Liu Jianqiong took on a well-known brand of bathhouses and exposed it and the products they sold as fake. But the price was dear: her four-year-old son cannot walk steadily and is in constant pain from itching all over his body as a result of the baths he was given.
This was one of the stories China Central Television told in its annual special report on March 15 for World Consumer Rights Day, an observance that began in 1963.
Liu's story started in August 2009 when her son, Zhou Zibo, developed red spots on his neck. Liu decided to take him to a bathhouse in Xichang, Sichuan, that claimed to be able to treat eczema with a bath containing traditional Chinese medical remedies.
Liu has regretted that decision ever since. She now believes it was the so-called herbal bath at Grandma Tian, a franchise company that once boasted more than 400 outlets nationwide, that not only made her son's condition worse but was also responsible for the psoriasis he developed.
Sceptical of Grandma Tian, Liu went undercover, spending months working in Grandma Tian outlets in Kunming, Yunnan; Chengdu, Sichuan; and Chongqing, gathering materials that she thought were suspicious. Her report on that merchandise to authorities eventually led to the closure of the franchises.
'It had more than 400 outlets nationwide and bragged about the magical effects of the spa. If they were at fault, I would have to speak out and save others from suffering the same misery,' Liu said.