Acupuncture with stainless steel needles (which do not cause diseases due to rust) has been documented since 1939. Among the policies Mao would push in China was acupuncture, pushed by the regime to please poor Chinese communities who could not afford expensive medicines. The wealthy, on the other hand, took antibiotics, vaccines, and everything else we know. Mao himself never personally used acupuncture. In China at the beginning of the 21st century, acupuncture was used by the poorest segments of the population. In the West, curiously, only by the wealthiest.
