DAAN Chinese Herbs and Acupuncture

An exerpt from an upcoming book, “Shadow of the Silk Road” includes an interesting story about the importance of the foot in Chinese medicine:

Then he said: “It’s a kind of therapy. Traditional Chinese footwashing.”

Twenty minutes later we were sitting in a massage parlour while two pretty girls in green brocaded jackets and white kerchiefs tugged off our shoes. Some of these places are not what they pretend, but this one was. Our feet were dunked in scalding pails of herbal medicine, then pummelled and kneaded into pink purée. The foot — so Chinese tradition goes — is a microcosm of the body, with its own lungs, heart, kidneys: and as my attendant chopped my soles with fingers like steel rods, I started to believe it. My feet had migraines and heart attacks. The girl smiled sweetly: “Foreign feet are so big!”

Meanwhile, on an overhead television, Edward Cheung of China Assets Management discussed the foreign-equities outlook with Brian Chu of the Associated Trading Department. I affected to relax like a consequential businessman, but the girl began pulling my fingers from their sockets. They went off like pistol shots.

Then the girl transferred her attention to my toes. I had forgotten I had so many. They suffered strokes and seizures. For a while longer she beat a steely tattoo on my calves and shins, knuckling my insteps, frowning a little. Then, just as Brian Chu was clinching his theory about foreign- exchange reserves, it was all over and I hobbled off with Hongming into the shaking city lights.”

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