Article and Photography By BECKIE LOEWENSTEIN
Chinese massage therapy involves a series of rubs, presses, scrapes, brushes, pulls, pokes, shakes, slaps, and punches. The intensity and duration depends on the health condition and personal preferences of the client. The residents of Harbin turn to massage therapy as a medicinal remedy to aches and pains.
I accompany my classmate Christine Trac to the massage therapy clinic in the residential district to the north of Heilongjiang University. The white characters “blind person massage” (盲人按摩) painted on the windows advertise that the therapists are all visually impaired. Before the 1980s blind massage therapists were most common. The elderly even more than the youth in Harbin have the belief that the blind have sharper senses and can give the best massages.
Christine chooses the full body massage that protects overall health; it costs 30 元 an hour.
Sometimes you can choose your career, and other times that career chooses you. Zhou was born blind. He gained professional certification as a massage therapist in 2001.
In 2002 Li Zuo, then nineteen years old, ran a high fever and went blind at the hospital. He sees darkness in his left eye and perceives light in his right eye. Although he feels great pain missing colors and seeing the world, he does not blame his parents or doctors for what happened.
During their three year training program in Chinese medicine and massage therapy, Zhou and Li Zuo also learned how to read and write in Chinese braille. They obtained advanced skills to provide a valuable health service to the community.
"Giving massages to help my client's health is doing a good thing. Everyone should do good things, regardless whether or not it brings personal satisfaction," says Li Zuo.
Their strong hands and arms do not easily tire.
Zhou presses his palms deeply into Christine’s back and rubs her vertebrae in circular motions. He softly asks Christine to turn over to face him. Zhou touches the top of her shoulder to reorient himself at her side. He holds her hand in both of his: after pulling each finger to lightly stretch each knuckle, he vigorously shakes her arm up and down.
The mechanical voice of a digital clock announces that the hour has passed.
“It felt great. It was the same guy. I was a lot more relaxed this time,” says Christine. “He is pretty good about knowing where he is going.”
The therapists recommend their clients rest and drink plenty of water after the massage.
“After receiving a massage, the body feels tired. A massage is also a type of activity. It is the same as exercising the muscles,” says Zhou.
The massage therapy focuses on Chinese medicine. Chinese therapists target pressure points and meridians. Claire Maccabee, a graduate student studying Chinese at the University of Massachusetts, has mixed feelings about the technique of Chinese medicinal massage.
The therapist first rubs to relax the muscles, and then pushes hard into the acupressure points. It can be painful, but effective.
“I almost bit my lip to control the pain because it was so uncomfortable, so tense,” says Maccabee. “But then I felt so much better afterwards.”
I accompany my classmate Christine Trac to the massage therapy clinic in the residential district to the north of Heilongjiang University. The white characters “blind person massage” (盲人按摩) painted on the windows advertise that the therapists are all visually impaired. Before the 1980s blind massage therapists were most common. The elderly even more than the youth in Harbin have the belief that the blind have sharper senses and can give the best massages.
Christine chooses the full body massage that protects overall health; it costs 30 元 an hour.
Sometimes you can choose your career, and other times that career chooses you. Zhou was born blind. He gained professional certification as a massage therapist in 2001.
In 2002 Li Zuo, then nineteen years old, ran a high fever and went blind at the hospital. He sees darkness in his left eye and perceives light in his right eye. Although he feels great pain missing colors and seeing the world, he does not blame his parents or doctors for what happened.
During their three year training program in Chinese medicine and massage therapy, Zhou and Li Zuo also learned how to read and write in Chinese braille. They obtained advanced skills to provide a valuable health service to the community.
"Giving massages to help my client's health is doing a good thing. Everyone should do good things, regardless whether or not it brings personal satisfaction," says Li Zuo.
Their strong hands and arms do not easily tire.
Zhou presses his palms deeply into Christine’s back and rubs her vertebrae in circular motions. He softly asks Christine to turn over to face him. Zhou touches the top of her shoulder to reorient himself at her side. He holds her hand in both of his: after pulling each finger to lightly stretch each knuckle, he vigorously shakes her arm up and down.
The mechanical voice of a digital clock announces that the hour has passed.
“It felt great. It was the same guy. I was a lot more relaxed this time,” says Christine. “He is pretty good about knowing where he is going.”
The therapists recommend their clients rest and drink plenty of water after the massage.
“After receiving a massage, the body feels tired. A massage is also a type of activity. It is the same as exercising the muscles,” says Zhou.
The massage therapy focuses on Chinese medicine. Chinese therapists target pressure points and meridians. Claire Maccabee, a graduate student studying Chinese at the University of Massachusetts, has mixed feelings about the technique of Chinese medicinal massage.
The therapist first rubs to relax the muscles, and then pushes hard into the acupressure points. It can be painful, but effective.
“I almost bit my lip to control the pain because it was so uncomfortable, so tense,” says Maccabee. “But then I felt so much better afterwards.”