My Understandings on Regularities of the Circulation, Handing over and Taking over of Yin-qi and Yang-qi of the Twelve Meridians

In the present paper, the author makes a summary on the regularities of the prosperity and decline, handing over and taking over of yin qi and yang qi of the twelve regular meridians in accordance with the theory of traditional Chinese medicine. The head and the chest are the places where the twelve regular meridians hand over and take over. The location where the meridian yin qi transforms into yang qi is at the hand, and the yang qi transforming into yin qi is situated at the foot. The hand is located in the upper part of the body and belongs to yang and to heaven, while the foot is located in the lower portion and belongs to yin and to earth. Therefore, the yin qi of the twelve regular meridians originates from the foot, flows together in the chest and runs upward to spread to the hand. The yang qi of the twelve regular meridians starts from the hand, converges in the head and goes downward to distribute in the foot. Such handing over and taking over (transformation) and coursing of the yin qi and yang qi of the twelve regular meridians form the Da Zhou Tian (big circle, 大周天). In clinic, the regulative effects of the acupoints at the hand and foot on the three yin and three yang meridians, those of the acupoints at the head on the six yang meridians, and those of acupoints at the chest on the six yin meridians are of a certain significance.