‘Punk wellness’: China’s stressed young people mix traditional medicine and cocktails

SHANGHAI – In a softly lit Shanghai bar, graduate student Helen Zhao stretched out both wrists to have her pulse taken – the first step to ordering the house special, a bespoke “health” cocktail based on traditional Chinese medicine.

“TCM bars” have popped up in several cities across China, epitomising what the country’s stressed-out, time-poor young people refer to as “punk wellness”, or “wrecking yourself while saving yourself”.

At Shanghai’s Niang Qing, a TCM doctor in a white coat diagnoses customers’ physical conditions based on pulse readings, before a mixologist crafts custom drinks incorporating the herbs and roots prescribed for their ailments.

Instead of shelves of alcohol, apothecary drawers stocked with ingredients like goji berries and angelica root line the walls, permeating the room with their scent.

“This bar is actually an opportunity for me,” 26-year-old Ms Zhao told AFP, describing her “typical young person” lifestyle of late nights and junk food.

“I like having a drink after work anyway, and this way I can casually check if something is wrong with me, while also holding onto a bit of wishful thinking.”

The bar’s resident TCM practitioner, Mr Ding, said the concept was not as contrary as it might seem.

“The combination of Chinese medicine and alcohol has a long history in TCM – it was traditionally called medicinal wine,” he told AFP.

He emphasised, though, that the bar targeted health awareness rather than treatment.

‘Have fun, reduce damage’

Against the backdrop of a sluggish economy, China’s job market is highly competitive, and “996” culture – working from 9am to 9pm, six days a week – is a feature of many sectors.

A 2024 survey found that more than 60 per cent of young people consider themselves to be in a suboptimal health state.

In recent years, reports of young employees allegedly dying from overwork have spread online, triggering discussion around mental and physical health.

In Niang Qing, Ms Cici Song, a 41-year-old white collar worker, told AFP she felt that late evenings were her “only real ‘me time’”.

“On the other hand, you want to take care of your body,” she said, sipping an amber-coloured drink designed to improve her diagnosed “phlegm-damp constitution”.

“So this is a kind of balance – having fun while trying to reduce the damage.”

The approach seems popular.

Niang Qing was founded by students from Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine only last year, but has already expanded to five locations across the country.

“We’ve noticed that many young people are actually very interested in TCM culture, but the ways to experience it might seem dull,” said 22-year-old co-founder Wu Siyuan.

The idea of the bar was born “to let people experience TCM culture through entertainment”.

‘Wellness for a new era’

Analysts have noted a growing interest among young Chinese people in products that repackage traditional Chinese culture for modern times.

TCM in particular has seen a global spike in popularity.

On TikTok, the “Becoming Chinese” trend has seen overseas users brewing herbal infusions, drinking hot water or practising traditional physical exercises, garnering hundreds of thousands of likes.

Co-founder Mr Wu said his bar was seeing more foreign customers.

TCM bars “draw people from online to offline, and the social experience it creates delivers emotional value”, Shanghai Jiao Tong University’s Professor Hua Hui told AFP.

“Young people are under great pressure and need new scenarios for relief,” he said, describing this as “a worldwide issue”.

“Today’s TCM bars provide precisely this – a new form of socialising and wellness for a new era.” AFP