Qiu Jingchuan, deputy chief practitioner at Lei Yun Shang, takes a patient’s blood pressure at the company’s TCM clinic in Shanghai, China. Photo: Lisa Cam

Inside Lei Yun Shang’s traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) clinic in Shanghai, a long queue of people wait to see a practitioner. Few of them are here because they are unwell, though.

“It’s been a practice for Shanghainese, called zibao, to come and get a wellness check as winter sets in,” says Qiu Jingchuan, deputy chief practitioner at Lei Yun Shang.

Lei Yun Shang (LYS) has a history that can be traced back to 1734. It is one of the “big four” Chinese pharmaceutical manufacturers from Shanghai whose proprietors extended their businesses in Hong Kong after the Communist Party came to power in 1949. Its operations in mainland China became a public-private enterprise that thrives to this day.

Lei Zichun, a great-great-grandson of the eponymous founder of LYS, is credited with inventing Lu Sheng pills, a cure for coughs, colds and other ailments that is a household name in China.

Qiu says the venerable clinic is seeing more of a new type of client. “We find younger people are coming to see us for their yearly check-ups.”

This reflects a trend highlighted in McKinsey’s Future of Wellness report from January that found that Gen Z – which it defines as those born between 1996 and 2010 – and millennials (1980-1996) are buying more wellness products and services than older generations. In mainland China, this is seen in a fresh interest in TCM among younger people.

Wu Yuanyuan, a young Shanghai native in her twenties, is one of them.

“A few months ago, I was looking for a TCM check because I wanted to understand my health condition in a holistic way, through both Western examinations and traditional Chinese consultation,” she says.

“I hoped that TCM could help improve my health and constitution as I do not have major health issues.”

"We’ve been noticing that even children are being affected by stress, and it usually manifests in bad sleep. This has a knock-on effect on their diet and then their ability to concentrate, which leads to more stress"

-Qiu Jingchuan, deputy chief practitioner, Lei Yun Shang

Wu says she visited LYS as it had a good reputation and it was easy to consult well-known doctors who had often worked at leading TCM hospitals.

In her appointment with a doctor in his seventies, she learned her main issue was “excessive dampness”.

According to TCM, this can arise from external sources such as overexposure to water, rain or damp conditions, or from internal ones such as eating too much cold, raw, greasy or sweet food – or drinking too much alcohol.

Dampness symptoms may include achy joints and limb pain, low energy, depression, skin problems, brain fog, headaches, and digestive problems.

“He also diagnosed … some minor issues with my lungs, liver and stomach, which aligned with the results of my Western medical examination,” Wu says.

Hong Kong-based TCM practitioner Samuel To says the habit of getting a check-up at this time of year is a reflection of the TCM saying of “treating summer diseases in winter”.

Through these check-ups, patients can learn what supplementation and other steps they need to take for their body to rejuvenate and how to lay a solid foundation for the coming spring and summer, To says.

They are more popular in Shanghai than in Hong Kong and the southern Chinese provinces, where the practice of having moxibustion – burning dried mugwort on patches on points on the body – is more ingrained.

“Around the winter solstice, we use pungent and warm Chinese medicine to make medicinal patches and apply them to corresponding acupuncture points to treat the symptoms that are more likely to occur during the change of seasons – such as respiratory diseases,” To says. “This adheres to the idea of prevention in TCM.”

San jiu tian moxibustion therapy is meant to begin right after winter solstice; san fu tian moxibustion therapy is meant to be done on the three hottest days of summer.

The downside to these types of moxibustion is that they should be performed on specific days on the lunar calendar, whereas a TCM check-up can be done any time.

While moxibustion is a topical treatment, a TCM check-up will almost certainly involve drinking some bitter tonics. This was the case for Wu, who was also prescribed changes in her diet and sleep habits.

“The doctor suggested I avoid having foods including ice cream, spicy food and seafood, and to go to bed earlier to prevent further liver issues,” Wu says.

The practitioner gave her a week’s prescription of mixed herbs and asked her to return when she finished them for another consultation so that he could adjust the prescription according to her new condition.

Qiu says that LYS is also seeing even younger patients in the clinic.

“We’ve been noticing that even children are being affected by stress, and it usually manifests in bad sleep,” he says. “This has a knock-on effect on their diet and then their ability to concentrate, which leads to more stress.”

While Chinese herbal medicine prescriptions can help, Qiu stresses that it is important to have a balanced diet and do regular exercise.

“Walking after a meal is very beneficial. If you’ve had a big meal, you can walk for 30 minutes and longer if you still feel very full,” he says.

Getting a yearly TCM check-up in the winter is a good practice, To says.

“TCM emphasises nourishing yang in spring and summer and nourishing yin in autumn and winter,” he says, referring to the two complementary forces in Chinese philosophy. “There are different health-maintenance methods in different seasons.

“The Shanghainese practice of seeking out TCM practitioners to help regulate their bodies when the seasons change is indeed a good habit.”