Beijing. Mrs. Jin receives a fire cupping treatment
Mr. Jin is a certified “Senior Health Masseur”, a certification issued by the Chinese government. He shows us the latest issue of the certificate, dated in July 2011. According to Mr. Jin, minor diseases, like a cold, can be cured by his massage. His son is also learning massage skills at the moment. Mr. Jin said it is important to master skills like massage, especially now that massage has been recognized as a part of the traditional Chinese culture. Mr. Jin always gives massage to his wife. She is 52 years old and suffers from problems with her spine. With the regular massages by Mr. Jin her physical complaints have disappeared. Mr. Jin shows us his toolkit for fire cupping and wants to explain what “moving cupping” is. He will use his wife's leg to demonstrate. First he lights cotton wool clamped between a forceps, then stirs a cup with it. When the cup is heated, he places it on the part of the skin where his wife's leg feels uncomfortable. Due to the low air pressure within the cup, the skin is sucked inside the cup and turns purple. Now Mr. Jin moves the skin by pushing and pulling the cup back and forth on his wife's leg. This is the “moving cupping” technique. Mr. Jin’s wife had just climbed a mountain a few days before and feels sour in her legs. During the cupping the skin of the part of the leg that feels sour, turns purple. Mr. Jin explains that fire cupping can take good energy as well as bad energy out of the body. When it is cloudy, he would not give cupping therapy to people, because that's when Yin Qi can easily enter the body. Yin Qi is a concept in traditional Chinese medicine (and martial arts). In massage it refers to a kind of energy that coagulates, moistens and inhibits and is considered not good for the body. Mr. Jin’s wife says that she can also perform fire cupping, but unlike her husband, she is not familiar with the acupuncture points on the body. Mr. Jin can give cupping and massage therapies following the acupuncture points.
Size: 2615px × 3929px
Location: XiaXinPu, Beijing, China
Photo credit: © Anton Hazewinkel / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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