LU-01 (Zhong Fu) Central Treasury, Central Residence

What does LU-01 Zhong Fu do?

LU-01 is the Front-Mu point of the LUNG and a meeting point of the Lung and Spleen channels — and it is where the Lung channel begins. Front-Mu points are where an organ’s qi gathers on the front of the body, which is why a point on the upper chest is the Lung’s principal local point.

• Disseminates and descends Lung qi, and stops cough and wheezing — the organ action proper
• Transforms phlegm, clears heat and regulates the water passages — the Lung’s role in fluid metabolism
• Descends Stomach qi — an unusual action for a Lung point, and the reason the Spleen-channel meeting matters

Why the Spleen meeting is not decorative. Our own record classifies LU-01 as a meeting point of the Lung and Spleen channels, and the recorded action “descends Stomach qi” follows directly from it. In classical theory the Spleen sends the refined essence of food upward to the Lung, which then disseminates it — so the point where the two channels meet is where that relationship is treated. A reader wondering why a chest point appears in prescriptions for nausea or fullness will find the answer in the classification rather than in the indication list.

Its Back-Shu counterpart is BL-13 Fei Shu, which we hold and which carries the same “descends rebellious Lung qi” action. Front-Mu and Back-Shu points for one organ are classically used together, front and back.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (channel, category and action records; BL-13's Back-Shu classification queried from our own data), cross-referenced against multiple online sources.

What is LU-01 Zhong Fu used for?

LU-01 is used for cough and wheezing, and for pain and fullness in the chest, shoulder and upper back. Our own indication record is reproduced here in full.

• Cough
• Asthma and wheezing
• Pain in the chest
• Pain in the shoulder and back
• Fullness and oppression in the chest

The list divides in two. The respiratory items come from the Front-Mu classification — this is the Lung’s gathering point on the chest. The shoulder and back items are local: LU-01 sits in the first intercostal space near the shoulder joint, and points treat what lies around them as well as what they classify for.

How it is combined. With BL-13 Fei Shu, its Back-Shu counterpart, in the classical front-and-back pairing. With LU-05 Chi Ze, the He-Sea and Water point and the Lung channel’s sedation point, for heat and phlegm. With LU-07 Lie Que, the Luo-Connecting point and Confluent point of the Ren Mai, for exterior patterns and cough. With REN-17 Shan Zhong, the Hui-Meeting point of qi, for chest oppression. All are held here.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (indication record; the Lung-channel and REN-17 classifications queried from our own data), cross-referenced against multiple online sources.

Where is LU-01 Zhong Fu located?

LU-01 lies on the upper outer chest, in the first intercostal space, six cun out from the midline and one cun below LU-02 Yun Men. It is well lateral — near the shoulder rather than near the breastbone — and that lateral position is the single most important fact about locating it safely.

• First intercostal space, 6 cun lateral to the anterior midline
• 1 cun below LU-02 Yun Men, which sits in the hollow below the collarbone
• The Lung channel begins here and runs down the arm to LU-11 at the thumb

On the name. “Zhong Fu” is rendered Central Treasury or Central Residence. The reading that fits the classification is that this is where the Lung’s qi is stored and gathered on the front of the body — a treasury being a place where something valuable is collected rather than spent. The Front-Mu points are collectively described in those terms.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (location and translation records, retained unchanged; LU-02's position queried from our own data).

• A Manual of Acupuncture (p. 76): On the lateral aspect of the chest, in the first intercostal space, 6 cun lateral to the midline, 1 cun inferior to Yunmen LU-2.
• Chinese Acupuncture and Moxibustion (p. 135): Latero-superior to the sternum, 1 cun below Yunmen (LU-2), at the level of the first intercostal space, 6 cun lateral to the anterior midline.

How is LU-01 Zhong Fu needled, and what is the risk?

LU-01 sits over the apex of the lung, and pneumothorax is the documented hazard. Our own needling record carries an explicit caution, reproduced here as it stands: insertion is recorded as oblique, 0.5–0.8 inch, directed toward the lateral aspect of the chest — and “to avoid injuring the lung, never puncture deeply towards the medial aspect.” Moxibustion is recorded as applicable.

What follows is a neutral record of what the reference literature documents, not instruction for a reader.

• Angle and depth as recorded: oblique, 0.5–0.8 inch, directed laterally.
• The direction is the safety fact. Medially and deeply lies the lung apex; laterally lies the shoulder. The recorded technique is defined by what it avoids.
• Regional anatomy: pectoralis major and minor overlie the point; the cephalic vein runs in the deltopectoral groove nearby; the apex of the lung rises above the first rib behind it.

Why this point is named in the adverse-event literature. Pneumothorax is the most frequently reported serious complication of acupuncture, and the points implicated are those over the thorax and the lung apex — the supraclavicular and upper anterior chest group. LU-01 belongs to that group anatomically.

What is NOT claimed here. No study measuring a safe depth at LU-01 could be located. This library holds measured depths for a number of thoracic points — a paediatric chest-CT study covering 23 named back and shoulder points, and an ultrasound study of GB-21 — and LU-01 is in neither. Those figures belong to the points they measured and are not borrowed here. Nor is any fatality or specific case attributed to this point: none naming LU-01 was located.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (needling record including its lung-injury caution, retained verbatim), cross-referenced against multiple online sources; regional anatomy from standard anatomical description.

What else should a reader know about LU-01?

LU-01 is one of the twelve Front-Mu points, the set where each organ’s qi gathers on the front of the body. This library holds all twelve, and they are worth seeing together because several sit on channels other than their own organ’s — LU-01 is one of the few that does not.

The point where a channel begins. The Lung channel starts at LU-01 and ends at LU-11 Shao Shang at the thumb. That matters for reading classical prescriptions: a treatment using LU-01 with a distal Lung point is working the channel end to end, which is a different intention from using two local chest points.

Research: no trial isolates LU-01. The point appears in multi-point protocols for asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and cough, and in the acupoint-selection data-mining literature, where it ranks highly for respiratory conditions. Ranking highly in prescribing patterns is evidence about what practitioners choose, not about what the point does — the same distinction this library draws on ST-35, the most-used point in knee osteoarthritis trials and one with no trial isolating it either.

A note on searching for it. “LU 1” and “Zhongfu” searches return multi-point protocols and, as elsewhere in this library, unrelated material matched on the code or a surname. Any claim attached to this point should be checked against what a study actually measured.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (Front-Mu set and channel records queried from our own data); no unverifiable or retracted source is cited.