CUPPING, hot jade rocks, bamboo stick tapping, Chinese emperors' rituals and traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) doctors are within reach. According to industry experts, China will drive, if not influence, spas around our region in years to come.

The Chinese have long known how to spa. At any given time of the day (and especially night) in Shanghai, you can find locals receiving their weekly foot reflexology sessions and Chinese massages. There are bathhouses open 24/7 where one can spend several hours a day immersed in water therapy, receiving treatments and tucking into health food - all in the name of health and longevity.

What's new, however, is the introduction of both TCM and Chinese treatments at luxury spas around our region.

At the recently opened Mandarin Oriental in Hong Kong, for example, one can now take consultations with a TCM doctor followed by tui na massage, acupuncture and even bone setting. Likewise at The Four Seasons in Hong Kong, the 'Oriental Infusion' includes a quick diagnostic to determine your yin and yang balance followed by a wrap made from Chinese herbs and acupressure massage.

Not to mention the recently opened Seven Eden, a TCM wellness centre at The Sentosa in Singapore (thesentosa.com); and before that, Eu Yan Sang's Red White and Pure spa which also incorporates TCM consultations and acupuncture. And at the soon-to-open CHI spa at the Shangri-La in Beijing, they are introducing exquisite Emperor and Empress rituals onto their spa menu.

Last month, the annual Turning Point Spa Industry Seminar was held in China for the first time and was in fact the first global spa forum in China.

'Our decision to hold it here was to provide information on global trends to China-based entrepreneurs and spa operators as well as to provide information about the China market to foreign players interested in entering or expanding into China,' says managing director Don Siegel.

Cathy Chon from CatchOn (www.catchon co.com), a strategic marketing and communications company based in Hong Kong is currently conducting spa consumer market research in China that will be launched in August. She says that while China's spa industry is still very much in its infancy, the territorial lines will start to blur as bathhouses, massage centres, foot reflexology places and salons start to cash in on the rise of the spa.

'China will be a major force regionally,' adds Ms Chon. 'China's emerging middle-class will drive if not influence spas around the region in years to come.' She says there are several factors converging to make this unavoidable. 'For a start, its emerging middle class, which is currently numbered at 300 million and predicted to increase to 520 million by 2025, is hungering for new experiences that spas have to offer and are driving the demand,' she says.

'Second, China is poised to be the most popular destination by 2020 (some travel experts say this aim will be reached by 2011) and this has enormous relevance on inbound and domestic travel. With China's landscape full of untapped cultural and heritage sites and mineral hot springs, it is poised for the wellness destination boom.'

Estelle Tan, founder of Simply Spa in Singapore, who recently returned from China, says that China is rapidly evolving from being a place where spa concepts were 'imported' from Europe, USA and even Australia to being a place where founding methods and ways of healing are being borne on an almost constant basis.

'When one refers to TCM therapy you often think of traditional approaches such as acupuncture and gua sha, however with TCM spa therapy we can be more creative. She says that at Simply Spa, they offer the chromatherapy treatment developed by a Swiss company that is based on TCM acupuncture yet with an aesthetic western bent.

'The key to how we translate TCM therapies and have them flow within our regular treatments is to first understand the key elements that make up TCM. Once you can grasp these, interpreting and blending treatments into our protocol is really just limited by imagination and ease of implementation.'

Ken Rosen, TCM practitioner at Chiva Som International Resort in Thailand, adds that if you understand TCM then you can apply its principles to other experiences.

'If a guest is experiencing insomnia, I might prescribe to them the floatation tank that is in its essence a TCM treatment. The floatation tank is a still, quiet, watery, and yin environment that is ideal to help the person get better quality sleep.'

As Professor Dong Jing-Cheng from the Hua Shan Hospital of Fudon University in Shanghai explains: 'Traditional Chinese medicine is no longer only an ancient or traditional medicine but very much a part of modern medicine.'

So what of the future? Lynsey Hughes, spa manager of the Mandarin Oriental spa, confirms that there is a growing interest from overseas guests who are intrigued with the Chinese way of life. 'Chinese treatments have become more accepted and appreciated as the understanding of the East spreads throughout Europe, US and the rest of the world.'

Ms Chon adds that there are challenges ahead for the spa industry in China.

'Training and standards will be topping that list, at an industry level. But at a macro level, many other critical issues remain a work in progress - protecting intellectual property rights, widespread corruption, stabilising the banking system, legal reforms, pollution to name a few.'

Georgie Yam, founder and CEO of Dragonfly Therapeutic Retreat, a chain of contemporary chic urban retreats offering a blend of Chinese and beauty treatments, says that they are now working on developing 'an effective model that we can use to take the brand outside of China in a bigger way'.

'We have had many inquiries from all parts of Asia about taking the brand out - and so we think it will fit pretty much anywhere, but we want to do it in a controlled fashion.'

Ultimately the purpose of all spa treatments is to return us to equilibrium, so the introduction of both TCM and Chinese derived treatments is a welcome addition. Better blood circulation, good chi and enhanced health are just some of the benefits we will increasingly be offered at spas around the region.