Preserve the Legacy of Tung Acupuncture
Research & Tradition.Transmission & Practice.
In the tradition of Master Tung Ching-chang 董景昌Dr Hu Wen-chih 胡文智
Research, preservation and transmission of Tung acupuncture through historical sources, lineage-based study and clinical practice.
Explore the Institute →- Research & sources
- Transmission & teaching
- Practice & clinical
A Living Tradition. A History Worth Understanding.
Tung acupuncture is more than a collection of points, protocols or techniques.
It is a living clinical tradition, transmitted through teachers, students, texts, clinical practice and different generations of practitioners.
At the centre of this history is the work of Master Tung Ching-chang 董景昌, who opened a family tradition to students outside the Tung family and established a transmission that would continue through different lineages.
Today, Tung acupuncture is understood and practiced through different transmissions.
Some preserve common elements. Others develop different interpretations, sometimes even within the same lineage.
These differences are not a problem to eliminate.
They are part of the history to understand and reconstruct.
The Institute was created to study this history without reducing it to a single version.
A living transmission
- Master Tung
- Direct disciples
- Different transmissions
- Research & comparison
- Transmission & practice
- Today
What Guides the Institute
Stay close to the sources.
Distinguish what comes from the original texts, what comes from later transmission and what belongs to our own interpretation.
Embrace plurality.
Study different transmissions without reducing them to a single authorized version.
Bring research back to practice.
Keep historical and theoretical work connected to observation, clinical reasoning and the reality of the patient.
From Within the Lineage
A perspective from inside the transmission
Nicolas Berger discovered the direct teaching of Dr Hu Wen-chih 胡文智 and studied directly with him, eventually becoming his disciple and entering a direct second-generation transmission of the lineage of Master Tung Ching-chang 董景昌.
The lineage of Dr Hu Wen-chih is the primary transmission through which this work is grounded.
It provides access to a living body of teaching, practice and clinical experience rather than to historical material alone.
Nicolas has also trained with selected direct disciples of Master Tung Ching-chang 董景昌, while studying extensively the published literature of direct and subsequent generations of practitioners.
This work extends beyond any single transmission.
It draws on books, publications, interviews, teachings and historical documents in order to understand how Tung acupuncture has been interpreted, transmitted and practiced across generations.
More than ten years of study and field research in Taiwan complement this experience of direct transmission.
Lineage gives access to transmission.
Research allows us to examine it without dogma.
Practice keeps the work connected to clinical reality.
These are not separate activities.
They are different dimensions of the same work.
The lineage
Nicolas Berger
Second generation · Dr Hu Wen-chih lineage
Tung Lineage Institute
The Institute is attached to Nicolas’s work and transmission. It is not presented as another generation of the lineage.
Li Kuo-cheng 李國政 represents a parallel second-generation connection under Dr Hu Wen-chih, with his own subsequent students and transmission.
The other names represent other direct transmission branches from Master Tung.
A Plural Tradition
The history of Tung acupuncture is not a straight line.
From Master Tung Ching-chang 董景昌 to his direct disciples, and from those disciples to later generations, different aspects of the tradition have been preserved, developed and emphasized.
The Institute does not attempt to erase these differences.
Embrace plurality.
Different transmissions can be studied without being forced into a single interpretation.
The lineage of Dr Hu Wen-chih 胡文智 provides the primary transmission through which this work is grounded.
The teachings and literature of other direct and subsequent disciples provide additional perspectives.
The purpose is not to create an artificial consensus.
It is to identify meaningful recurring elements while preserving the differences that remain.
Why the Sources Matter
The original texts are the closest objective record we have of what was written and documented at a particular point in the history of Tung acupuncture.
They allow us to return to the source itself rather than relying only on later memory, interpretation or transmission.
Master Tung’s publications appeared in different editions, including 1968, 1972 and 1973. Across these editions, some questions evolve, some formulations change, and some relationships are presented differently.
A question may be accepted in one source, questioned in another, and completely denied in a third.
The differences matter. But so do the recurring elements.
After Master Tung, his direct disciples developed and transmitted different approaches. Their teachings can diverge significantly. Yet practitioners from different transmissions sometimes preserved the same underlying element.
