Along with all the other spoils of the West, even the concept of the luxe spa has been embraced by the new China. The Shangri-La group was among the first to arrive in Shanghai and Beijing with their Chi spas – chi meaning energy – based around traditional Chinese and Himalayan healing philosophies and remedies. Spacious and elegant, the treatment rooms are decorated with Chinese art and textiles and designed around the five elements – fire, wood, earth, water and metal. Treatments include a Yin and Yang Harmonising Massage, while traditional herbs, minerals and even stones are used in scrubs, wraps and facials.
The latest additions to the Chi family are in the business cities of Guangzhou and Chengdu where spa menus offering everything from jet-lag revivers to traditional tuina massage will prepare the body and mind for the next meeting. An essential element of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), tuina is especially good for those with little time to spare. You get to keep your clothes on while the therapist kneads, pinches, rubs and manipulates – it’s not for the faint-hearted but it will certainly get the blood and the energy flowing.
Banyan Tree, the award-winning Thai spa group, has two glorious properties in China, one in the heritage town of Lijiang in Yunnan province, and the other at Ringha with a separate spa building set some 3,200 metres above sea level in the wooded foothills of the Himalayas. Both offer traditional Chinese therapies with Ringha having its own meditation chamber and tea house, while Lijiang has an academy where therapists are specifically trained in the treatments on offer. Many of these incorporate local ingredients such as red rice, green tea, ginger and black sesame, which bring a traditional take to an international spa menu of wraps, massage and baths – there’s even a rice wine bath on offer.
Other hotel chains such as Hyatt and Radisson have also introduced spas to what is fast becoming one of the largest spa markets anywhere – with treatments offering the best of East and West. Hyatt on the Bund has adapted the tenets of tuina in their signature massage at the Yuan spa, in which acupressure points and meridian lines are targeted, while the special Yuan bathing ritual uses extract of shiitake mushroom.
Many spas also have on call TCM practitioners as well as acupuncturists for guests wanting or needing a more traditional experience. One of the first spas to get in on the act is the Evian Day Spa situated in one of Shanghai’s most iconic buildings, Three on the Bund. This glittering white palace – white PVC walls, white stepping stones – is possibly the most beautiful spa in the East, and offers a taste of both France and China in its therapies. Men particularly enjoy its old-fashioned barber’s shop.
