Massage, in Chinese is called 'an mo' or 'tui na', and is another great contribution of the Chinese people made to the world’s medical field. It is a kind of outer physiotherapy and has been approved to be one of great practical use.

Doctors maintain that, a network called 'jing luo' in the human body serves as a passage way for vital energy, blood, organs and joints. They regulate it through the outside force of hands directly acting on the injured area, and alter the scale of pathological changes or improve the organ functions to maintain health.

This marvelous treatment is a branch of Chinese medicine that also has a long history. The earliest record on Chinese massage is in the inscriptions on bones or tortoise shells of the Shang Dynasty (16th-11th century BC).

During the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 BC), a story that a miracle-working doctor Bian Que healed the fainted prince through massage was written down, illustrating the amazing effect at such an early time. In the Northern and Southern Dynasties (386-589), six techniques of hand massage evolved and became more professional, such as to strand, shake, twine, twiddle, knead and roll, which are still widely used.

Today it has developed over 20 varieties of techniques and the study on it is thriving. Depending on the strength and direction of the hand, the power sinking into the body differs. Consequently, some reach only the skin, some to the pulses, muscle and even marrow.

The effects of massage have been affirmed by people who have experienced it, which is, relieving the bones and muscles, detumescence, acesodyne, adjusting dislocation of the joints, removal of muscle spasm and so on.

Today the massage by the blind in China has been popular because of not only its effects but also the work opportunities it’s providing the blind. Besides these massages for cure, there are also ones for keeping fit.

Kneading the acupoints around the eyes can give you good eyesight; massaging simply and exactly on the three acupoints of the head can quickly relax yourself; and massaging the feet, known as reflexology in the west, can reflect the effects on all parts of the human body, as the feet have a close relationship with the whole body and are known as the “second heart”.