Dr Hu Wen-chih 胡文智 (Hú Wénzhì) did not meet Master Tung Ching-chang 董景昌 (Dǒng Jǐngchāng) in a classroom. He met him on a treatment table, as a patient, at a time when he was an officer cadet and two handkerchiefs a day were not enough.

These excerpts come from the interviews filmed by Dr Chen Ching-wen 陳擎文. They shed light on something the manuals do not say: what transmission meant, concretely, in this lineage.

What brought him to Master Tung

Could you describe the kind of rhinitis you suffered from?

« I suffered from purulent sinusitis. »

With yellow discharge?

« Yes. At the time I needed at least two handkerchiefs a day. What I blew out was purulent nasal mucus. »

Did Master Tung treat mainly with herbal medicine or with acupuncture?

« He treated mainly with acupuncture. Later he observed that my lung was relatively weak, so he prescribed me Báijī 白芨. That plant is used for patients with lung damage. I took three to five qián of it for ten days. Then, combined with acupuncture treatment, and after sixteen sessions in all, I was completely cured. »

What kind of headaches did you suffer from, Professor?

« Because my family’s finances were difficult in my childhood, I always had to take small jobs to pay for my own studies. I gradually developed a kind of chronic headache from that state of exhaustion. After a long period of unsuccessful treatment at the Sān jūn zǒng yīyuàn 三軍總醫院, the general military hospital, I went — on the recommendation of an older comrade — to consult Professor Tung. He bled the sole and the top of my foot, after which I was completely cured, in a single session. »

The initiation, by the rite of three kneelings and nine knocks

Could you tell us about your initiation?

« My older comrade Lai Chin-hsiung 賴金雄 and I asked Mr Zhāng to announce our intentions to Professor Tung. After he agreed, we swore the oath at the same time — on the same day — according to the Sān guì jiǔ kòu 三跪九叩, the rite of three kneelings and nine knocks. There is therefore no difference of rank between the two of us. Everyone who swore the oath went through the rite of three kneelings and nine knocks; that is how we were initiated. »

A teaching without payment

Did you have to pay anything to be initiated?

« Professor Tung accepted no payment. He often said: “I teach you according to the principles of Rényì dàodé 仁義道德, virtue and morality.” He consequently received nothing. It was of our own accord that we prepared “gifts in six colours” — six gifts of different colours, quite simply. »

Did you choose the colours yourselves?

« We chose them ourselves. »

Living at his master’s house, between two leaves

You were in the military. How did you find the time to go to Master Tung’s?

« I went to Master Tung’s on Saturdays and sometimes on Sundays, on public holidays, or during the winter break. I lived at his house through all those periods. Almost every Sunday afternoon Master Tung would go out. When the port administration staff received us, for instance, we would walk by the sea, at Bì tán 碧潭, or anywhere with a fine view. So we really lived together at weekends. »

How was it that the military had winter and summer breaks?

« It was because we were students at the school of political cadres. Like the other universities, we students had a winter break. »

Could anyone confirm that you lived at Master Tung’s house for several years?

« The professor’s wife can confirm it, because she lived there and I was very often with her. She really took care of me. Whatever time I came home — sometimes I went back to Miao-li and returned only at three or four in the morning — she would ask whether I had eaten. If I said no, she got up immediately to give me something. »

The man, as his disciple saw him

What kind of person was Tung Ching-chang, to you?

« Professor Tung is one of the elders I respect most. He had a serious bearing and great generosity of heart. He treated me like a son. One day he called my father to come and see him and told him: “Your son is also my son.” He also insisted that I come to him during the holidays or in my free time. Later I drank with him, we went out together, he told me a great deal about acupuncture-moxibustion, many theories and fundamentals I had never heard of before. So the acupuncture I learned differs from that of many of my brothers, whose teaching came from clinical practice alone. In my case he pointed me towards specific directions. He wanted me to make Tung acupuncture known and to make it a purpose for the rest of my life. »