Since

Huangdi Mingtang Jing

(

Yellow Emperor's Illustrated Manual of Acupuncture Points

) proposed the localization of the three preauricular acupoints

namely Ermen (TE21)

Tinggong (SI19)

and Tinghui (GB2)

the textual descriptions of their localization in ancient literature have basically remained unchanged. However

according to the consensus of ancient literature descriptions

the localization combined with anatomy differs from the current national standard for acupoint localization. By systematically collecting and organizing the localization descriptions of the three preauricular acupoints in literature throughout different dynasties

and combining them with the anatomy of the preauricular region

this paper r

e-localizes the three preauricular acupoints. Based on literature records

acupuncture bronze figures

and Mingtang diagrams

the evolution process of the localization of the three preauricular acupoints is discussed

and the important evolutionary nodes and reasons for their evolution are analyzed. In addition

modern descriptions of the indications of the three preauricular acupoints are basically copied or rewritten from acupuncture literature before the Ming dynasty

and their indications are in fact practical summaries of acupoint localization in ancient literature before the Ming dynasty. In view of this

combined with the anatomical structure of the preauricular region

the localization of the three preauricular acupoints should follow the localization determined by the consensus of ancient literature

namely

Ermen (TE21) is located in the depression anterior to the supratragic notch

Tinggong (SI19) is located on the tragus

and Tinghui (GB2) is located at the pulsation of the superficial temporal artery anterior to the tragus.