Quacks popularity reflects people's anxiety about health

Beijing resident Tian Jizhong gets up at 6 a.m. everyday stretching tendons after he learnt a series of self-healing therapies from a so-called "cure-all master" last year.

Tian, in his 60s, has suffered from pains in his leg for years. He attended several "Paida and Lajin" therapy lessons with his friends last year, which were held by aficionados and students of Xiao Hongci. Xiao claims that the slap massage and stretch therapy he invented can cure all ailments, including diabetes and high blood pressure.

After Tian learnt the therapy, he began to slap himself and stretch tendons everyday, and said the treatment makes his body feel healthier and believes the method can bring harmony to his body.

In an online chat room, Tian is also an activist talking about the therapy to other followers as well as attempting to attract new ones.

Media reported that 49-year-old Xiao Hongci, whose original name was Xiao Hongchi, used to work in the investment and financial sectors.

He began to study medicine when he was 44. Only two years later, he wrote and published a book about self-healing therapies based on traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). It became a best-seller, which made him well-known. Xiao subsequently opened a blog account on the Internet, attracting more and more followers from around the country.

On his official website, Xiao sells benches specially made for stretching, charging from hundreds to more than 10,000 yuan (1,576 U.S. dollars).

Xiao has spread his healing therapy to Germany, Switzerland and Malaysia. His healing videos can be found on Youtube.com.

However, the so-call Master Xiao and his therapy has drawn criticism and skepticism.

He was asked to leave Taiwan in 2011 for violating medical treatment laws. The Taipei City government Department of Labor and the Department of Health also fined him because he promoted folk medicine practices and claimed that diabetics could be cured after seven days of slap massage.

Also last year, relatives of a liver cancer patient in Beijing reported to the police that the patient spent more than 20,000 yuan to attend Xiao's therapy lessons but died three months later.

"Although TCM includes slap therapy, the healing effects are limited, and it isn't suitable for anybody," said Ma Kejian, director of the research institute of traditional Chinese medicine in southwestern Yunnan Province.

Ma said that Xiao's case is not the only one in the country. It has become a weird phenomenon in society where people trust traditional remedies blindly and pick up inaccurate information.

In 2010, Zhang Wuben, a self-called nutritionist, became a guru overnight through his food therapy forums on a television program, with his hallmark theory that mung beans cure all. Zhang's book -- "Eat Out the Diseases You Have Eaten" -- became a best seller.

But Zhang's medical qualification was later exposed as false and his theories have been refuted as followers failed to cure their diseases after spending expensive fees on consultations with Zhang.

Ma Yueling, once considered as the "Health Godmother" in China, claimed she cured diseases ranging from cancer to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) through a variety of unorthodox treatments.

But it emerged that Ma was a nurse without certifications or qualifications to prescribe treatment.

However, Ma's website has 220,000 registered members. Her four books, as well as her monthly magazine, have been read by millions.

The previous cases do not seem to have sounded any alarm bells for the public. The continued emergence of "cure-all" quacks and their success reflect people's anxieties about health, Ma said.

"Although it hurts a little bit during the slapping, it makes me feel healthy. I'd rather endure the pain than go to hospital and spend a lot of money," said Tian. He added that even a small ailment will cost hundreds even thousands of yuan in hospital, which makes him and other people fear turning to a doctor.

The popularity of so many quacks also shows the tremendous demand for health care, said Wu Kankan, an expert of Institute of Psychology of Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Wu said although the country has seen rapid development in recent years, the development of health care system is sluggish.

With the increasing amount of chronic diseases, people begin to pay more attention to health and life quality.

According to statistics released by the Ministry of Health in May, 260 million people suffer from chronic diseases, including heart diseases, hypertension and diabetes.

"People's anxieties about health and the huge demand on health care give those quacks opportunities to make profits and realize other goals," Wu said.

Fan Jian, head of Institute of Sociology of Yunnan Academy of Social Sciences said China should build up a more comprehensive mass health care services system and a strong supervision mechanism to get rid of cases of health care and medical fraud.

The Ministry of Health issued a report in August, which said that China will invest hundreds of billion yuan to set up seven large-scale health projects, including fundamental medical, diseases prevention, psychological diseases prevention and cure systems.