Abstract: This paper traces back to the origin of “mai” and “jing luo”, discusses their available translations on the basis of the data from “Chinese-English Bilingual Corpus of Chinese Medical Classics”, comments on different English translations of “jing mai”. Meridian, the standardized translation of “jing mai”, approved by WHO, indicates a two-dimensional grid and therefore is contradictory to jing-mais function of moving qi and blood; channel, a popular translation of “jing mai” in the West, is a polysemy word and is not clear and definite. The authors think that “vessel” can refer to a three-dimensional tube of the human being and therefore is a strict and proper translation for “jing mai”, and is worthy to be popularized in the future.

Key words: Chinese medicine, mai, jing-luo, origin, Chinese-English Bilingual Corpus