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HEFEI－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 when it's cold is sweating through the summer heat. Sanfutie, a kind of plaster using traditional Chinese medicine, 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 of having the therapy," says Shi Xuan, an asthma patient
whose condition has 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," says Shi. "The patches are placed on different acupuncture points for different
diseases and are kept there for 20 to 30 minutes," says 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 says. Under the TCM system, 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 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," says 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, says 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.
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