GB-31 (Feng Shi) Wind Market

What does GB-31 Feng Shi do?

Feng Shi GB-31 sits on the outer side of the thigh on the Gall Bladder channel of Foot Shao Yang, and its recorded actions are to eliminate wind, to stop itching, and to open the channel and relieve pain along the outer leg. It carries no five-shu, Yuan-Source, Luo-Connecting, Xi-Cleft, Back-Shu, Front-Mu, Confluent or Hui-Meeting classification in Sacred Lotus sources & references, and none has been invented for it here. Its standing in the tradition rests on its name and its position rather than on membership of any point category — which makes it a useful illustration of how a point can become important without a classification behind it.

• Eliminates wind — the action the name announces, and the recorded first action in our own data. In Chinese medicine "wind" covers both the externally contracted kind, which is held to lodge in the channels and produce shifting aches and numbness, and the internally generated kind, associated with tremor, spasm and one-sided weakness. GB-31 is recorded for both, though see the note under research on how old that association actually is.
• Alleviates itching — a distinctive and specific recorded action, and the reason the point appears in the classical management of generalised itching of the skin. The tradition attributes wandering, changeable itching to wind in the surface layers of the body, so this action and the first are the same claim applied to the skin.
• Activates the channel and alleviates pain — the local and regional action along the lateral thigh, hip and leg: aching, heaviness, numbness and weakness of the lower limb, and pain that runs down the outer side.
• Dispels wind-damp and benefits the sinews — the extension of the first action to the obstructed, heavy, aching limbs the tradition calls wind-damp obstruction, and to weakness and wasting of the leg.

What does the Gall Bladder channel have to do with the outer thigh?

The Gall Bladder channel of Foot Shao Yang runs the whole lateral line of the body — from the outer corner of the eye, in a zigzag over the side of the head, down the side of the trunk, along the outer hip and thigh, past the knee and down to the fourth toe. It is the longest of the yang channels of the leg and the one that owns the side of the body. GB-31 sits on the mid-line of that lateral route at the thigh, which is why it is a routine choice for anything felt along the outer leg, and why it appears in almost every classical prescription for one-sided weakness of the lower limb.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (channel and existing action and indication records); Deadman & Al-Khafaji, A Manual of Acupuncture (p. 448); Chinese Acupuncture & Moxibustion (p. 218); cross-referenced against multiple online sources.

What is GB-31 Feng Shi used for?

Feng Shi GB-31 is used above all for pain, heaviness and weakness of the outer thigh and leg, and — distinctively — for generalised itching of the skin. The indications carried in Sacred Lotus sources & references are pain and soreness in the thigh and lumbar region, paralysis of the lower limbs, beriberi, and general itching; the standard reference literature sets them out more fully below. These describe traditional use, not proven treatment.

• Pain and soreness of the thigh, especially along its outer side
• Pain of the lumbar region radiating into the leg
• Weakness, numbness or paralysis of the lower limb
• Hemiplegia and the sequelae of windstroke
• Wind-damp obstruction of the leg — aching, heavy, stiff limbs
• Atrophy and wasting of the muscles of the thigh
• Generalised itching of the skin (pruritus)
• Urticaria and shifting skin eruptions attributed to wind
• Inability to raise or move the leg; difficulty walking
• Numbness and reduced sensation over the lateral thigh
• Beriberi (recorded in the classical sources)
• Cold sensation in the knee and lower leg

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (existing indication record); Deadman & Al-Khafaji, A Manual of Acupuncture (p. 448); Chinese Acupuncture & Moxibustion (p. 218).

Where is GB-31 Feng Shi, and how is it found?

Feng Shi lies on the outer side of the thigh, on the mid-line of that lateral surface, seven cun above the crease behind the knee — and it is famous for a second, much quicker way of finding it: stand upright with the arms hanging straight down at the sides, and the point is where the tip of the middle finger touches the thigh. That landmark method is a documented locating convention recorded in the standard reference literature, not a piece of folklore, and it is carried in our own location record. Our second record adds the bony landmark — the point falls directly below the greater trochanter, the prominence at the top of the outer thigh.

