UNESCO & Acupuncture

[Supermac]

Acupuncture has been nominated for intangible cultural heritage status.

Any other nominations?

 

[Andrew Wiggin]

First hit on google from the search terms unesco acupuncture

http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Asia/Story/STIStory_602425.html

 

[Gord_in_Toronto]

Wow! Looks like a buck-seventy and UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Status will get you a cup of coffee at Tim Horton's any day.

 

[Earthborn]

This seems like an admission that "acupuncture doesn't actually cure in any tangible way, but it is such a beautiful tradition." I'm not sure that this tradition needs to be protected by Unesco, since it is "widely practiced in more than 160 countries and regions worldwide" except perhaps against Westerners coming up with even more ridiculous bastardisations of it such as "electro-acupuncture" and "laser-acupuncture".

If acupuncture makes joins this list of traditional ceremonies, singing, dancing arts and crafts, acupuncturists will no doubt start claiming the UN has accepted the validity of their "medical profession". "What are you going to say about that, skeptics?" It will be nice to tell most of them that they aren't helping to preserve the acupuncture tradition because they are doing it all wrong.

I guess soon Austria will try to get homoeopathy on the list, because obviously shaking water, dripping it on sugar pills and selling them at vastly inflated prices is such a wonderful ceremonial way of dealing with illness.

 

[Mojo]

First hit on google from the search terms unesco acupuncture

http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Asia/Story/STIStory_602425.html

Landing the status would help improve and secure the notion across the world that acupuncture and other traditional Chinese medical procedures were created in China by the Chinese

It looks a bit like the regional protection under the EU where, for example, Melton Mowbray pork pies have to be made in or near Melton Mowbray.

 

[Andrew Wiggin]

Here are a few more things from this particular initiative.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20101116/lf_nm_life/us_unesco_heritage

Such things as french cooking, the mediterranean diet, and the flamenco.