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Channel: SP, foot greater yīn (tài yīn) spleen channel

Modern location: An acupoint located on the chest, in the third intercostal space, 6 cùn lateral to the midline.

Classical location: One cùn and six fēn below All Round Flourishing (SP-20), six cùn from the midline of the chest. The point is found in supine posture. From The Golden Mirror of Medicine (医宗金鑑 yī zōng jīn jiàn)

Local anatomy: The lateral thoracic artery and vein, the 3rd intercostal artery and vein. The lateral cutaneous branch of the 3rd intercostal nerve.

Action: Diffuses and downbears lung qì; suppresses cough and stabilizes panting.

Modern indications: Rib-side distension and pain.

Classical indications: Propping fullness in the chest and rib-side; pain referred from the chest to the back; inability to turn sides; cough.

Needle stimulus: Needling: 0.4 cùn outward oblique insertion. Moxa: 5 cones; pole 5‒20 min.

Point name meaning:

• 胸 xiōng: chest
• 乡 xiāng: countryside, village (district under 50,000)

The character 乡 (xiāng), village, was chosen for reasons similar to those that account for points being named 都 (dū), metropolis (SP-2, LR-6, KI-19), and 里 (lǐ) (LI-13). Conjuring the image of a rural backwater, village reflects the relative unimportance of SP-19. The character 乡 may also have been picked because of its similarity in form and pronunciation to 响 (xiǎng), meaning sound, since the beat of the heart can be heard at this point. In either case, the name Chest Village is locational in nature.

The character 乡 (xiāng) can also mean the space between stairs. If that interpretation of the word is applied, then the point name may be construed as a reference to the location of the point between the ribs. See acupoint names: origins, meanings, and translations.

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