 In 1972 Tang was commissioned by the Shanghai health service to paint a work about acupuncture's usefulness as an anesthetic in surgery.Art officials were dissatisfied with the painting submitted by a health worker the preceding year, and waived guidelines to allow Tang to paint in the evenings, after he completed his daily farm work.The spareness of Maoist slogans in the result, "Acupuncture Anesthesia" (针刺麻醉), was considered very daring by the art world of the time.