A personal journey: The tao of healing touch

I had been confined to a wheelchair for months, crippled by scoliosis and uncertainty. It was during this dark phase that my friend An Jing (Lynda) — a Chinese businesswoman living in Dhaka trained in Tui na (a form of alternative medicine)  and orthopaedic therapy, introduced me to Traditional Chinese Medicine. Under her care, the pain began to ease. Then she urged me to travel to Beihai, Guangxi, to meet Dr Wang Fenghua, founder of the Yi Jin Fu Gu Dian — "Hall of Muscle-Tendon Transformation and Bone Adjustment".

When Dr Wang met me at the station, I asked, "Can you help me?" He smiled: "Bangladesh has crossed the sea to come to China. China will, of course, help." That moment began a healing far deeper than the physical.

A sixth-generation master of Anmo (a massage technique) and Zheng Gu Shui (a traditional Chinese herbal liniment, Bone-Setting Water, used for pain and injuries), Dr Wang descends from a century of "Golden-Hand Bone-Setters." His father, Wang Hongbin, a teacher and healer, taught that true medicine unites Buddhism, Taoism, Confucian ethics, martial discipline, and the art of life.

Founded on August 8, 2008, Dr Wang's Beihai clinic embodies this spirit of balance and compassion. Its guiding words are "Don't get angry over disputes; don't blame others." For him, a calm heart is worth more than a hundred techniques.

Dr Wang Fenghua's Tui na massage store in Beihai, Guangxi.

The Taoist view sees the human as a microcosm of the cosmos; healing, therefore, restores harmony between internal and external rhythms. Walking through the neighborhood after each session, I was greeted by the warmth of Beihai's residents - shopkeepers, café owners, and street - food vendors who, with translation apps and bright smiles, made a foreigner feel at home. Their kindness, too, was part of the treatment.

When I left Beihai, I walked unaided. The Tao, I realised, lives not only in ancient wisdom but in human kindness — where each compassionate touch becomes the path to wholeness.

The writer is a dancer, researcher, and cultural activist in Dhaka, Bangladesh.