[Photo by Zou Hong / China Daily]

Injections were also out of the question, because she would cry at the sight of a nurse.

Finally, a friend suggested that Zhu take Bingyue to a massage therapist.

The girl cried when the therapist started, but fell asleep a few minutes later.

The massage seemed to have little effect at first, but after seven days of regular massage - each day for about 20 minutes - the girl's health was restored.

"When children are ill, parents feel most anxious," Zhu says.

"You can never imagine how happy I was when she recovered through massage, while Western medicine was useless," says Zhu, who adds that the famous children's hospital she went to first relied too much on antibiotics and was also always crowded.

At the TCM hospital, there are relatively less patients, she says, and doctors are nice enough to teach her massage techniques and the principles of food therapy.

Learning from doctors and books, Zhu started massaging her daughter at home shortly after the girl began the therapy.

Zhu works mostly on the girl's palms, feet and back, almost every day.