Tanggangzi Hot Springs

5 min read

Using this flower is one of the older, natural remedies for alleviating skin rashes caused by poisonous plant contact. Honeysuckle has long been used an antioxidant and skin treatment both in China and the West. As a detoxifying agent,a honeysuckle bath can be beneficial to just about everyone, let alone those with skin ailments.

With this list of both trace elements and hot spring tang ingredients, it does read like a shopping list from a health food store or the menu at an upscale vegetarian restaurant. It is not totally meant to be that, however with this basic information there should be a better understanding of the water/bath concept of Liaoning hot springs. It is also easy to recognize many of these ingredients from the shelves of teahouses and high-end cafes. Although not intentional, there are similarities, much of these ingredients can also be consumed as teas with the same effects.

While the more holistic and homeopathic traveler may be inclined to sneak off with a bottle of hot spring water and brew their own magic tonic, it is not recommended. Only a short list of the hot springs have water that is drinkable, all of course are safe, but many are not palatable and taste rather salty. While mineral waters and bottled water tout many of the same trace elements and recuperative effects, it is more enjoyable to soak in the waters and sample many of the teas on offer at a spa itself.

It is worthy noting that some interesting beverages are making their way into the hot springs themselves in Liaoning. Most notably red wine and beer. Both have a popularity in Europe, the centers for wine and beer production, with Germany and the Czech Republic offering up sudsy baths and who else but France cracking open vats of wine for spa enthusiasts to bathe in. In Liaoning, you can find beer baths without too much difficulty and, as red wine production is gaining in quality along with popularity in China, cities like Dalian are holding wine festivals complete with wine-filled tubs for a fully immersive experience.

Beer tang

Beer, the elixir of oats or barley, hops, yeast and good clean water, does in fact contain many of the same trace elements and mineral sources as the traditional, medicinal ingredients found in nonalcoholic soaks. Many skin treatments for alleviating rashes and itchiness involve oats or oatmeal, yeast is full of essential trace elements and when the two are combined in the already beneficial waters, it is hard not to argue with the reasoning behind a beer tang.

Red Wine tang

Wine is a simple concoction of grapes and good clean water. It is hard to find somethingwrong with these two ingredients. Grapes are rich in potassium which is an essential and vital mineral for our health. Again, the already trace element-laden waters of Liaoning are a perfect compliment. Adding the fact that red wine is a great antioxidant, everyone seems tobe able to quote some medical studies that recommends a glass a day as beneficial, and you have a unique way to enjoy your spa visit. Don’t worry, it won’t turn your skin purple.

On Dry Land-Additional Liaoning Spa Treatments A visit to a hot spring spa is all about total body wellness. The recuperative effects of the waters in Liaoning are wonderful, but after a soak, there are many other therapeutic offerings available at the spas. Many of the spas offer TCM treatments including massage, acupuncture, and hot rock therapy. These treatments coupled with the hot springs can offer benefits that last longer than a weekend trip, but may be new to many travelers. Let’s take a look at just what is on offer and what their benefits entail.

Cupping

The practice where a bulb-shaped glass cup is placed on the skin via a vacuum-effect, either through heat or pressure, to draw up the blood is perhaps one of the oldest medicaltechniques on record. Cupping crosses all cultures and can be found still actively used in parts of Europe. In China, the technique is extremely popular as one of the more common TCM remedies for everything from the common cold to stimulating areas of the body where increased blood flow is wanted.

This treatment can seem archaic by today’s medical standards but proponents of thistreatment regularly seek out cupping therapy. The concept is that the vacuum created through the suction draws up the blood to help create a better flow, not unlike cinching a hose to build up enough pressure to remove a blockage. The tell-tale signs of cupping are large, about 2-3 inches in diameter, red circles on the person’s body.

Acupuncture

Volumes have been written about acupuncture as a remedy for everything-muscle aches and pain relief to weight loss and even helping people quit smoking. In the West it was often looked at in horror, but today more and more medical professionals are openly suggesting acupuncture as a viable means of treatment. Acupuncture is becoming one of the more popular TCM remedies to be so actively studied and accepted in the West.

Acupuncture follows the TCM belief of meridians and pressure points in the body and their manipulation. How they are manipulated is where it can seem strange:a needle is pierced into the skin.

The TCM concept follows qi, or flow of different points on the body in a structure based on actuation, warming, containment, transformation and defense. By affecting and controlling these different concepts at different points in the body many ailments, as practitioners and patients alike will tell you, can be a remedy in as little as one treatment.

Moxibustion

Often paired with cupping or acupuncture, this therapy utilizes the burning of mugwort close to the skin. Mugwort is used to treat any number of ailments as the plant is seen as an anthelmintic,a medicine that rid the body of parasites. Surprisingly, it has been used by many cultures as an ingredient in many food preparations from meat dishes in Germanyand China to deserts in Japan. The mugwort preparation can be burned on the tip of an acupuncture needle or even in incense form, not unlike the burning of sage in the cultures of the ancient Americas.