Rubbing the right way

Liu Xuchen, a 49-year-old masseur from Yinchuan in Northwest China's Ningxia Hui autonomous region, has his hands full during the Paralympic Games. Liu stayed in the Olympic Park during the Beijing Olympics, but he never had a chance to watch a game live.

Instead, Liu was busy giving massages to visitors as part of an exhibit on the local customs of Ningxia. His standard workday started at 9 am and ended at 7 pm, during which he would serve some 26 people.

Liu had learned his trade from professor Yang Huaxiang, the legendary 7th-generation heir of Tang Ping Gong, a combination of martial art, qigong and medical practice. (Tang Ping refers to a washing bottle Muslims use daily to wash their hands.) Liu learned from his teacher methods for the diagnosis and treatment of the head, feet, face, bones, ears, hands and acupuncture points.