In Memory of Giovanni Maciocia 怀念南京中医药大学杰出校友马万里

From Facebook of Peter Deadman, I got a news-Giovanni Maciocia was gone today.

Peter said: I have just received the terribly sad news of the death of Giovanni Maciocia. I personally owe Giovanni an immense debt as he appeared miraculously as a teacher in my last year of college when I was on the point of giving up in frustration. His teaching was like water in the desert and he was one of the great inspirations in my subsequent career. I was proud that he later became a colleague and friend. I know Giovanni will be mourned by his many thousands of students and friends.

Giovanni Maciocia is one of the most highly respected practitioners of acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine in Europe. Originally from a medical family in Italy, he trained in England at the International College of Oriental medicine graduating in acupuncture in 1974 after a three-year course. He has been in practice since then.

In 1980, 1982 and 1987 he attended three postgraduate courses in acupuncture in China at the Nanjing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine of the duration of three months each, gaining invaluable knowledge and clinical experience. He reads Chinese and has therefore access to all the Chinese medicine textbooks, old and modern, published in China.

Giovanni Maciocia is the author of “Tongue Diagnosis in Chinese Medicine”, “The Foundations of Chinese Medicine”, “The Practice of Chinese Medicine”, “Obstetrics and Gynaecology in Chinese Medicine” “Diagnosis in Chinese Medicine” and “The Channels of Acupuncture” which have become textbooks for all major acupuncture colleges in the world. Giovanni has recently finished writing a new book on emotional and mental problems which will be published in 2009 under the title “The Psyche in Chinese Medicine – Treatment of Emotional and Mental Disharmonies with Acupuncture and Chinese Herbs”.

Giovanni also studied Western herbalism and graduated from the National Institute of Medical Herbalists in 1977: he has been practising herbal medicine since then.

In 1996, Giovanni Maciocia was appointed Visiting Professor of the Nanjing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, a foremost teaching institution in China.

Giovanni is the author of many articles published in professional journals and his article on M.E. (post-viral fatigue syndrome) has been published in a Chinese medical journal, an honour rarely bestowed on foreign writers in China. Giovanni has extensive experience in teaching having taught acupuncture and Chinese medicine since 1974 in several schools all over the world. He is well known for his rigorous and meticulous style combining a thorough knowledge of Chinese medicine with 28-years clinical experience. While firmly rooted in traditional Chinese medicine, Giovanni’s ideas are often innovative as the theories of Chinese medicine need to be adapted to Western conditions and new Western diseases. For example, Giovanni ha formulated an innovative and original new theory on the aetiology and pathology of asthma and allergic rhinitis. He also formulated a theory on the aetiology, pathology, diagnosis and treatment of M.E. (Post-Viral Fatigue Syndrome) entirely from scratch as this, being a new disease, did not exist in the Chinese literature.

Giovanni has been practising Tai Ji Chuan, Ba Gua and Xing Yi since 1975. He currently lives and works in Santa Barbara, California where he lectures.

From Dr Ted Kaptchuk’s foreword to Giovanni’s book Obstetrics and Gynaecology in Chinese Medicine:

Giovanni Maciocia is a respected guide in this transition period of East Asian medicine to the western arena. His accomplishments as a teacher and writer have made him a major force in this successful movement from one world to another. “Foundations of Chinese Medicine”, “Practice of Chinese Medicine” and “Tongue Diagnosis in Chinese Medicine” are all outstanding contributions of scholarship and clinical acumen, and this present volume “Obstetrics and Gynaecology in Chinese Medicine” significantly adds to his accomplishments. Indeed, one begins to see the outlines of a Maciocia transmission or tradition existing within our very own generation.

Giovanni’s Chinese name is Ma Wan Li (shown at the top of this page) which means “horse of ten-thousand miles”.

Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine Giovanni was recently honoured by his inclusion in the brochure celebrating the 50th anniversary of the foundation of the Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine (where Giovanni attended three courses). Giovanni is described in this brochure as the “Father of Chinese Medicine in Europe”

Advertisement