In 1026, Wang Weiyi compiled Tong Ren Shu Xue Zhen Jiu Tu Jing (Illustrated Manuel of Points on the Bronze Figure), which was promulgated throughout China by the government as a standardized book of acupuncture. Based on the book, Wang cast two human-sized acupuncture bronze figures as a tool for state acupuncture examination. All the points on the figure were covered with wax. If a student inserted the needle into the right point, mercury would flow out, otherwise needles would not be able to penetrate the figure.

Left: The solid Acupuncture Bronze Figure cast in 1742 in the shape of a woman, 46cm high, as a prize for the editor-in-chiefs of Yi Zong Jin Jian (Golden Mirror of Medicine), kept in the Medical History Museum of the Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine

Right: A reproduction based on the Tong Ren Shu Xue Zhen Jiu Tu Jing (Illustrated Manuel of Points on the Bronze Figure), cast in the late Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), on which there were 664 points with 357 names and the pathways of the meridians carved in, kept in the Chinese History Museum