Discrepancy flagged — the two locating methods do not measure the same. Our location records are retained unchanged, and both are given above. But it should be said openly that the seven-cun measurement and the middle-fingertip landmark do not, on measurement, land in the same place. A study at the Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine measured 197 volunteers standing and 92 supine, and calculated by proportional bone measurement that the fingertip actually falls 9.28 ± 1.44 cun above the popliteal crease when standing and 10.51 ± 1.69 cun when lying supine — with the position slightly higher in women than in men. The authors' conclusion was that the point should be taken at the depression under the fingertip with the patient standing, and that in the supine position the equivalent is roughly one cun below that depression (Pan W et al., Zhongguo Zhen Jiu 2018;38(5), PMID 29797916, DOI 10.13703/j.0255-2930.2018.05.016). A separate review comparing the locations given by physicians across the dynasties with modern anatomy concluded that the simple fingertip method does accord with the traditional way, and proposed that it be used together with body-surface anatomical landmarks rather than instead of them (Li Z et al., Zhongguo Zhen Jiu 2015;35(12):1297–8, PMID 26964185). We are not resolving the difference on the strength of these papers; our records stand as they are, the divergence is disclosed, and readers should know that two standard descriptions of this point can put a needle several inches apart.

Which points is GB-31 combined with?

• With GB-30 Huan Tiao and GB-34 Yang Ling Quan — the standard three-point line down the Gall Bladder channel of the leg for sciatic pain, weakness of the lower limb and the sequelae of windstroke: hip, thigh and below-knee. All three are held here, and GB-34 is additionally the Hui-Meeting point of the Sinews.
• With GB-32 Zhong Du and GB-33 Xi Yang Guan — its immediate neighbours below on the same lateral thigh line, used together where the whole outer thigh is involved. Both are held here.
• With ST-36 Zu San Li and SP-10 Xue Hai — for generalised itching and skin eruptions. The tradition holds that treating wind in the skin requires blood to be nourished at the same time ("treat the blood and the wind will cease of itself"), which is why SP-10 Sea of Blood accompanies the wind points here.
• With LI-11 Qu Chi and GB-20 Feng Chi — the other principal wind-named or wind-clearing points, added for itching and for wind patterns affecting the whole body rather than one limb.
• With BL-40 Wei Zhong and GB-30 — for lumbar pain radiating down the leg, joining the Bladder-channel command point for the back to the Gall Bladder-channel points of the lateral leg.
• Among the wind-named points — this library holds a recognisable family whose names all begin with feng: GB-20 Feng Chi (Wind Pool) at the base of the skull, DU-16 Feng Fu (Wind Mansion) above it, BL-12 Feng Men (Wind Gate) on the upper back, and GB-31 Feng Shi (Wind Market) here on the thigh. Reading them as a group is a useful way to see how the tradition mapped a single pathogenic idea onto the body.

Where does GB-31 sit among its peers?

GB-31 holds no point category at all in Sacred Lotus sources & references — no five-shu position, no Yuan-Source, Luo-Connecting or Xi-Cleft role, no Back-Shu or Front-Mu status, no Confluent or Hui-Meeting classification, and no element assignment. That is worth stating rather than glossing over, because most of the well-known points carry at least one, and a reader comparing this page with the ST-36 or GB-34 pages should understand why those have a section of five-phase reasoning and this one does not. GB-31's standing rests on three things instead: its position at the centre of the lateral thigh, its name, and a long documented record of use for the outer leg and for itching.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (location, channel and cross-referenced point records; the absence of any point category was confirmed by query); Deadman & Al-Khafaji, A Manual of Acupuncture (p. 448); Chinese Acupuncture & Moxibustion (p. 218); PMID 29797916; PMID 26964185; cross-referenced against multiple online sources.

Where is GB-31 located?

