Dr Dong Guirong from the Shanghai Yueyang Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine was named director of the commission, which will focus on the collection, management, and research on acupuncture-related cultural heritage; establish an international acupuncture communication platform; and enhance the field's inheritance and development.

More evidence-based research will also be conducted for the international recognition and promotion of acupuncture in the world, experts said.

Traditional Chinese medicine acupuncture and moxibustion were added to the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization's Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2010.

The China Acupuncture Intangible Culture Heritage Commission is established in the city on Sunday.

According to UNESCO, the theories of acupuncture and moxibustion hold that the human body acts as a small universe connected by channels, and that by physically stimulating these channels the practitioner can promote the body's self-regulating functions and bring health to the patient.

Dr Zhou Jia, president of Yueyang Hospital, said Yueyang is China's only nation-level traditional Chinese medicine research center on non-medicine therapy like acupuncture and tuina (a practice to release blockages and imbalances) and the only nation-based regional acupuncture diagnosis and treatment center in East China.

"We are devoted to intangible cultural heritage protection and development. Yueyang will fully cooperate with the commission to boost the high-quality development of acupuncture," Zhou said.

"International cooperation and promotion of acupuncture will also be highlighted such as overseas student training, overseas patient treatment, and collaboration with foreign hospitals and experts."