Zi Gong Xue Palace of Child (Uterus)

What does Zi Gong Xue do?

Zi Gong Xue is an extra point on the lower abdomen — one on each side — and it belongs to no channel, so it carries no channel-theory actions; everything below comes from documented clinical use. In that documented use it does one thing, and its name says exactly what: it is the point over the uterus, and it is used for the uterus. It is the principal local extra point in gynaecology, reached for in prolapse, in infertility and in disordered or painful menstruation.

• Used for prolapse of the uterus — the classical defining use, and the one for which the point was named and recorded. The reference literature describes it as a first-choice local point in prolapse, usually with moxibustion.
• Used for infertility — the use that dominates the point's modern literature. A data-mining analysis of 220 acupuncture prescriptions for infertility drawn from randomised trials found Zi Gong (EX-CA 1) to be the third most frequently used point of any kind, behind only REN-04 Guan Yuan and SP-06 San Yin Jiao (PMID 41847472).
• Used for irregular and painful menstruation — recorded across the reference literature for irregular cycles and for dysmenorrhoea, as a local point over the organ concerned.
• Used for abnormal uterine bleeding — the classical beng lou presentations of flooding and spotting.
• Used for lower abdominal pain and masses — including the fibroid and pelvic-congestion presentations, where it appears frequently in the published prescribing literature.
• Used as a local point in pelvic-floor and post-partum work — a modern extension of the prolapse indication rather than a classical one, and recorded as such.

Two corrections worth stating plainly. Our earlier record credited Zi Gong Xue with "raising what has prolapsed, lifting sunken Qi" and with "stopping abnormal uterine bleeding". Both are channel and organ-theory phrases, and Zi Gong Xue is on no channel — it has no five-shu, yuan, luo, xi-cleft, back-shu or front-mu classification, and no organ is connected to it. Those phrases have been removed and the uses restated as what the sources actually document. The points that genuinely carry the action of raising sunken qi are DU-20 Bai Hui at the vertex, the great point for lifting collapsed yang, and REN-06 Qi Hai on the lower abdominal midline; the point classically named for stopping uterine bleeding is SP-01 Yin Bai, the Jing-Well point of the Spleen, treated with moxibustion, with SP-10 Xue Hai as the Spleen channel's blood-regulating point; and the points that genuinely regulate menstruation in channel terms are SP-06 San Yin Jiao, the meeting of the three leg yin channels, and REN-04 Guan Yuan. All are held in Sacred Lotus sources & references. Zi Gong Xue sits alongside those points as an empirical local point, not as one of them — and the point of saying so is not to diminish it but to describe it accurately.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (existing action and indication record, corrected as described; DU-20, REN-04, REN-06, SP-01, SP-06 and SP-10 records); Deadman & Al-Khafaji, A Manual of Acupuncture, extra points (p. 575); Chinese Acupuncture & Moxibustion (p. 248); PubMed PMID 41847472; cross-referenced against multiple online sources.

What is Zi Gong Xue used for?

Zi Gong Xue is used for the uterus: prolapse, infertility, and disordered, painful or excessive menstruation. The indications carried in Sacred Lotus sources & references are prolapse of the uterus, infertility, irregular menses and uterine bleeding; the wider reference literature and the published prescribing studies set them out as follows. They describe traditional use, not proven treatment, and this point carries the pregnancy and depth cautions set out under needling.

• Prolapse of the uterus — the defining classical indication
• Infertility
• Irregular menstruation
• Dysmenorrhoea (painful periods)
• Amenorrhoea (absent periods)
• Uterine bleeding — flooding and spotting
• Lower abdominal pain
• Abdominal masses, including uterine fibroids
• Pelvic pain and pelvic congestion
• Endometriosis
• Diminished ovarian reserve and related presentations
• Polycystic ovary syndrome
• Post-partum pelvic organ prolapse (a modern extension of the classical use)

A note on the later items. The last several indications — endometriosis, ovarian reserve, polycystic ovary syndrome, pelvic organ prolapse — are not classical. They come from the modern published prescribing literature, in which Zi Gong Xue appears consistently among the core points selected for these conditions, and they are listed here as documented contemporary use rather than as traditional record. Where a trial is cited for any of them, it is named and its limits are given under the research question below.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (existing indication record); Deadman & Al-Khafaji, A Manual of Acupuncture, extra points (p. 575); Chinese Acupuncture & Moxibustion (p. 248); PubMed PMID 41847472, 41324111, 41558718; cross-referenced against multiple online sources.

