Hanging Bell

Xuanzhong, 悬钟, is the “hanging bell.” 悬 means to hang, as in GB5 and GB6; 钟 is the bell or small jingle bell. The most repeated explanation is folkloric: in ancient China, children wore little bells hung right here, above the ankle. It is a widely circulated folk etymology, but no classical citation supports it, and it is best taken as oral tradition.

The point is better known by its other name, 绝骨, “where the bone ends”: the end of the fibula that you can palpate above the lateral malleolus. The term appears in the Lingshu (Spiritual Pivot), in the description of GB38, as a general anatomical reference for the area, which suggests that 绝骨 was first a landmark on the body and only later the name of a point. Hence a debate that continues to this day over whether Xuanzhong and 绝骨 are exactly the same point. Some authors maintain that they are not.

Xuanzhong is the Influential point of marrow (髓会), one of the eight Influential points (八会穴). The reference works also give it the names 阳维, 髓孔 and, once again, 髓会. The attribution goes back to the Zhenjiu Jiayi Jing (Systematic Classic of Acupuncture and Moxibustion).