Acupuncture needles: Arrow-Headed Needle (chan zhen), Chinese

Chinese woodblock print from an edition of 1680 (19th year of the Kangxi reign period of the Qing dynasty). It shows the structure of the Arrow-Headed Needle (chan zhen), one of the ancient 'Nine Needles' (jiu zhen) of acupuncture. It has a relatively large head, with a sharp tip. It is 1.6 cun [Chinese inches] in length. It was mainly used to expel superficial malign heat (rexie).

IMAGE TITLE: Illustration of the Arrow-Headed Needle (chan zhen).