When an element reappears across independent transmissions, that recurrence becomes historically meaningful.
It becomes, de facto, an essential element in the effort to understand and reconstruct the underlying tradition of Tung acupuncture.
The purpose is therefore not to choose the “right” disciple.
It is to compare, trace, analyse and compile what the sources and transmissions allow us to establish.
A Humanities-Based Approach
Our historical research draws on the humanities: history, textual analysis and the study of transmission.
The aim is not to impose a single interpretation on Tung acupuncture. Nor is it to determine which lineage is “right”.
The aim is to make the historical record visible, traceable and open to examination — to understand and reconstruct what the sources and transmissions allow us to establish.
The original texts provide one kind of evidence. The teachings and literature of different transmissions provide another.
Their divergences help us understand how the tradition developed. Their recurring elements can help identify what persisted across different lines of transmission.
The plurality itself becomes part of the evidence.
How We Work
Compare
Bring editions, texts and transmissions into dialogue.
Trace
Follow where teachings come from and how they were transmitted.
Analyse
Examine differences, recurrences and historical context.
Compile
Bring established knowledge and documented sources together in a usable reference.
When sources converge, we highlight the convergence. When they differ, we preserve the difference. When the sources do not allow a conclusion, we leave the question open.
The research logic
- Source What was actually written?
- Transmission How was it taught and passed on?
- Comparison Where do the sources differ?
- Recurrence What reappears across independent transmissions?
- Analysis What can reasonably be established?
- Reference What can be preserved and made accessible?
Making the Sources Accessible
From historical documents to public reference
Research has value when it can be consulted.
The Institute therefore works to make important sources accessible through translation, publication, interviews and structured documentation.
This includes the original publications of Master Tung Ching-chang 董景昌, including the 1968, 1972 and 1973 editions, as well as historical material and the literature of his direct and subsequent disciples.
It also includes the work of Dr Hu Wen-chih 胡文智.
Research Rooted in Taiwan
Research is also a matter of place
- Language matters.
- Historical context matters.
- The people who transmitted the knowledge matter.
Some sources cannot be fully understood from a distance.
For more than ten years, Nicolas Berger studied, practiced and conducted field research in Taiwan, in Chinese, in direct contact with teachers, sources and the clinical reality of the tradition.
This work includes direct study within the lineage of Dr Hu Wen-chih, study of other transmissions, extensive reading of their literature and continued clinical practice.
The research was not conducted only from books.
It was built through years of immersion in the language, the sources, the teachers and the clinical reality of the tradition.
From Research to Practice
Historical research is only one part of the work.
A clinical tradition cannot be preserved solely in books. The questions raised by the sources must return to clinical practice.
Research therefore remains connected to observation, palpation, diagnosis, point location, treatment and the patient’s response.
We are practitioners ourselves. What is established historically is not separated from the reality of clinical work.
We bring our research back to clinical practice.
Practice can raise new questions. Those questions can return to the sources.
Research and practice therefore inform one another.
Research
SourcesHistoryTransmissionComparisonRecurrence
Practice
ObservationPalpationDiagnosisTreatmentResponse
Research informs practice.
Practice raises new questions.
Transmission Is Proved by Transmission
A lineage is not preserved simply by naming its teachers. It is preserved by what is actually transmitted.
Knowledge must be taught. Clinical skills must be practiced. Sources must remain accessible. And the next practitioner must be able to carry the work forward.
This is why research, translation, teaching and clinical practice belong together.
Research preserves the record.
Transmission keeps the knowledge alive.
Practice keeps it connected to reality.
Bring Tung Acupuncture Into Your Learning Community
The Tung Lineage Institute shares research, clinical experience and lineage-based knowledge with practitioners, students, study groups, schools, universities and professional organizations around the world.
There are many ways to connect with the work of the Institute.
Online presentations
Invite us to introduce a topic, a clinical approach or the SMI Method to your group or institution through an online presentation.
Study groups & student groups
Looking for a way to introduce Tung acupuncture to a study group, student community or practitioner network? We can adapt a presentation to your group’s level, interests and questions.
