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HEFEI, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- The dog days,
also known as the hottest and most sultry days of the year, have come
and a new fashion has regained popularity among many Chinese who believe
the best opportunity to treat diseases that often harass them in cold
is sweating through the summer heat. Sanfutie,
a kind of plaster using traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), has been a
welcome treatment as it is believed to soothe the body and help relieve
the discomfort of illnesses such as asthma, bronchitis and arthritis in
winter. According to China's lunar
calendar, Sanfu refers to the hottest 30 to 40 days in a year, usually
lasting from mid-July to mid-August. "Today
I asked for a day off for Sanfutie treatment. This is my second year to
having the therapy," said Shi Xuan, an asthma patient whose condition
improved notably last year after first trying the therapy. During
the process, seven medicated patches, each about the size of a credit
card, were placed on his back, with another one below his Adam's apple. "My
aunt used to have asthma as well, but she got much better after
receiving Sanfutie treatment for five years. So, she recommended it to
me," said Shi. "The patches are
placed on different acupuncture points for different diseases and are
kept there for 20 to 30 minutes," said Liu Guangxia, a TCM specialist at
a hospital in Hefei, capital of east China's Anhui Province. A
course of treatment often includes three rounds of plasters in summer,
which often falls on the beginning, middle and end of Sanfu
respectively, Liu said. In the
system of TCM, it is believed that the "yang energy" in the universe
reaches its peak in summer, while the "yin energy" is at its lowest ebb,
and the same is true for the energy in the human body. The
medicine in Sanfutie is thought to be able to mitigate the cold and
dampness that lurks in the human body and causes illness during the
winter. In the hot summer, the "yang energy" in the human body can help
enhance the effect of the medicine. "The
therapy seemed quite effective because he coughed much less last
winter. Therefore, we decided to come for a second year," said Shi's
wife, who was also taking the therapy in the hope of boosting her
immunity. Treating winter diseases
at the height of summer is a notion promoted in TCM, and it reflects the
philosophy of preventing disease over treating it, said Wei Fuliang, an
acupuncturist. Though the number of
reservations for Sanfutie treatment at some hospitals dropped slightly
this year due to fears of COVID-19, the traditional treatment is still
favored by many Chinese and considered a unique way to embrace the dog
days of summer. Enditem
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