The first English text to appear concerning Tung Style Acupuncture was Dr. Palden (Wangden) Carson's 1973 translation of Master Tung Ching-Chang's work entitled Tung's Acupuncture. In 1988 Dr. Carson reworked his original translation and republished it as Tung's Orthodox Acupuncture. Dr. Miriam Lee's work in English, Master Tong's Acupuncture: An Ancient Alternative Style in Modern Clinical Practice, first appeared on bookshelves in 1992. While the efforts of these authors have provided the non-Chinese reading acupuncture community with an introduction to Dr. Tung's points (point name, indications, location, and needling methods) and select treatment formularies, there are several inherent problems with the aforementioned texts.

The chief complaint voiced by many of those familiar with these texts is, in the words of one critic, "they are long on points but short on theory". These texts go a long way to introduce the points employed by Master Tung but they do not provide the reader with much insight on how to select points for usage. While these texts do provide the reader with a number of applications in their treatment formularies, there is very little provision in terms of methodologies for determining which point(s) to chose for any given disorder not mentioned in the formularies.

The text introduced on this web page, Advanced Tung Style Acupuncture: The Dao Ma Needling Technique of Master Tung Ching-Chang, attempts to fill the void left by the aforementioned introductory texts. We endeavor to pick up where Drs. Carson and Lee left off and to present a technique frequently employed by Dr. Tung, namely his Dao Ma needling technique. In this advanced text, we hope to shed some light on the methods which may be employed to determine the proper points for use in any given malady. Sections in this text include: point groupings, methods to select appropriate point groups, needling sequence, needling depths, therapeutic enhancing techniques such as 'Guiding the Movement of Qi', 'Massaging to Lead the Qi', and 'Blood Letting', expanded therapeutics, palmar diagnostics, 'Reaction Areas', etc. all designed to further elucidate the use of this most effective acupuncture style in the West.

The Dao Ma Needling Technique of Master Tung Ching-Chang was one of the clinical methods he most frequently employed. This technique can succinctly be stated as follows: three points are needled simultaneously to profoundly 'obtain qi' (De Qi) and rapidly effect a cure. Dr. Tung did not greatly concern himself with 'supplementing' (Bu) or 'draining' (Xie) needle techniques, but rather with powerfully 'obtaining qi' (De Qi) to influence the 'Reaction Areas' of the points needled. In this style of acupuncture, the more you obtain the qi, the faster your results will be.