DU-20 (Bai Hui) Hundred Convergences

What does DU-20 Bai Hui do?

Bai Hui DU-20 is the great yang-raising point of the body. Sitting at the vertex on the Governing Vessel, it is where the yang of the head converges, and its two defining functions pull in opposite directions: it raises yang and lifts what has sunken, and it subdues yang that has risen too far. Which of the two is wanted is decided by the pattern, not by the point.

• Raises yang and counters prolapse — the classical use for sinking of the middle qi: rectal prolapse, uterine prolapse, chronic diarrhoea, and the heaviness and exhaustion of qi that will not hold structures in place.
• Pacifies wind and subdues rising yang — for the vertex headache, dizziness and visual disturbance of Liver yang rising or internal wind, where yang has ascended and is not descending.
• Benefits the brain and nourishes the Sea of Marrow — Bai Hui is one of the two points of the Sea of Marrow named in the classical scheme, the other being Feng Fu DU-16, which is held here on the same vessel.
• Calms the spirit — the Governing Vessel enters the brain, and Bai Hui is used across the classical literature for agitation, poor sleep, fright, mania-withdrawal and loss of memory.
• Benefits the head and the sense organs — headache at the vertex, tinnitus, nasal obstruction, heaviness or clouding of the head.
• Restores consciousness — recorded in the classical texts for collapse, windstroke and loss of speech following windstroke, generally alongside Shui Gou DU-26.

Source: Deadman & Al-Khafaji, A Manual of Acupuncture; Chinese Acupuncture & Moxibustion; Sacred Lotus sources & references; cross-referenced against multiple online sources.

What is DU-20 Bai Hui used for?

Bai Hui DU-20 is used above all for two groups of complaint: prolapse and sinking of qi, and disorders of the head and the spirit. The list below records the indications carried in the standard reference literature; they describe traditional use, not proven treatment.

• Rectal prolapse and prolapse of the uterus — the signature classical indication
• Chronic diarrhoea and dysentery attributed to sinking of the middle qi
• Headache, especially at the vertex, and headache with dizziness
• Dizziness and vertigo
• Tinnitus and blocked ears
• Nasal obstruction and loss of sense of smell
• Blurred or dim vision
• Insomnia, poor memory and mental restlessness
• Mania-depression (dian kuang) and disorders of the spirit
• Windstroke with loss of speech (aphasia) and hemiplegia
• Loss of consciousness and collapse
• Epilepsy and infantile convulsion
• Haemorrhoids, in the context of qi failing to hold
• Shaking of the head, and heaviness or clouding of the head

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (existing indication record); Deadman & Al-Khafaji, A Manual of Acupuncture; Chinese Acupuncture & Moxibustion.

How is DU-20 Bai Hui used in practice?

Bai Hui sits at the crown of the head, on the midline, level with the apexes of the ears — the highest point of the body and the meeting place of the Governing Vessel with four other channels. That location explains its practice pattern: it is chosen when a practitioner wants to act on the whole vertical axis of the body from its top end, either to lift qi upward or to draw yang back down.

• For sinking qi and prolapse — the classical pairing is Bai Hui DU-20 with Qi Hai REN-06 and Zu San Li ST-36 to raise and consolidate the middle qi, and with Chang Qiang DU-01, the other end of the Governing Vessel, for rectal prolapse. Moxibustion rather than needling is the traditional method here.
• For rising yang and internal wind — combined with Tai Chong LIV-03 and Feng Chi GB-20 to subdue what has ascended, and with Xuan Zhong GB-39 or Feng Long ST-40 where phlegm clouds the head.
• For the spirit and for sleep — combined with Shen Men HT-07, Nei Guan P-06 and Si Shen Chong, the four extra points that surround Bai Hui at one cun in each direction and are held here as a separate extra-point record.
• For windstroke and loss of consciousness — combined with Shui Gou DU-26 and Yong Quan KI-01 in the classical restorative groupings.
• Among its neighbours on the Governing Vessel — Qian Ding DU-21 lies one and a half cun in front and Hou Ding DU-19 the same distance behind; the three are often used as a line along the vertex in scalp-based approaches. Xin Hui DU-22 lies further forward over the anterior fontanelle and carries its own paediatric caution.

Historically, Bai Hui is one of the most heavily moxibusted points in the classical corpus. A 2024 analysis of 320 passages drawn from 99 ancient Chinese books, spanning the Western Han to the Qing, found that moxibustion at Bai Hui was applied both to whole-body patterns and to local head disease, and that its strongest recorded single effect was raising yang and lifting the sunken.

Source: Deadman & Al-Khafaji, A Manual of Acupuncture; Chinese Acupuncture & Moxibustion; Ma et al., "Application Development of Baihui (GV20) Moxibustion in Ancient China", J Acupunct Meridian Stud 2024 (PMID 39205615); cross-referenced against multiple online sources.

Where is DU-20 located?

• A Manual of Acupuncture (p. 552): At the vertex on the midline, in the depression 5 cun posterior to the anterior hairline and 7 cun superior to the posterior hairline. This point may also be measured as 8 cun posterior to the glabella and 6 cun superior to the external occipital protuberance.
• Chinese Acupuncture and Moxibustion (p. 233): On the midline of the head, 5 cun directly above the midpoint of the anterior hairline, approximately on the midpoint of the line connecting the apexes of both ears.

How is DU-20 Bai Hui needled?

