清陽简体清阳

qīng yáng

Clear yang · qing yang

Also rendered: The clear yang (this site; kept as two words so that it stays visibly parallel with the turbid yin) · Qing yang (transliteration; used when the four clauses are quoted whole)

Physiology

Reviewed · 2026-10-11

At a glance

Pinyin: qīng yáng
Simplified: 清阳
Literal: 清 qīng — clear, limpid (《說文》: 清，朖也，澂水之皃：water run clear); 陽 yáng — yang, the light and rising half of the pair. The clear yang is the refined and light part of qi, the part that rises. Suwen 5 gives it four clauses in one breath — it becomes heaven, it leaves by the upper orifices, it opens the interstices, it fills the four limbs — and then, much later in the chapter, a fifth: it goes up to heaven. The word is never defined in the chapter; the parallelism is the definition.
Shuowen: **「清陽」本篇5見**；**「清」讀 qīng，本篇9見**；**「陽」讀 yáng，本篇49見**；**《說文》：清，朖也，澂水之皃**；**本篇四句對舉：清陽爲天／出上竅／發腠理／實四支，濁陰皆有其對**

In brief

The light, clarified half of qi, the half that rises. Suwen 5 uses the pair 清陽／濁陰 four times in a single breath and once more at the end of its cosmology: the clear becomes heaven, leaves by the upper orifices, opens the interstices, fills the four limbs; the turbid becomes earth, leaves by the lower orifices, walks the five viscera, goes home to the six palaces. The scheme is the chapter’s way of saying why one body has an upper half and a lower half at all, and why qi and flavour part company on the way in. 清陽 is not a substance the chapter isolates; it is the direction a part of the qi takes.

Senses in the classical corpus

The graphs 清陽

清者澄澈，陽者輕升，合為輕清之氣

故清陽爲天 — Suwen 5

Where it goes first 清陽出上竅

清陽之氣出於上竅

故清陽出上竅 — Suwen 5

Where it spreads 清陽發腠理

清陽開發腠理

清陽發腠理 — Suwen 5

What it fills 清陽實四支

清陽充實四支

清陽實四支 — Suwen 5

Where it ends 清陽上天

清陽上升而歸於天

清陽上天 — Suwen 5

What it is set against 濁陰

濁陰爲地、出下竅、走五藏、歸六府

濁陰歸地 — Suwen 5

Occurrences in the classics

Passages where the term does real work, with the original, pinyin and English on the same line.

Display

1 passages

素問·陰陽應象大論 Suwen 5 · 陰陽應象大論 Read in context →

故清陽爲天，濁陰爲地。地氣上爲雲，天氣下爲雨，雨出地氣，雲出天氣。故清陽出上竅，濁陰出下竅。清陽發腠理，濁陰走五藏；清陽實四支，濁陰歸六府。故清阳为天，浊阴为地。地气上为云，天气下为雨，雨出地气，云出天气。故清阳出上窍，浊阴出下窍。清阳发腠理，浊阴走五藏；清阳实四支，浊阴归六府。

gù qīng yáng wéi tiān, zhuó yīn wéi dì. dì qì shàng wéi yún, tiān qì xià wéi yǔ, yǔ chū dì qì, yún chū tiān qì. gù qīng yáng chū shàng qiào, zhuó yīn chū xià qiào. qīng yáng fā còu lǐ, zhuó yīn zǒu wǔ zàng; qīng yáng shí sì zhī, zhuó yīn guī liù fǔ.

Thus clear yang is heaven and turbid yin is earth. Earth qi rising becomes cloud; heaven qi descending becomes rain. Rain issues from earth qi, cloud from heaven qi. Therefore clear yang exits by the upper orifices, turbid yin by the lower orifices. Clear yang spreads through the interstices, turbid yin travels to the five viscera; clear yang fills the four limbs, turbid yin returns to the six bowels.

**「清陽」本篇5見**；**「濁陰」本篇5見，見本站新目**；**「天氣」本篇3見，見本站第一六三七條**；**「地氣」本篇3見，見本站第一六三八條**

Compounds built on this term

清陽爲天

qīng yáng wéi tiān

the clear yang becomes heaven

本篇1見

清陽出上竅

qīng yáng chū shàng qiào

the clear yang leaves by the upper orifices

本篇1見

清陽發腠理

qīng yáng fā còu lǐ

the clear yang opens the interstices

本篇1見

清陽實四支

qīng yáng shí sì zhī

the clear yang fills the four limbs

本篇1見

How it has been translated

Every rendering below is a decision about which reader is being addressed. There is no neutral option.

This site	Clear yang · qing yang	the symmetry with 濁陰 is the whole point, so the pair is kept symmetrical
Literal	clear yang	plain and exact; it reads as a term rather than a description
Expanded	the yang that is clear	gives the sense in full at the cost of the symmetry

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-10-11

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