Elsevier Ltd - Maciocia’s The Practice of Chinese Medicine: The Treatment of Diseases with Acupuncture and Chinese Herbs

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MACIOCIAS THE PRACTICE OF CHINESE MEDICINE, THIRD EDITION ISBN: 978-0-7020-7920-7

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Giovanni Maciocia (19452018) was one of the most highly respected practitioners of acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine. He trained in England at the International College of Oriental Medicine, graduating in acupuncture in 1974 after a 3-year course. He went on to study Western herbalism and graduated from the National Institute of Medical Herbalists in 1977.

He lectured in colleges around the world. Well known for his rigorous and meticulous style, he combined a thorough knowledge of Chinese medicine with 39-years of clinical experience. While firmly rooted in traditional Chinese medicine, Giovannis ideas were innovative as the theories of Chinese medicine need to be adapted to Western conditions and new Western diseases.

In 1980, 1982, and 1987 he attended three postgraduate courses in acupuncture in China at the Nanjing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, a foremost teaching institution in China, where he was later appointed Visiting Professor in 1996. He gained invaluable knowledge and clinical experience helped by his ability to read Chinese, therefore gaining access to the Chinese medicine textbooks, old and modern, published in China.

Giovanni is the author of many articles published in professional journals. He notably formulated an innovative and original new theory on the aetiology and pathology of asthma and allergic rhinitis. He also formulated a theory on the aetiology, pathology, diagnosis, and treatment of M.E. (Post-Viral Fatigue Syndrome) entirely from scratch as this, being a new disease, did not exist in the Chinese literature. This article was published in a Chinese medical journal, an honour rarely bestowed on foreign writers in China.

Giovanni is the author of several seminal textbooks on Chinese Medicine: Tongue Diagnosis in Chinese Medicine, The Foundations of Chinese Medicine, Maciocias The Practice of Chinese Medicine, Obstetrics and Gynaecology in Chinese Medicine, Diagnosis in Chinese Medicine, The Channels of Acupuncture, and The Psyche in Chinese Medicine, which are used by colleges around the world.

In 1994 he founded Su Wen Herbs, a company which oversees the production of his line of herbal formulas under three names: The Three Treasures, Womens Treasure, and The Little Treasures. The formulas are based on classical Chinese formulae but adapted by Giovanni to address patterns more commonly seen in clinical practice in the West.

Giovanni was honoured by his inclusion in the brochure celebrating the 50th anniversary of the foundation of the Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine. Giovanni is described in this brochure as the Father of Chinese Medicine in Europe.

In the autumn 1987, I travelled with my friend and teacher Giovanni Maciocia to Nanjing PRC to study Chinese herbal medicine (TCM). I had serendipitously met Giovanni a few years previously when he had consulted me about a health matter. I had just set up as a herbalist in the Western tradition having studied with the National Institute of Medical Herbalists, UK. Although it was a professional consultation, we made an immediate strong connection and soon became firm friends. Giovanni began practising from my central London address so I saw him frequently and was impressed by his extraordinary intelligence and knowledge. I had grown up in Malaysia surrounded by Chinese people for whom I developed a great affection. At this time, I was working as an editor in London publishing books and articles on a subject then known as fringe medicine. Unsurprisingly, I was particularly fascinated by traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and it was not long after we first met that I badgered poor Giovanni into teaching an acupuncture course based on the program he had completed in China. Our acupuncture course had just finished in 1987 when an opportunity arose to travel with Giovanni to Nanjing to undertake further herbal studies. By this time we had both studied Chinese herbal medicine in London with the noted TCM practitioner, Professor Ted Kaptchuk, and inspired by Giovanni, I had completed the international acupuncture course in Nanjing in 1981. Now a course in China offered the possibility of clinical practice in Chinese herbal medicine to complete our herbal studies. Giovanni was already a VIP in Nanjing, having led groups of acupuncturists to complete study courses in TCM. He was treated as such while we were working in the very busy clinic in the hospital and on many occasions we would break for lunch to find a black sedan waiting to whisk us off to a Chinese-style banquet with a Nanjing dignitary from the health department. I grew to dread these occasions as the huge amount of food and drink we were served made me very sleepy in the afternoons when we returned to the hospital for lectures.