Where is Zi Gong Xue, and how is it used in practice?

Zi Gong Xue is a paired point on the lower abdomen — one on each side — three cun out from the midline, level with REN-03 Zhong Ji, which is four cun below the navel and one cun above the top of the pubic bone. That places it low on the abdomen, directly over the region the uterus occupies, and it is the reason every one of its documented uses is gynaecological. The location record held in Sacred Lotus sources & references has not been altered here.

It helps to picture the row it sits in. At that same level, running outward from the midline: REN-03 Zhong Ji on the midline itself; ST-29 Gui Lai two cun out; Zi Gong Xue three cun out; and SP-13 Fu She four cun out and slightly lower. Zi Gong Xue is the extra point wedged between two channel points, which is exactly how the extra points generally arose — an effective spot noticed and recorded in a gap between the established channels.

Which points is Zi Gong Xue combined with?

• With REN-04 Guan Yuan and SP-06 San Yin Jiao — the standard core. In the largest published analysis of acupuncture prescribing for infertility, these three were the top three points overall, and REN-04, SP-06 and Zi Gong Xue together form the backbone of the core prescription (PMID 41847472).
• With REN-03 Zhong Ji and REN-06 Qi Hai — the midline lower-abdominal points at either side of its own level, added to make a local group over the whole lower burner.
• With DU-20 Bai Hui — for the prolapse indication specifically. DU-20 at the vertex is the point that genuinely carries the raising action; Zi Gong Xue is the local point over the organ. The pairing of a vertex point with a lower abdominal one is the classical shape of a prolapse treatment.
• With BL-23 Shen Shu and BL-32 Ci Liao — the back and sacral partners, worked in alternation with the abdominal points. A trial of acupuncture in in-vitro fertilisation used exactly this alternating structure: one abdominal group of REN-04, REN-06, REN-03 and bilateral Zi Gong Xue, and one back group of DU-04 Ming Men, DU-03 Yao Yang Guan, BL-23 and BL-32 (PMID 35419725).
• With ST-29 Gui Lai and ST-28 Shui Dao — its immediate Stomach-channel neighbours on the lower abdomen, used with it for menstrual pain and lower abdominal masses.
• With SP-10 Xue Hai and SP-01 Yin Bai — the Spleen-channel blood points, added where bleeding rather than pain or prolapse is the presentation.
• With moxibustion rather than a second point — the classical prolapse method, described in the reference literature, applies moxa over the point rather than combining it widely.

Is Zi Gong Xue the same point as REN-19 Zi Gong?

No — and this is the single most important thing to be clear about on this page. Two entirely different points share the romanisation "Zi Gong", and they are not related.

• Zi Gong Xue — 子宮穴, "Palace of the Child", that is, the Uterus. A bilateral extra point on the lower abdomen, three cun lateral to the midline, level with REN-03 Zhong Ji. On no channel. Used for prolapse of the uterus, infertility, irregular menstruation and uterine bleeding. In the modern extra-point numbering it is EX-CA 1 (older schemes list it as M-CA-18). This page.
• REN-19 Zi Gong — 紫宮, "Purple Palace". A point on the Conception Vessel, on the breastbone, on the front midline level with the second intercostal space. Used for the chest: cough, wheezing and chest pain. Nothing whatever to do with gynaecology. Held separately in Sacred Lotus sources & references.

The characters differ (子 zi, child, against 紫 zi, purple), the locations are the opposite ends of the trunk, and the uses have nothing in common. The REN-19 record on this site carries the same disambiguation from its side. Anyone reading "Zi Gong" in a prescription should check which of the two is meant; in a gynaecological context it is effectively always this one.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (location record, extra-point grouping, and the REN-03, REN-04, REN-06, REN-19, ST-28, ST-29, SP-13, SP-01, SP-06, SP-10, DU-03, DU-04, DU-20, BL-23 and BL-32 records); Deadman & Al-Khafaji, A Manual of Acupuncture, extra points (p. 575); Chinese Acupuncture & Moxibustion (p. 248); PubMed PMID 41847472, 35419725; cross-referenced against multiple online sources.

Where is Zi Gong Xue located?

• A Manual of Acupuncture (p. 575): On the lower abdomen, 3 cun lateral to the midline, level with Zhongji (REN-3, 4 cun down from the umbilicus).

