Cupping(拔火罐 Bahuoguan)

Also known popularly as ‘‘cup pulling'' and ‘‘suction cups'', cupping is a unique old means of medical treatment that has been around for a long time in China. In the very beginning, the cups were bullhorns smoothed and perforated with tiny holes to be used to draw pus from an ailing part of the human body.

Later bullhorns were gradually replaced by cups made of bamboo, pottery and glass, and the use of the “cupping” technique was gradually developed from the treatment of ulcers to rheumatic diseases, sporadic strain, headache, dizziness, and colds.

Cups are vacuumed so that they are attached tightly to the human body to cause it to be engorged to achieve the medical purpose. Simple and easy, and often with good results, the cupping technique has been handed down from generation to generation, and remains very much in use today.