• A Manual of Acupuncture (p. 448): On the lateral aspect of the thigh, directly below the greater trochanter, 7 cun superior to the popliteal crease.
• Chinese Acupuncture and Moxibustion (p. 218): On the midline of the lateral aspect of the thigh, 7 cun above the transverse popliteal crease. When the patient is standing erect with the hands close to the sides, the point is where the tip of the middle finger touches.

How is GB-31 Feng Shi needled?

Reference fact: Sacred Lotus sources & references record perpendicular insertion of 0.7 to 1.2 inches at Feng Shi, with moxibustion applicable. Deadman & Al-Khafaji (p. 448) record perpendicular insertion in a broadly comparable range, and additionally document oblique insertion directed downward along the channel. These figures are set down as neutral reference data describing what the standard texts state. They are not instruction, and this page does not teach technique. Needling is carried out only by a qualified, licensed practitioner.

What lies beneath the point

• This is a low-hazard point, and it is worth saying so directly rather than attaching a generic warning. GB-31 sits over the middle of the outer thigh — one of the thickest and most uniformly muscular regions of the body, with the shaft of the femur deep to it. There is no body cavity, no organ, no lung and no great vessel within reach at any depth a needle is put to. The standard references attach no special prohibition to it, and it carries none of the anatomical exposure of points over the thorax, upper back or root of the neck.
• The structures actually present are the iliotibial tract — the broad fibrous band running down the outer thigh — and beneath it vastus lateralis, with branches of the lateral femoral cutaneous nerve in the overlying skin and the descending branch of the lateral circumflex femoral artery in the deeper tissue. The tract itself is dense and fibrous, which is the practical reason the recorded depths at this point are greater than at points over softer tissue.
• The measured depth available is generous. That is the honest reason the texts record 0.7 to 1.2 inches and more here where they record 0.1 inch at a point on a toe: the figure is set by how much tissue there is, not by how dangerous the region is. Stating it that way round is more useful to a reader than a warning would be.
• Moxibustion is recorded as applicable, and the point's association with cold-damp obstruction of the leg makes it one of the more commonly moxaed points of the thigh.
• Posture affects location, not safety. As set out under practice, the standing and supine descriptions of this point do not coincide on measurement. That is a locating question rather than a hazard, but it is the one genuinely practical caution attached to GB-31.

The general safety picture

For context rather than alarm: a meta-analysis of prospective clinical studies estimated serious adverse events from acupuncture at approximately 1 per 10,000 patients and around 8 per million treatments, with about half of all recorded events being bleeding, pain or flare at the needle site (Bäumler P et al., BMJ Open 2021;11:e045961, PMID 34489268). The serious events in that literature cluster at a small number of anatomically exposed points; a point in the middle of the thigh muscle is at the opposite end of that range. Our sources record no pregnancy contraindication for GB-31.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (existing needling record); Deadman & Al-Khafaji, A Manual of Acupuncture (p. 448); Chinese Acupuncture & Moxibustion (p. 218); PMID 34489268 — checked as active with no retraction, erratum or expression of concern.

What does the name Feng Shi mean?

Feng Shi means "Wind Market" — feng, wind, and shi, a market or marketplace. The image is of a place where something gathers and is traded: a market is where goods from everywhere converge. Applied to a point, the reading given in the commentaries is that this is where wind collects in the leg — the crossroads at which the pathogenic wind of the lower limb assembles, and therefore the place to intervene. The same construction appears elsewhere in the point nomenclature: GB-20 Feng Chi is a Wind Pool, DU-16 Feng Fu a Wind Mansion, BL-12 Feng Men a Wind Gate. Pool, mansion, gate, market — each names a different kind of place where wind is held to gather or to enter, and all four points are held in this library.

Why does GB-31 have no point category?

Most of the frequently used points carry at least one classification — a five-shu position, a Yuan-Source or Luo-Connecting role, a Back-Shu or Front-Mu status. GB-31 carries none, and our own record confirms it: no category and no element assignment. Points of this kind are not lesser; they are simply organised differently. Their standing comes from position and from documented use, and GB-31 has an unusually strong claim on both counts — it sits at the mid-point of the longest lateral line in the body, and it is one of the very few points anywhere whose recorded indications include itching of the skin as a whole rather than of one region. When a page on this site has no five-phase section, that is why.

