In China, the sick are being set on fire to cure their ills

TO GO WITH China-health-therapy-offbeat,FEATURE BY TOM HANCOCK This photo taken on June 17, 2014 shows Wang Jiayu as she undergoes "fire therapy" during a demonstration at an apartment in Beijing. A therapist pours alcohol over a patient and sets him alight -- for some in China, playing with fire is a treatment for illness. AFP PHOTO/Greg BAKER

A therapist pours alcohol over a patient and sets him alight – for some in China, playing with fire is a treatment for illness.

So-called “fire therapy”, which proponents claim can cure stress, indigestion, infertility, and even cancer, has been used for hundreds of years and recently garnered a blaze of attention in Chinese media. There's no orthodox medical evidence that it is effective, a fact that matters little to one of China’s most prominent fire therapists.