More than 1,500 acupuncturists from nearly 30 countries and regions will gather in Beijing this October, to discuss the future of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM).

From Oct. 20 to 22, the acupuncturists will attend an academic forum for the 20th anniversary of the World Association of Acupuncture. The forum, with the theme of "acupuncture: looking back and looking forward", will have eight sub-forums on topics like education, the evolution of acupuncture and needle therapy practice and assessment.

An exhibition of new methods and technologies in the field will also be held.

Deng Liangyue, chairman of the World Association of Acupuncture, said the association had successfully held six forums on acupuncture in China, Japan, the United States, France and the Republic of Korea over the past 20 years. With efforts from acupuncturists worldwide, needle therapy has spread all over the world.

So far, more than 140 countries and regions have adopted acupuncture treatment. Traditional Chinese medicine represented by needle therapy is accepted and welcomed by mainstream society in many countries.

Statistics from the World Association of Acupuncture show there are about 100,000 people engaged in acupuncture services in Japan. Some 29 percent of Tokyo's residents have received acupuncture treatment at least once. More than five million European patients choose needle therapy every year.

Acupuncture, one of the oldest traditional Chinese therapies, can not only help people give up smoking, but also cure sterility and even drug addiction. For poor people, it is a low-cost and easily accessible medical resource.

(Xinhua News Agency July 13, 2007)