Diagnosis and treatment of diseases by means of ear inspection, palpation and stimulation have a long history and abundant experience in China. As early as the 7th to 2nd centuries BC, channels on the ear had been already recorded in the book "Yin Yang Shi Yi Ma Jiu Jing". In the book "The Yellow Emperor's Internal Classic", there were more than 30 sections involving experience and doctrine about diagnosis and treatment of diseases by means of the ear. There were rich experiences of diagnosis and treatment of diseases by means of the ear in medical books and folk medical practice in ancient times.

P.Nogier, a surgeon of France, put forward an atlas of auricular acupoints including 42 oto-points which form an inverted fetus-like distribution, promoting systematization of auricular acupuncture. It also inspired Chinese physicians and scholars to research auricular acupuncture, and to make the auricular acupuncture rapidly become an important popularized content of acupuncturology in whole China.

A large number of clinical and experimental researches on auricular acupuncture in the recent 40 years in China have achieved great contribution to the development of ear-acupuncture science. Chinese medical workers have widely practiced auricular acupuncture in treatment of more than 300 kinds of diseases. They found that auricular acupuncture has better therapeutic effects on acute pain, parotitis, bronchitis, renal colic, cholelithiasis, and stopping smoking, weigh reduction, etc. In regard to the stimulating methods, electro-acupuncture, auricular injection, embedding therapy, blood-letting, and ear moxibustion, oto-point pressing, massage, magnetic therapy have been developed incessantly. Concerning auricular diagnosis, a lot of experience have been accumulated, especially inspection of the auricles, oto-point tenderness, electric detection and staining of auricular points, and so on have been developed. The success of the auricular acupuncture anesthesia greatly promotes the research on the mechanisms of auricular acupuncture. Continuously summarize experience and actively support WHO standardization of the terms of auricular acupoints, and promote academic exchanges of international auricular acupuncture sciences. In the past tens of years, medical workers and scientists in China have been summarizing their experiences and achievements in oto-point diagnosis, treatment and so on, and published over one hundred of monograph at home and abroad. Literatures of auricular acupuncture published in journals, papers, magazines, are increasing. Up to now three sessions of international academic symposium of auricular acupuncture have been held. Since l982, Chinese scholars have actively taken part in the work of standardization of auricular acupoints held by WHO and issued National Criteria of Nomenclature and Location of Auricular Acupoints in October of 1992.

　　By Chen Gongsun, Lu Baoming
　　The first Clinical Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Jiangsu 2l0029,China