month
in an Intercalary year, then there were 13 months in this
year. There are always either 29 or 30 days per month, no
matter if it's an Intercalary month or not in the Chinese
Calendar. To adjust the difference -- add 1 Intercalary month
every 3 years, add 2 Intercalary months every 5 years, and
add 7 Intercalary months every 19 years. It seems complicated
but not if we remember that we also use Intercalary days in
the Western calendar. That's the reason why in February there
are 28 days but 29 days every fourth year. During a period
of 400 years 97 (no 100) intercalary days would actually be
added in total.
Chinese calendar uses the terms of the Heavenly
Stems and Earthly Branches, and
the combinations of 10 Heavenly Stems and 12 Earthly Branches
to present the years, days and hours, e.g. Jia-Wu Year, Jia-Wu
Day, Zi Hour etc.
10 Heavenly Stems are: 1.
Jia 2. Yi 3. Bing
4. Ding 5. Wu* 6. Ji
7. Geng 8. Xin 9.Ren
10. Gei
12 Earthly Branches are: 1.
Zi 2. Chou 3. Yin 4. Mao 5. Chen 6. Si 7. Wu* 8. Wei 9. Shen
10. You 11. Xu 12. Hai
*Wu
is presented as 4 different Chinese characters at least because
there are 4 tone marks for each syllable.
There is no way to show 4 tone marks for each Chinese syllable
in English so far. Therefore, at times it causes much confusion.
Wu in 10 Heavenly Stems, Wu in 12 Earthly Branches, Wu in
numbers (means 5) and Wu in Dr. Wu are 4 different
Chinese characters.For years: use only one
Heavenly Stem plus one Earthly Branch,
e.g. 2003 is Gei-Wei Year;
For months: uses numbers
1 to 12 like in Western calendar;
For dates and days: uses numbers
1 to 30 for dates and uses one Heavenly Stem
plus one Earthly Branch for
days, e.g. March 6 (date), Wu-Yin
day; (There are No days like Monday
to Sunday in Chinese calendar.)
For hours: uses 12
Earthly Branches to stand for 12 periods (called
Shi-Chen) during 24 hours, each consisting of 2 hours;
Top
Q6. What are Nomenclature,
codes and abbreviation in Acupuncture?
The Standard Nomenclature below
is formulated at the Regional Working Group Meeting
on the Standardization of Acupuncture Nomenclature
sponsored by the World Health Organization (WHO)
of the UN, in Tokyo and Hong Kong in 1985:
I. The Twelve Primary Acupuncture Meridians*:
Mer. = Meridian or Meridians
(Channel)
(1) Liv = Liver Mer.
(2) G = Gallbladder Mer.
(3) H = Heart Mer.
(4) SI = Small Intestine
Mer.
(5) Sp = Spleen Mer.
(6) S = Stomach Mer.
(7) L = Lung Mer.
(8) LI = Large Intestine
Mer.
(9) K = Kidney Mer.
(10) B = Bladder Mer.
(11) TE(SJ) = Triple Energizer
(Sanjiao) Mer.
(12) P = Pericardium Mer.
II. The Eight Extra Acupuncture Meridians:
(13) DM (GV) = Dumai (Governor
Vessel)
(14) RM (CV)= Renmai (Conception
Vessel)
(15) ChV = Chong Vessel
(16) BV = Belt Vessel
(17) Yin HV = Yin Heel Vessel
(18) Yang HV = Yang Heel
Vessel
(19) Yin LV = Yin Link Vessel
(20) Yang LV = Yang Link
Vessel
* Many textbook uses The Fourteen Primary
Meridians, i.e. (1) to (12) plus (13) and (14).
III. List of Many Acupuncture Codes
and Abbreviation Used in Different Countries:
(1) Liv = Liver Mer. : XII, LIV, LV, Lv, F, G,
H, LE, Le;
(2) G = Gallbladder Mer.: XI, GB, Go, VB,
VG;
(3) H = Heart Mer.: V, HE, He, HT, Ht, X;
(4) SI = Small Intestine Mer.: VI, Si, Di,
ID, IG, IT, XCH;
(5) Sp = Spleen Mer.: IV, SP, B, BP, LP, MP,
P, RP, RT, Rt;
(6) S = Stomach Mer.: III, ST, St, E, Est,
M, Ms, V, W;
(7) L = Lung Mer.: I, LU, Lu, P;
(8) LI = Large Intestine Mer.: II, Li, CO,
Co, DCh, DI, Di, GI, IC, IG;
(9) K = Kidney Mer.: VIII, KI, Ki, N, NI,
Ni, R, RN, Rn, Sh;
(10) B = Bladder Mer.: VII, Bl, BL, PG, UB,
V, VU;
(11) TE(SJ) = Triple Energizer (Sanjiao) Mer.:
X, T, TB, TH, TR, TW, SC, 3E, 3H;
(12) P = Pericardium Mer.: IX, CS, CX, ECS,
EH, HC, Hc, KS, MC, MdH, PC, Pe, XB;
(13) DM (GV) = Dumai (Governor Vessel): XIII,
DU, Du, GG, Go, Gv, LG, Lg, T, TM, VG, Vg;
(14) RM (CV)= Renmai (Conception Vessel):
XIV, Co, J, JM, KG, Kg, REN, Ren, VC, Vc.
Top
Q7.
Can The MNEF-Eight Hui Acupoint System take place the Primary
Acupoint System?
Yes and Not.
Yes, because the MNEF System may cover most
of the problems already. If you are not a health professional,
it's enough.
Not, because the 14 Primary Meridians are still
the basic system used by most health professionals today.
For some cases, you need to combine the MNEF-Eight Hui Acupoint
System with the 14 Primary Meridians System, and your patients'
symptoms. For a health professional, you need to learn more,but
MNEF System is a good beginning for easy practicing.
Top
Q8.
Do I need to consider different Time Zones?
It's Not necessary in the US.
The Biological Clock in your body follows the local
time no matter what Time Zone it is. The Time Zones
used in the US are already follow the turning around of the
Earth scientifically. We already use a 3 Hour Time
Zone difference for the whole country in the US.
It's about 45th Meridian degrees across the
West coast and the East coast of the US. That's about 3 hours
in natural time difference because the 15th Meridian
degrees is equal to 1 hour difference by the Earth's
turning around.
You just need to consider in a few special
cases:
(1) You travel from one place
to another. For a few hours to a few days, if you still have
Time-Zone Reaction or sickness -- That means your Biological
Clock does not fit the local time yet, it's better that you
follow the old Time Zone.
(2) In some countries, e.g.
China, there is not Time Zone used. All the
areas in the whole country use the standard Beijing Time.
You may need to adjust (plus or minus) the
Standard Time to your Local Time.
Check a standard map and figure out how many Meridian
degrees difference between your
home location and Beijing (or the Standard Time location).
For example, The Meridian degree in a city west
to Beijing minus the degree in Beijing is equal to 14. 15th
Meridian degrees is equal to 1 hour. 14/15 x 60 = 56 minutes,
about 1 hour early -- minus one hour to your
calendar hours. You may disregard Time Zone if it's less than
one hour because the acupoints are the same in a 2-hours
period.
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