Is there research on GB-31 Feng Shi?

GB-31 has almost no point-specific clinical research, and what has been published about it specifically concerns two things: where the point actually is, and whether its association with "wind" is as old as it is usually assumed to be. Both findings are more interesting than a weak trial would have been, and one of them is a genuinely negative result about the tradition's own account of the point.

• "Fengshi treats wind" — an honest negative historical finding. A review from the Institute of Acupuncture and Moxibustion at the China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences traced the academic history of the idea that Feng Shi treats wind disorders. Its conclusion is direct: in the ancient literature, the recorded indications of Feng Shi contain no statement directly associating the point with wind, and no such consensus existed. The association became conventional only under the influence of the modern theory of "point natures" and of modern pattern-based point selection, and the authors judge that it has since become over-generalised — noting that in practice Feng Shi is used mainly for local and adjacent complaints of the region it sits in. They call for this kind of familiar-seeming received knowledge to be systematically re-examined (Mu DX, Yang F, Zhongguo Zhen Jiu 2023;43(7):829–34, PMID 37429665, DOI 10.13703/j.0255-2930.20220927-k0002). This site records it because it is true and because it is the sort of finding a reference work should not quietly omit: the point's name is ancient, its wind indication is modern, and the local use is the better-documented one.
• Where the point is — measured. The Shanghai measurement study of 197 standing and 92 supine volunteers, set out in full under practice above, found the classical fingertip landmark falls around 9.3 cun above the popliteal crease standing and 10.5 cun supine, rather than the seven cun the textbook measurement gives (PMID 29797916). A separate historical review of the locations recorded by physicians across the dynasties concluded that the simple fingertip method is consistent with traditional practice and should be combined with surface anatomical landmarks (PMID 26964185). Between them these two papers make GB-31 one of the few points whose location has attracted more published attention than its effects.
• Clinical trials — multi-point protocols only. GB-31 appears regularly as one point among many in randomised trials of post-stroke spastic paralysis of the lower limb and of knee osteoarthritis published in the Chinese acupuncture literature. In every case it is an ingredient of a prescription, not the variable under test, and nothing in those trials can be attributed to this point individually. They are not cited here as evidence about GB-31, because they are not.

The honest summary: no trial isolates GB-31 for any indication. Its best-documented use is regional — the outer thigh and leg — its itching indication rests on traditional record rather than evidence, and its most famous attribute, the wind association carried in its own name, has been shown by careful historical work to be a modern convention rather than an ancient one.

How does Feng Shi compare with the points around it?

GB-30 Huan Tiao lies above it at the hip and is the far more powerful point for deep buttock and sciatic pain, being a meeting point of the Gall Bladder and Bladder channels; GB-31 is the milder, more superficial thigh point on the same line. GB-32 Zhong Du sits about two cun below GB-31 on the same lateral line and is easily mistaken for it — the fingertip landmark is precisely what distinguishes them in practice. GB-33 Xi Yang Guan continues the line down to the outer knee. GB-34 Yang Ling Quan, just below the knee, is the Hui-Meeting point of the Sinews and is the point of choice when the problem is the sinews themselves rather than the channel over them. Among the wind-named points, GB-20 Feng Chi is the one used for wind affecting the head and for externally contracted illness; GB-31 is its counterpart in the leg — and, as the historical work above shows, the one whose claim to the name is the least well founded.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (name, channel, absence of point category, and cross-referenced point records); Deadman & Al-Khafaji, A Manual of Acupuncture (p. 448); Chinese Acupuncture & Moxibustion (p. 218); PubMed PMID 37429665, 29797916, 26964185 — each verified resolvable and checked for retraction, erratum and expression of concern, all clean; cross-referenced against multiple online sources.