AIM: To correct the mistake that the distribution of meridian is replaced by "flowing of nutrient qi" for over two thousand year.METHODS: To probe into the law of distribution of meridian based on analysis on ancient literatures, records of beginnings and ends of meridians in classic works on Chinese medicine, overall distribution of divergent meridians and meridians of muscle region, theoretic evidence of flowing inbiao-ben, jie, shu and gen, "regular and reverse distribution of meridians",flowing of nutrient qi and analysis on diagnosis and treatment of distal points along meridians.RESULTS: Based on the definite records in Huangdi's Internal Classic,fied that meridians start at the end of limbs, distribute towards heart and terminate at head and body, which is demonstrated in ancient theories of meridians and collaterals on biao-ben, jie, shu and gen. It is verified too in basic theory of "regular and reverse distribution of meridians" and practice that the substitution of flowing of nutrient qi to distribution of meridian is wrong, which leads to wrong recognition of law of distribution of meridian, resulting in divergence in ancient theory of meridian and collateral for long time. CONCLUSION: The substitution of flowing of nutrient qi to distribution of meridian is wrong. To correct such mistake displays the action of points located below elbows and knees of four limbs on diagnosis and treatment of disorders in internal organs and distal regions along meridians and its important scientific study values.

This study was aimed to objectify Color Inspection in Traditional Chinese Medicine (CITCM). A quantita-tive system for CITCM was designed and developed. The entire system included two parts, which were the hardware and the software. The hardware was an image acquisition device in a standard lighting condition. The software was used for digital image processing. The chromaticity of facial special region (SR) corresponding to five internal organs were calculated. The system was carried out by taking 100 samples of people. It was concluded that the experiment verified the effectiveness of the system in objective study of CITCM. It can be used as basis for the further study on CITCM.