How is Zi Gong Xue needled, and is it contraindicated in pregnancy?

One safety fact belongs at the front: Zi Gong Xue is a lower-abdominal point lying directly over the uterus, and the reference literature records it as contraindicated in pregnancy. That is consistent with the caution Sacred Lotus sources & references already carry across this region of the body — that great care must be taken when needling the Conception Vessel points from Qu Gu REN-02 up to Shang Wan REN-13 in pregnant women — a range within which Zi Gong Xue's own level, REN-03 Zhong Ji, sits. Everything below is recorded as neutral reference data describing what the standard texts state. It is not instruction, and this page does not teach technique. Needling is carried out only by a qualified, licensed practitioner.

• Angle documented: our own record states perpendicular insertion. The reference literature additionally records oblique insertion directed medially, angled in toward the midline, which is the more commonly described approach at this point.
• Depth documented: approximately 0.8 to 1.2 cun in our own record; the reference literature records a comparable range for the oblique medial approach. Depth here is bounded by the thickness of the abdominal wall rather than by convention.
• Moxibustion: documented as applicable, and it is the technique most closely associated with this point's classical prolapse indication.
• Electroacupuncture: documented in the modern trial literature, where Zi Gong Xue is among the points most often connected to a stimulator in gynaecological protocols.
• Bilateral: the point is paired, and the reference literature and the published trials record both sides being used together.

The pregnancy caution, stated precisely

• What the reference literature says. Deadman & Al-Khafaji list Zi Gong Xue among the points contraindicated during pregnancy, in company with the lower-abdominal and sacral points and with the small classical group that includes LI-04 He Gu, SP-06 San Yin Jiao and GB-21 Jian Jing. The reasoning given in the classical texts is direct: the point lies over the uterus and its documented uses bear on the uterus.
• What our own records say. Sacred Lotus sources & references carry, across this region, the caution that great care should be taken with the Conception Vessel points from Qu Gu REN-02 to Shang Wan REN-13 in pregnant women — the same caution recorded on the REN-03, REN-04, REN-06 and REN-12 records. Zi Gong Xue lies at the level of REN-03, within that range and lateral to it.
• What the modern evidence shows. It is worth recording honestly that controlled evidence has not confirmed the harm the prohibition anticipates. A review of the scientific literature on the so-called forbidden points found no objective evidence of harm across 15 clinical trials (823 women receiving several thousand treatments at one or more forbidden points), an observational cohort of 5,885 pregnant women needled at forbidden points at all stages of pregnancy, and animal work, with rates of miscarriage, preterm birth and stillbirth comparable to untreated controls (Carr DJ, Acupunct Med 2015;33(5):413–9, PMID 26362792). The honest position is the same one that applies at every forbidden point: the traditional caution is long-standing and near-universal in the texts, our own records carry it, the controlled evidence has not borne out the specific harm, and practitioners overwhelmingly continue to observe it.

Depth and the abdominal wall

Zi Gong Xue lies over the lower abdominal cavity, and abdominal points carry a documented, if rare, hazard of visceral injury when needled beyond the recorded depth. Beneath the skin at this point lie the external and internal oblique and transversus abdominis muscles with the fascial layers between them; deep to the abdominal wall lie the peritoneal cavity, the bladder when it is full, and loops of small and large bowel. A systematic review of the Chinese case-report literature from 1956 to 2010 identified 1,038 adverse-event cases across 167 articles, with traumatic organ injury among the small number of genuinely serious events and the authors attributing them chiefly to improper technique (He W et al., J Altern Complement Med 2012;18(10):892–901, PMID 22967282). Set against that, a meta-analysis of prospective clinical studies estimated serious adverse events at roughly one per 10,000 patients and about eight per million treatments (Bäumler P et al., BMJ Open 2021;11:e045961, PMID 34489268). Zi Gong Xue is not among the points that dominate the adverse-event literature; the cautions attached to it are pregnancy and staying within a bounded depth, and the medial angle recorded in the reference literature keeps a needle passing obliquely through the abdominal wall rather than straight toward the cavity. Standard clean-needle practice applies. This record documents the literature and is not a technique guide.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (existing needling record; the REN-02 to REN-13 pregnancy caution carried on the REN-03, REN-04, REN-06 and REN-12 records); Deadman & Al-Khafaji, A Manual of Acupuncture, extra points (p. 575); Chinese Acupuncture & Moxibustion (p. 248); PubMed PMID 26362792, 22967282, 34489268 — each verified resolvable and checked for retraction status before citation.

