Podcast: Story in the Story (6/7/2019 Fri.)
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From the People's Daily app.

And this is Story in the Story.

Yangsheng, or nurturing life, is a core component of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) that emphasizes illness prevention through fostering health and well-being.

Typically, it is middle-aged or older people who follow yangsheng and includes a variety of healthy activities like practicing tai chi to drinking tea.

However, "punk yangsheng" is something altogether different and the latest health craze to emerge among younger Chinese.

According to e-commerce giant Alibaba's 2017 health consumption report, more than 50 percent of health product consumers are under the age of 30.

As younger Chinese take on more responsibility in society, they are paying attention to their well-being and reducing health risks while still enjoying their vices.

Today's Story in the Story looks at "punk yangsheng," the latest fad among younger Chinese concerned with their health yet still eager to live life to the fullest, and especially so with their friends.

According to yangsheng, goji tea is good for the liver, so young people drink plenty of it when they stay out late barhopping with friends.

Women who are menstruating should eat jujubes to enrich the blood and avoid cold food, so young women can eat jujube ice cream. After eating spicy Sichuan hot pot, they drink plenty of chrysanthemum tea.

Qian Xudong, 26, from Karamay, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, started to practice yangsheng in college after he gained weight and felt weak from playing video games.

He ran every morning because TCM said that is the best time to exercise. He tried acupuncture and ate only fresh, healthy food.

"In two months, my weight dropped from 82 to 68 kilograms," he said.

However, Qian, a government employee, still has a few unhealthy habits such as attending dinner parties and eating snacks late at night.

He's aware that one of the most effective ways to lose weight is to get adequate sleep, but he likes hanging out with friends. In an attempt to counteract that, he sometimes sleeps for a couple of hours before going out. "I then return home at around 2 am and sleep till 8 am," he said.

Zhu Qingwen, a professor at the Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, said while it is good for young people to follow yangsheng rules and pay more attention to their health, the "punk" version may do more harm than good.

Zhu said the best way to stay healthy is to avoid staying up late, and not drinking large amounts of goji tea after a night of barhopping with friends.

"When people damage their health, no matter how hard they try to make up for it, the damage already exists. The best way to stay healthy is to give up bad habits," he said.

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Su Quanxin (Photo: Courtesy of Zhu Meiling)

Li Yong, a third-year graduate student at Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, said his yangsheng lifestyle is more orthodox than punk.

Li sees yangsheng as part of Chinese culture and has formed habits that he feels are healthy.

At the beginning of autumn, he stops drinking cold beverages and takes daily foot baths.

"I drink plenty of jujube tea, goji tea, and chrysanthemum tea, and take traditional Chinese medicines that are good for my liver, kidney, spleen and stomach."

"For me, yangsheng is a lifestyle that has been passed on through generations. It is a scientific way of living," he said.

Traditional yangsheng stresses taking time out of one's schedule to lead a healthier life, yet the punk version is more about squeezing in healthy habits to make up for other unhealthy habits.

Traditional ideas about health in China encourage people to go to bed early, as getting enough sleep is supposed to be good for your skin.

Yet many young Chinese don't have time or feel sleeping is a waste of time. This is where punk health comes in, which advocates trusting one's skin to expensive facial masks instead of sleep.

Su Quanxin, from the China Association of Chinese Medicine, is critical of the trend.

Su argued the new trend does not benefit people's health at all, and in fact may do more harm than good.

TCM focuses just as much on proactively taking care of one's health by maintaining inner balance, rather than trying to take care of problems only after they have appeared.

As such, staying up late will have a negative impact on the body that cannot easily be fixed using the tricks advocated by punk health.

"Yangsheng is not about chasing trends. It's a scientific way of life and a positive attitude towards life. Such methods are like saying 'first kill me and then try to heal me,' which will do absolutely no good," Su said.

(Produced by Nancy Yan Xu, Lance Crayon, Brian Lowe and Elaine Yue Lin. Music by: bensound.com. Text from Global Times and China Daily.)