The meridians are the channels along which qi is described as flowing in Chinese medicine, each associated with an organ and a position in the yin-yang scheme. Twelve principal meridians are paired with the organs and run in a daily circuit; eight extraordinary vessels sit alongside them. They are the framework for locating acupuncture points and are described in the Huangdi Neijing and its successors.
Facts
Overview
- Entries in the Atlas
- 20
- What Defines This Grouping
- The channels (jingluo) along which qi is described as circulating in Chinese medicine, each paired with an organ and a position in the yin-yang scheme; the framework on which acupuncture points are located. 1
- Size of the Traditional Set
- 12 principal meridians, with 8 extraordinary vessels alongside them 1
Attestation
- Era of Attestation
- Set out in the Huangdi neijing, compiled in the Han period. 2
Status
- Status Today
- Living tradition: the meridian framework remains the basis of acupuncture practice today. 1
Sources
- Medicine in China: A History of Ideas Paul U. Unschuld, 1985
- Huang Di Nei Jing Su Wen: An Annotated Translation of Huang Di's Inner Classic - Basic Questions Paul U. Unschuld and Hermann Tessenow, 2011
Learn More
The channels of qi
The meridians are the channels along which qi, the vital energy, is described as flowing in Chinese medicine, each associated with an organ and a position in the yin-yang scheme. Twelve principal meridians are paired with the organs and run in a daily circuit through the body; eight extraordinary vessels form a deeper reservoir, and the network connects the interior organs to the surface points used in acupuncture.
The meridian system is the map on which acupuncture, acupressure and related therapies work, locating the points at which qi can be influenced and describing how a disturbance in one organ or channel affects the rest.
A traditional medical map
The meridians belong to the classical Chinese medical tradition and are integral to its diagnosis and treatment, but they do not correspond to the anatomical structures of modern biomedicine, and the atlas presents them as a historical and cultural framework rather than as physiology. Their pairing with the organs and the five phases ties them into the wider Chinese cosmology.
The atlas gives each meridian its organ, its yin-yang character, and its course. The organs the meridians are paired with, and the wu xing phases that organise them, are treated in their own categories.
Enter a year to compare these entries as the atlas records them at that moment. Leave it empty for the present. A year before the common era is entered with a minus sign, so 44 BCE is minus 44.