Chinese acupuncture chart. Chinese acupuncture chart with illustrations of internal organs. This illustration is based on the Bronze Man" of the Song dynasty (960-1279) and was produced by imperial decree in 1906. The text at top is a chapter from an ancient Chinese medical text. In traditional Chinese medicine, illness is thought to be due to an imbalance of 'vital energy' or Chi which flows through the body along twelve pathways or meridians, each of which corresponds to one of the vital organs. Acupuncture can correct the imbalance by the insertion of needles at specific points on the meridians to stimulate the energy flow."