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The Inner World

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The Natural World

Meridians

Large Intestine

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Origin 1945 to 1963

The Large Intestine meridian (Hand Bright Yang) runs from the index finger up the arm to the face beside the nose. It rules the passing on and elimination of waste, both physical and psychological, and mirrors the Lung theme of release. Paired with the Lung in the Metal phase. Peak activity 5am to 7am.

Facts
Origins
Origin Period
1945 to 1963 1Tradition: Traditional Chinese Medicine as standardised in the People's Republic
Origin Period
200 BCE to 168 BCE 2Tradition: Mawangdui medical manuscripts
Origin Period
c. 100 BCE - 100 CE 3Tradition: Huangdi neijing
Origin Period
The twelve-conduit system, paired yin and yang, circulating in a daily round and tied to the viscera, is set out in the Huangdi neijing corpus 3Tradition: Huangdi neijing
Origin Period
This is the layer the classical theory belongs to 3Tradition: Huangdi neijing
Origin of the Name
The English "meridian" is a translator's term, not a rendering of the Chinese. Jingmai and jingluo mean conduits, channels and the vessels branching from them; scholarly translation gives conduits or vessels, and "meridian" imports a cartographic image the Chinese does not carry. 2
Language
Classical Chinese 2
Attestation
Meaning in the Attesting Source
The hand yangming channel pairs with the lung as its yang counterpart and, in the Lingshu's pathway description, is the one primary channel that terminates beside the opposite nostril rather than returning toward its own paired organ, crossing the midline at the face on its way there. 4Tradition: Huangdi neijing
Chinese Correspondences
Yin or Yang
Yang 3
Learn More
The Large Intestine Meridian

The Large Intestine meridian (Shou Yang Ming Da Chang Jing) is one of the twelve principal channels of Chinese medicine, the network along which qi is held to circulate through the body. It is a Yang channel, paired with the Large Intestine, and belongs to the phase of Metal in the five-phase (wu xing) scheme.

Function in the tradition

In the theory of the channels this meridian is concerned with the passing-on and letting-go of waste, the yang partner of the Lung. The twelve principal channels are arranged in yin-yang pairs and in a daily cycle through which qi is said to pass from one to the next, and the points along them are those used in acupuncture and related therapies.

The meridian is described here as a concept of traditional Chinese medicine, a system of ideas and practice with a long documented history, rather than as an anatomical structure of Western physiology.

The Yin Yang Pairing, and the Most Used Point in the World

The twelve principal channels are arranged in six yin and yang pairs, each pair sharing an element and a limb. Large Intestine is the yang partner of the Lung: both run in the arm, both belong to Metal, and the tradition treats them as an interior and exterior aspect of one thing rather than as two independent systems. That pairing structure is what allows a practitioner working in this tradition to treat one channel with reference to the other, and it is repeated exactly across all six pairs.

The Large Intestine channel carries the point that is, by a wide margin, the most frequently needled in the world: Hegu, Large Intestine 4, in the web between thumb and index finger. Its classical reputation is for the face and head rather than for the intestine, which is a good illustration of a general feature of the system. A channel's points are not confined in their traditional indications to the organ the channel is named for, because the channel is understood as a route rather than as an organ's territory.

Hegu also carries a traditional caution: practitioners in this tradition are taught not to needle it during pregnancy. The atlas records that as part of the teaching rather than as a clinical statement, and takes no position on any physiological question.

The modern point codes, LI4 and the rest, are a twentieth century standardisation adopted to make the classical Chinese names transferable between languages.

Cross-Tradition Connections

Associated With

Acupuncture, Disciplines

Acupuncture points lie along the twelve primary meridians and two extraordinary vessels, including the Large Intestine meridian; needling a point is meant to affect qi flow along its meridian.

Source Huangdi Neijing (The Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic)Traditionally attributed to Huangdi; actual authorship unknown
Traditional Chinese Medicine, Disciplines

TCM organizes diagnosis and treatment, including acupuncture point selection, around the twelve primary meridians and two extraordinary vessels along which qi is held to flow, including the Large Intestine meridian.

Source Huangdi Neijing (The Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic)Traditionally attributed to Huangdi; actual authorship unknown

Disciplines That Use This

Tai Chi, Disciplines

The meridians the practice claims to move qi along.

Source Lost T'ai-chi Classics from the Late Ch'ing DynastyDouglas Wile

Originates in Language

Classical Chinese, Languages
Source Medicine in China: A History of IdeasPaul U. Unschuld

Related To

Qi (Ki, Gi), Subtle Energies

One of the twelve principal meridians (jingluo) through which qi is said to circulate.

Source The Foundations of Chinese Medicine: A Comprehensive TextGiovanni Maciocia
Sources
1. Chinese Medicine in Early Communist China, 1945-1963: A Medicine of Revolution
Kim Taylor, RoutledgeCurzon, 2005On the standardisation of Chinese medicine as a national system
2. Medicine in China: A History of Ideas
Paul U. Unschuld, University of California Press, 1985On the doctrine of the conduits, the circulation of qi, and the system of the five phasesView the Source
3. Huang Di Nei Jing Su Wen: An Annotated Translation of Huang Di's Inner Classic - Basic Questions
Paul U. Unschuld and Hermann Tessenow, University of California Press, 2011The Su wen on the conduits and the organ functions assigned to them
4. Huangdi Neijing (The Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic)
Traditionally attributed to Huangdi; actual authorship unknownon the large intestine channel's Lingshu pathway and its termination beside the noseView the Source
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