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Hear this: Keep your eyes on your ears and rub them for health

Feature | Health
2009-11-17

YOUR ears contain more than 200 acupuncture points linked with your organs and ears can reveal both general health and specific problems. They're a surprisingly accurate diagnostic tool. Zhang Qian listens up. ...

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Expat TCM docs take your pulse

Feature | Health
2009-11-17

AS Anna Xu waits to see a traditional Chinese medicine doctor, she is extremely surprised when a Westerner enters the consulting room, applies three fingers to her pulse and asks about her discomfort. It's just...

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Hot lips: Don't gloss them over

Feature | Health
2009-11-10

CHAPPED lips are a problem in the dry autumn air, and most people just put on commercial lip balm, or lip gloss in the case of women. At its worst, chapped lips are dry, peeling, cracked and can bleed. The condition...

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Keeping your wits about you

Feature | Health
2009-11-3

MEMORY and cognitive function decline with age, but we can stay sharper longer: keep the brain working and learning. TCM suggests strengthening kidneys at early signs of forgetfulness. Zhang Qian recalls. Age-related...

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Getting stoned with hot rock autumn massage Massage

Feature | Health
2009-10-27

WITH smooth hot stones along energy meridians is a good way to get your qi (energy) flowing, relax your muscles and expel toxins. Fei Lai rocks out. Autumn is a season for harvest and storing, a time to get rid of...

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Don't overdo iodized salt

Feature | Health
2009-10-27

ANXIETY, palpitations, trembling, heavy sweating and insomnia sound like facts of life for many stressed-out white-collar workers. But if they are extreme and persistent, they can also be symptoms of hyperthyroidism...

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Stopping the runs

Feature | Health
2009-10-20

AS we enter fall and temperatures drop, Shanghai hospitals are seeing more and more patients not only for respiratory problems, but also for digestive ailments that cause diarrhea, the runs. Traditional Chinese...

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Full of vim and vinegar

Feature | Health
2009-10-13

EVERYONE'S grandma knows about the health benefits of vinegar and it's also a time-honored agent in TCM for everything from sore throat to athlete's foot. Zhang Qian puckers up. Vinegar is essential in Chinese...

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Health stems from the orchid

Feature | Health
2009-9-29

RARE wild orchids growing on mountain cliffs are prized in traditional medicine, but not for their flowers, for their stems. Zhang Qian explores. An inconspicuous herbal tonic in many Chinese pharmacies is a small...

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where to network, eat, drink, work out, get a massage

Feature | Health
2009-9-22

IN this economy, we could probably all use a little pampering: a massage, a facial, a pedicure. Perhaps a nice soak in a hot whirlpool. The spa, new figures show, is one thing we're not giving up, even if it means...

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Safety first in the quest for beauty

Feature | Health
2009-9-22

MORE than 80 percent of Chinese customers put safety as their top priority when choosing cosmetics, according to a recent online poll. The poll on sina.com, in which 600,000 people took part, was co-hosted by the country's...

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Mushroom of the immortals

Feature | Health
2009-9-22

THE fabled fungus among us and the magic mushroom is lingzhi bracket fungus that grows on rotting trees and is said to give health, vigor and longevity. Zhang Qian bites. Chinese sages and the goddess Guanyin are...

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Bird's nest 'caviar of the East' the TCM tonic to salivate over

Feature | Health
2009-9-15

POOR little birds spit out their nutrient-rich saliva to build translucent nests high on ocean cliffs. Then humans come along and wrest them away to prepare precious tonic. Zhang Qian reports. Bird's nests are big...

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That wonderful little worm

Feature | Health
2009-9-8

WALK into any big TCM pharmacy and the first thing you see are strange tonics, weird objects - like dried up "worms" - extravagantly packaged on beds of colored satin, encased in fancy see-through boxes and locked...

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For a healthy fall: Sleep more, drink more water and stay warm

Feature | Health
2009-9-1

AS summer slips into fall, it's time to safeguard our energy, sleep more, drink more water and keep warm. Zhang Qian reports. It may still feel like summer outside, but according to the Chinese lunar calender, summer...