Bi-directional regulation is referred to a balancing effect of both acu-moxibustion and Chinese materia medica interventions when the human body is experiencing a hyperactivity or hypoactivity due to abnormal intrinsic or external factors.In the present paper

the authors analyze their identical and different characteristics from: 1) definition;2) characters of regulative effects of acu-moxibustion therapy: A) differentiation of meridian and zangfu-organs being the basis of treatment

B) four factors(acupoint-location

body's functional state

acupoint-formula and needle-manipulation techniques) dependant

C) entirety regulation

and D) centrotaxis modulation;3) characters of Chinese materia medica intervention:including a)correspondence between the drug property and the syndrome being the basis of the regulative effect

b) multi-factors [components(antagonist and agonist)

combination

dosages and processing quality of Chinese materia medica

and functional state of the human body] depen-dant

c) entirety regulation

and d) both centrotaxis and deviation adjustment.In one word

the bi-directional regulation effect is one of the basic characteristics of both acu-moxibustion and Chinese materia medica in clinical practice

but their basis and modes for inducing effects are different.