Rubber teaching model of a hand, child-sized, marked with numbered acupuncture points on both sides, sealed in polythene bag and housed in a plastic box. Teaching aid for acupuncture.
Inscription
[NUMBERS] / [in Chinese characters] MADE IN THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA
Production place
SHANGHAI, CHINA
Production organisations
EAST-ASIA BOOKS & ARTS Co, U.K. & EUROPEAN, DISTRIBUTORS CHINA NATIONAL CHEMICAL IMPORT & EXPORT CORP
Labels
This small rubber hand, stamped “MADE IN THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA” and distributed through a U.K. and European supplier, East-Asia Books & Arts Co., shows that the model circulated through a British and European distribution network as a teaching aid for acupuncture. Marked with numbered points across the fingers and palm, it turns the body into a surface that can be studied visually and learned systematically.
The model can be placed within a much longer tradition of representing the body for acupuncture instruction. In the Song dynasty (960–1279), bronze figures marked with acupuncture points were used in teaching and medical examinations, helping to standardise point locations. By the late 1900s, this drive toward standardisation had become international, with the World Health Organization supporting common acupuncture terminology and coding for research, education, and communication across borders.
Seen in this context, the hand is more than a modest teaching aid. It shows how part of a complex, embodied medical tradition was translated into a portable visual and numerical system. That process made acupuncture easier to teach, distribute, and use internationally, but it may also have simplified a broader Chinese medical knowledge system.
Linhui Shi, Hidden Histories MA Project Researcher
