Chinese gear up to treat winter ailments in summer with herbal plasters

Bizarre it may seem to the rest of the world, but it makes perfect sense to the Chinese. It is a Chinese tradition where they use the hottest summer days to treat or prevent possible winter diseases. According to their calculation the mid-point is tomorrow marking the theoretical hottest day. Summer began from July 14, and will end in August 13 this year. During this the Chinese apply herbal plasters on their skins.

Chinese hospitals are gearing up for the big event where crowds of Chinese are expected to visit to get their healing herbal plasters known as futie in China.

This is in practice with traditional Chinese beliefs in cold winter months the body has excessive yin energy due to insufficient yang energy [more about yin and yang energy here] making people prone to a myriad of diseases like bronchitis, bronchial asthma, rheumatism and cold in the spleen and stomach.

The ingredients of the herbal plaster vary from hospital to hospital. However, most of them are based on Chinese traditional medicine that are believed to nourish yang energy such as Chinese caterpillar fungus , storax, bulbus fritillariae, musk etc.

People wanting to get full benefits from the herbal plasters are advised to stay away from greasy, cold and spicy food for the time.