What does the name Zi Gong Xue mean?

Zi Gong (子宮) means "Palace of the Child" — zi, a child, and gong, a palace — and it is simply the ordinary Chinese word for the uterus. Xue (穴) means an acupuncture point or hole, so Zi Gong Xue is, literally, "the Uterus point". The name is not a metaphor to be decoded; it is a plain statement of what lies beneath. It belongs to the group of point names — with Lan Wei Xue ("Appendix point"), Dan Nang Xue ("Gall Bladder point") and Luo Zhen ("Fallen from the Pillow"), all held in Sacred Lotus sources & references — that state their target or their complaint outright rather than describing a landmark or invoking an image. That naming habit is characteristic of the extra points, which were recorded for an observed effect rather than derived from channel theory, and it is a useful signal in itself: a point whose name is an organ or a diagnosis is usually an extra point.

Is Zi Gong Xue a channel point?

No. Zi Gong Xue is an extra point — in the modern extra-point numbering, EX-CA 1, the first of the abdominal extra points, and M-CA-18 in the older scheme. Extra points sit outside the fourteen channels: they were recorded for an observed clinical effect rather than derived from channel theory, so they carry no five-shu, yuan, luo, xi-cleft, back-shu or front-mu classification. That is why our record shows no channel and no point categories, and why the actions given above are framed as documented uses rather than as channel mechanics. Any description of Zi Gong Xue "lifting sunken qi", "regulating the Penetrating and Conception vessels" or "tonifying the Kidneys" should be read with that in mind; no channel runs through it, and our own record has been corrected accordingly, with the channel points that genuinely carry those actions named under the actions question above.

This does not make the point marginal. Zi Gong Xue is one of the most heavily used extra points in the whole modern literature — in several published prescribing analyses it outranks most channel points in its field — and its standing rests on exactly the empirical basis extra points are supposed to have.

Is there research on Zi Gong Xue?

Zi Gong Xue has more modern research activity behind it than almost any other extra point, because it sits in the core prescription of nearly every acupuncture trial in reproductive medicine. What it does not have is a trial that isolates the point. Every study below uses it within a multi-point protocol, so none can say what Zi Gong Xue contributed on its own. The evidence that is strong concerns how consistently the point is chosen, which is a statement about practice rather than about effect.

How consistently the point is used

• Infertility — the largest analysis. A data-mining study retrieved randomised controlled trials of acupuncture for infertility across eight Chinese and international databases up to September 2024, extracting 220 prescriptions covering 92 points and 3,653 point-uses. The three most frequently used points were REN-04 Guan Yuan, SP-06 San Yin Jiao and Zi Gong (EX-CA 1), and EX-CA 1 was part of the core network prescription alongside ST-36, REN-06, DU-20, SP-10, BL-23, BL-18, ST-29, REN-03, LIV-03, KI-03, REN-12 and ST-25 (Int J Womens Health 2026;18, PMID 41847472).
• Declining ovarian function. A complex-network analysis of 133 studies and 186 prescriptions for acupuncture in ovarian-function-decline conditions identified a fifteen-point core prescription with thirteen core points, Zi Gong (EX-CA 1) among them, alongside REN-04, SP-06, BL-23, REN-12, ST-36, REN-03, REN-06, DU-20, LIV-03, KI-03, BL-32 and ST-29 (Zhongguo Zhen Jiu 2026;46(1):139–148, PMID 41558718).
• Uterine fibroids. A literature review of 24 acupuncture prescriptions for uterine fibroids found REN-04, SP-06, Zi Gong (EX-CA 1) and REN-03 to be the most frequently selected points, and noted explicitly that clinical trials in this condition remain too few to judge efficacy (Health Sci Rep 2025;8(12):e71505, PMID 41324111).

