The national standard of"Regulations of Acupuncture-needle Manipulating Techniques"is one of the national Criteria of Acupuncturology for which a total of 22 items have been already established.In the process of formulation

a series of common and specific problems have been met.In the present paper

the authors expound these problems from 3aspects

namely principles for formulation

methods for formulating criteria

and considerations about some problems.The formulating principles include selection and regulations of principles for technique classification and technique-related key factors.The main methods for formulating criteria are 1)taking the literature as the theoretical foundation

2)taking the clinical practice as the supporting evidence

and 3)taking the expounded suggestions or conclusions through peer review.