Introducing the Tung Encyclopedia
We also offer free online presentations introducing the Tung Encyclopedia — showing how the platform brings together points, Shénjīng, meridians, indications and documented sources.
On-site teaching & speaking
For schools, universities, associations and professional organizations, we can also discuss on-site lectures, workshops and teaching sessions.
What could we explore together?
- An introduction to Tung acupuncture
- The history and transmission of the Tung lineage
- Master Tung Ching-chang 董景昌 and his direct transmissions
- Original sources and historical research
- Clinical reasoning in Tung acupuncture
- The SMI Method
- An introduction to the Tung Encyclopedia
- Study sessions for students and practitioners
- Online presentations and discussions
- On-site lectures and workshops
Let’s talk
Every group is different.
Tell us about your audience, your interests and what you would like to explore.
We can then discuss the most appropriate format — online or on-site, introductory or more advanced, for students, practitioners or institutions.
Interested in organizing a session?
Book a callLet’s talk about what would be useful for your group.
European Association for Tung Acupuncture
European & Western community
The European Association for Tung Acupuncture (EATA) is currently under development.
It aims to support the study, transmission and practice of Tung acupuncture in Europe and across the Western community, with particular attention to making the tradition accessible through the lineage and teachings of Dr Hu Wen-chih 胡文智.
It is intended to bring together practitioners, teachers and researchers interested in Tung acupuncture, while creating a space for exchange between different experiences and transmissions.
The EATA also intends to carry forward the spirit of the charitable work already undertaken by Nicolas Berger in Cambodia.
This work brings together his experience in Tung acupuncture and physiotherapy, through clinical care and voluntary teaching with local practitioners.
The aim is to contribute to a form of care in which clinical practice, knowledge and transmission remain connected.
A Tradition Carried Into Practice
From Taiwan to Cambodia
Tung acupuncture has already travelled far beyond Taiwan.
Historical material records Master Tung Ching-chang 董景昌 treating Cambodian President Marshal Lon Nol and documents his presence in Cambodia during the early 1970s.
Today, our work in Cambodia creates another connection between Tung acupuncture, clinical practice and transmission.
Nicolas Berger teaches and treats voluntarily, sharing Tung acupuncture with local practitioners and contributing to the continuity of clinical care.
This work is carried out with local actors such as MEC, within a wider environment of medical and charitable initiatives, including connections with Tzu Chi.
His clinical work brings together his experience in Tung acupuncture and physiotherapy, while his voluntary teaching contributes to the transmission of clinical knowledge to local practitioners.
The aim is to contribute to continuity of care in which practice, knowledge and transmission remain connected.
From Master Tung to his disciples.From one generation to the next.From Taiwan to Cambodia — and back into practice.
Publications
From historical documents to accessible sources
Research has value when it can be consulted.
The Institute therefore works to make important sources accessible through translation, publication, interviews and structured documentation.
Official translation of the work of Dr Hu Wen-chih 胡文智, translated by Nicolas Berger at Dr Hu’s request.
Where possible, the Chinese source is preserved alongside the translation so that readers can return directly to the original text.
Faithful and complete translation of Master Tung Ching-chang’s original texts, including the 1968, 1972 and 1973 editions, with compilation and analysis of the different editions and sources.
The aim is not simply to translate.
It is to make the sources themselves easier to study.
Preserve the Legacy of Tung Acupuncture
The Institute grew from a simple question:
How can a living clinical tradition be better understood, preserved and transmitted when its sources and transmissions are multiple?
Our answer is a body of work that brings together historical research, study of transmission, translation, clinical practice and teaching.
From historical sources to living practice.
Research
For research projects, source study, historical documentation and comparative work.
Collaborate on research →Teaching
For schools, universities, professional associations and teaching initiatives.
Collaborate on teaching →Speaking
For talks, conferences and presentations on Tung acupuncture, its history, sources and transmission.
Invite Nicolas Berger →Institutional collaboration
For institutions and organizations interested in research, preservation, transmission and international collaboration.
Collaborate with the Institute →Research · TraditionTransmission · Practice
Tung Lineage Institute
Preserve the legacy of Tung acupuncture.