Trials in which the point appears

• Post-partum pelvic organ prolapse. Sixty women six weeks after delivery were randomised to electroacupuncture at Zi Gong (EX-CA 1), BL-32 Ci Liao and BL-35 Hui Yang with penetrating moxibustion, or to biofeedback electrical stimulation, over six weeks. Both groups improved on pelvic floor muscle strength; the electroacupuncture group reported greater gains in muscle strength, in prolapse stage and in quality-of-life score at the end of treatment and at six months after delivery (Zhongguo Zhen Jiu 2020;40(2):157–61, PMID 32100501). Thirty patients per arm, unblinded, single-centre, and a multi-point protocol — this is the closest thing to a trial of the point's defining classical indication, and it is small.
• Endometrial blood flow in recurrent implantation failure. Eighty patients were randomised to electroacupuncture or to a waiting list. Needling was at DU-24 Shen Ting, DU-20 Bai Hui, GB-13 Ben Shen and bilateral Zi Gong (EX-CA 1), KI-16 Huang Shu, SP-06 and SP-10, with the stimulator connected to EX-CA 1, KI-16, SP-06 and SP-10. The treated group showed a fall in bilateral uterine artery pulsatility index and improved endometrial blood-flow type and vascularisation indices immediately after treatment (Chin J Integr Med 2024;30(4):291–298, PMID 38433155). A waiting-list control cannot separate the treatment from attention and expectation, and the outcome is a physiological measure rather than a pregnancy.
• In-vitro fertilisation in polycystic ovary syndrome. Eighty-three women with polycystic ovary syndrome undergoing IVF-embryo transfer were randomised to routine treatment alone or routine treatment plus acupuncture, using two alternating point groups: REN-04, REN-06, REN-03 and bilateral Zi Gong (EX-CA 1); and DU-04 Ming Men, DU-03 Yao Yang Guan, BL-23 Shen Shu and BL-32 Ci Liao. Endometrial thickness and type, hormone levels, clinical pregnancy rate and live birth rate were the measured outcomes (Chin J Integr Med 2022;28(8):736–742, PMID 35419725). No sham arm, so the trial cannot separate needling from the attention that accompanies it.
• Pelvic organ prolapse — a larger trial designed. A two-arm, multicentre, patient-blind randomised trial across six tertiary hospitals was designed to compare electroacupuncture with sham electroacupuncture in 160 women with stage II–III pelvic organ prolapse, over 24 sessions in 12 weeks with 24 weeks of follow-up and the Pelvic Floor Distress Inventory as the primary outcome (BMJ Open 2022;12(6):e051249, PMID 35667733). It is cited here as a protocol; results were not available when this record was written. It matters because it is the first properly sham-controlled, multicentre design in this point's own classical territory.

What this does and does not support. It supports the statement that Zi Gong Xue is one of the most consistently selected points in contemporary reproductive-medicine acupuncture, and that small trials using it as part of a protocol have reported positive physiological and symptom outcomes. It does not support any claim that Zi Gong Xue treats infertility, prolapse, fibroids or menstrual disorders, and the site makes no such claim. No trial has isolated the point, and the one trial designed to test the classical prolapse indication under sham control had not reported at the time of writing.

How does Zi Gong Xue compare with the points around it?

REN-03 Zhong Ji, on the midline at its own level, is the Front-Mu point of the Bladder and the midline point for urinary and lower genito-urinary complaints; it is the anatomical reference from which Zi Gong Xue's position is measured. REN-04 Guan Yuan, one cun higher on the midline, is the Front-Mu of the Small Intestine and a meeting point of the Conception Vessel with the Spleen, Liver and Kidney channels — the great tonifying point of the lower burner, and Zi Gong Xue's most constant partner. ST-29 Gui Lai sits one cun medial to Zi Gong Xue at the same level and covers much of the same gynaecological ground from the Stomach channel; the two are close enough that careful measurement matters. SP-13 Fu She lies one cun lateral and slightly lower. KI-13 Qi Xue and KI-14 Si Man lie close to the midline a little higher, both meeting points of the Kidney channel with the Penetrating Vessel. And REN-19 Zi Gong is not a neighbour at all: it is on the breastbone, at the other end of the trunk, and shares only a romanisation.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (name, location record, extra-point grouping, and the REN-03, REN-04, REN-06, REN-19, ST-29, SP-13, KI-13, KI-14, DU-20, SP-01, SP-06, SP-10, Lan Wei Xue, Dan Nang Xue and Luo Zhen records); Deadman & Al-Khafaji, A Manual of Acupuncture, extra points (p. 575); Chinese Acupuncture & Moxibustion (p. 248); PubMed PMID 41847472, 41558718, 41324111, 32100501, 38433155, 35419725, 35667733, 26362792 — each verified resolvable and checked for retraction status before citation; cross-referenced against multiple online sources.