Tongue Zones: Tip, Middle and Root shé xiàng fēn qū · 舌象分区

Classical tongue reading divides the surface into regions and reads each against a part of the body: the tip is associated with the Heart and Lung, the middle with the Spleen and Stomach, the sides with the Liver and Gallbladder, and the root with the Kidney.

The logic is a mapping, not a measurement. It tells you where to look, not what a finding means. Two practitioners looking at the same tongue can describe it identically and still weigh it differently.

Practical cautions apply to observation itself: strong coffee, tea, coloured sweets and cigarettes alter the coating within minutes, and some medications and mouthwashes change it more durably. A tongue is read in a standard light, and the observation is only one contribution to the whole assessment.