Reference fact: Bai Hui lies directly over the bone of the skull vault, so it is not needled perpendicularly. The standard references record transverse (subcutaneous) insertion only, angled along the scalp. Sacred Lotus sources & references record subcutaneous insertion of 0.3–0.5 cun; Deadman & Al-Khafaji record transverse insertion of 0.5 to 1.5 cun. Moxibustion is recorded as applicable and is, historically, the dominant method at this point. The figures below are recorded here as neutral reference data describing what the textbooks state — they are not instructions for performing a technique.

• Angle — transverse / subcutaneous, laid along the scalp. Direction of the insertion is recorded as varying with intent: posteriorly, anteriorly, or toward the affected side.
• Depth — 0.3–0.5 cun in the reference held here; up to 1.5 cun in Deadman & Al-Khafaji. There is no deep option at this point: the periosteum and skull lie immediately beneath.
• Moxibustion — recorded as applicable, and the method of choice for the raising-yang and prolapse indications.
• Local bleeding — the scalp at the vertex is richly vascular and superficial bleeding or bruising after needling is a commonly recorded minor event. Across prospective clinical studies, minor events of this kind (bleeding, pain or flare at the needle site) account for roughly half of all recorded acupuncture adverse events, while serious adverse events are rare — around 1 per 10,000 patients.
• Infants and young children — classical sources record a contraindication to needling the fontanelle region of the vertex before the fontanelle has closed; the point most explicitly named is Xin Hui DU-22, "Fontanel Meeting", forward of Bai Hui, which is recorded as contraindicated in young children whose anterior fontanelle is unclosed.

Bai Hui carries none of the deep-organ hazards that attach to thoracic, abdominal or suboccipital points, because the skull intervenes. Its recorded risks are local and minor.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (existing needling record); Deadman & Al-Khafaji, A Manual of Acupuncture; Chinese Acupuncture & Moxibustion; Bäumler et al., "Acupuncture-related adverse events: systematic review and meta-analyses of prospective clinical studies", BMJ Open 2021;11:e045961 (PMID 34489268).

What does the name Bai Hui mean?

Bai Hui means "Hundred Convergences" or "Hundred Meetings" — "hundred" standing, as it often does in Chinese, for "all". The name records that this is where the yang of the body gathers: Sacred Lotus sources & references classify DU-20 as a Meeting Point of the Governing Vessel with the Bladder, Gall Bladder, Sanjiao and Liver channels, and it is the highest point on the Governing Vessel, which is itself the sea of the yang channels.

Why does it matter that Bai Hui is a Point of the Sea of Marrow?

The classical scheme of the Four Seas assigns the body four reservoirs — of qi, of blood, of water and grain, and of marrow — each with named upper and lower points. The Sea of Marrow is the brain, and its two points are Bai Hui DU-20 above and Feng Fu DU-16 below, both held here on the Governing Vessel. This is the theoretical basis for using DU-20 in disorders of the brain, memory, dizziness and the spirit, rather than treating it merely as a local head point.

Is there research on Bai Hui DU-20?

Bai Hui is one of the most heavily investigated single acupuncture points, largely because it anchors most scalp-acupuncture protocols. The point-specific literature is genuinely about DU-20 rather than about a whole protocol in which it happens to appear:

• Experimental stroke. A systematic review and meta-analysis of 54 animal studies (1,816 animals) of Baihui (GV20)-based scalp acupuncture in focal cerebral ischaemia reported improvement in infarct volume and neurological function score against control. This is preclinical evidence in animal models, not clinical evidence in people (Wang et al., Sci Rep 2014;4:3981, PMID 24496233, DOI 10.1038/srep03981).
• Brain imaging in depression. Two resting-state fMRI studies in first-episode, drug-naïve major depressive disorder reported that stimulation at Baihui GV20 altered connectivity within the default mode network and of the amygdala (Deng et al., Front Hum Neurosci 2016;10:230, PMID 27242492; Brain Imaging Behav 2020, PMID 31432318). These are mechanism studies with small samples; they do not establish clinical benefit.
• Vascular measures. A small clinical study reported acute changes in arterial stiffness and wave reflection after treatment at Baihui GV20 (J Acupunct Meridian Stud 2009, PMID 20633484).
• Historical scholarship. A data analysis of 320 passages from 99 ancient Chinese books traced the development of Baihui moxibustion from the Western Han to the Qing (PMID 39205615).

What the research does not yet contain is a well-powered clinical trial isolating DU-20 from the multi-point protocols it is normally used within. Findings above should be read as mechanistic and preclinical.

How does Bai Hui compare with the points around it?

Qian Ding DU-21 and Hou Ding DU-19 flank it along the midline and share its head-and-sense-organ actions without its status as a Sea of Marrow point. Si Shen Chong, the extra point group, encircles Bai Hui at one cun in the four directions and is used chiefly for the spirit and for the head. Shui Gou DU-26 shares the restorative, consciousness-reviving role but acts far more acutely. Feng Fu DU-16, the other Sea of Marrow point, sits below the occiput and is directed at wind and at the neck rather than at raising yang.

Source: Deadman & Al-Khafaji, A Manual of Acupuncture; Chinese Acupuncture & Moxibustion; Ling Shu (Discourse on the Seas); Sacred Lotus sources & references; PubMed records cited above, each checked as active and not retracted; cross-referenced against multiple online sources.