Studying Chinese: zhen1 jiu3 (acupuncture and moxibustion)

Language and culture are two parts which connect each other tightly. So, if you are a Chinese learner (中文學習者), you need to have a good understanding of Chinese culture. So, today, I will introduce one part of the Chinese culture. That is Chinese acupuncture and moxibustion, which plays a vital role in the Chinese traditional medicine.

In Chinese, “针灸(zhen1 jiu3) can be divided into “针(zhen1)” and “灸(jiu3)”, which accordingly refers to acupuncture and moxibustion.

To learn Chinese characters efficiently, let’s have a further analysis of these two characters. “针” previously means needle in English. people usually say “打针(da3 zhen1)”, which means have an injection. The “针” in “针灸” is also related to the needle. Acupuncture is a treating method in witch some fine needles are inserted into your skin according to your symptoms. The needles are of various types. They can be classified into “银针(yin2 zhen1)”, “铜针(tong2 zhen1)” and “金针(jin1 zhen1)” according to their materials. If based on their length, there are also “长针(chang2 zhen1)” and “短针(duan3 zhen1)”. “灸(jiu3)” means moxibustion. You may be unfamiliar to it. Let me explain it to you. Moxibustion is a treat method by burning moxa above your skin. According to the tradition Chinese medicine, the reason why people get ill is that they have some coldness in their body. So, moxibustion will expel the coldness away.

Because this is a Chinese language course, I would like to remind you to pay attention to the character “灸”. Do you know the word “炙(zhi4)”? These two characters enjoy the exactly similar structure. The only difference lies in the upper part of them. Try to avoid this mistake next time when you come across these two characters.

To know more about the Chinese medicine, you may search it on the internet and it will contribute to your studying Chinese.