In the present paper

the authors introduce the approved and finished research projects for acupuncture and moxibustion therapies supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(NSFC) during the 11th 5-year-plan.A total of 194 research projects were subsidized by NSFC from 2006 to 2010.These projects include 6 aspects: meridian-collaterals

acupoint theory

acupuncture analgesia

mechanisms underlying improvement of different clinical problems

clinical trials

and moxibustion therapy.The research on acupoints has been becoming a new hotspot in recent years.Majority of the research projects focus on the mechanism of acu-moxibustion underlying improvement of different clinical problems

while fewer projects on clinical trials.During the 11th 5-year-plan

119 projects were completed;most of them involved meridian-collateral theory

acupoint theory

mechanism of acu-moxibustion underlying improvement of clinical problems and acupuncture manipulations.Following analysis of the finished research projects

we find that 1) many neurobiological methods and techniques are commonly used in the research on meridian-collateral theory;2) the research on acupoint theory is changing from observing the local morphological structure to identifying characteristics of the regional activated receptors

particularly under the circumstances of visceral pathological conditions and efficacies of acupoints;3) researches on the underlying mechanism of acu-moxibusiton for improving clinical disorders mainly focused on its cerebral protective effects against cerebral ischemia

in addition

researches about other diseases on clinical conditions have been also carried out

but the related mechanisms are far from understanding;4) In many research projects

various new methods and techniques

such as fMRI

position emission tomography

genomics

proteomics

molecular biology

nerve stem cell

etc.were widely used;5) Randomized controlled multi-center clinical trials are definitely insufficient.Only two clinical projects were finished during the 11th 5-year-plan.Moreover

it should be noted that in the subject of acu-moxibustion

independent innovation researches are fewer;the foundation of competitive ability is relatively weaker;the supporting conditions for finishing the research projects are poorer in some institutes or districts;and the interrelations among the theoretical

experimental and clinical researches are not intimately close

leading to relative lag in the subject development.