Medicine gets straight to the point

At 9:30 in the morning, Li Xueli, 25, hastily rode his motorcycle straight to the Dongzhimen Hospital of Beijing University of Chinese Medicine. Having embarked on a career as a programmer at an internet company two years previously, he needed to get acupuncture treatment to his lumbar spine before his work started at 11 am.

His job required him to sit for extended periods, often leaving him with stiff muscles in his lower back, neck and shoulders.

Upon entering the acupuncture outpatient department of the hospital, he saw patients sitting or lying down in treatment rooms, undergoing a variety of treatments including moxibustion and electro-acupuncture, among them quite a few young faces.