DEPENDING on what you think of alternative medicine, Lu Bao-sheng is either a witch doctor or a miracle-worker. And his 'beautification programme' is either a sop for the self-deluded or the gift of a lifetime.
The soft-spoken Taiwanese - a specialist in Chinese herbal medicine - shuffles around his tiny Happy Valley flat and clinic in a traditional mandarin-collar jacket. He listens intently to a client.
Lu, 45, arrived in Hong Kong from Taiwan three months ago on the advice of a former client who said people here would 'go crazy' for his particular brand of medicine. And early indications are that he wasn't far wrong: Lu has had eight clients since his arrival - two are men, and all are aged between 35 and 45 years old. What's more, his appointments diary is steadily filling up with consultations.
The healer's speciality? Rejuvenation.
If that conjures up visions of syringes filled with fancy drugs or intimidating machinery, there is nothing hi-tech about Dr Lu's methods. They are simple, seemingly ineffectual even. Which is why first-time visitors cannot help but feel cynical about his methods. Add to that Lu's high fees - $120,000 for a two-week course of treatment - and it is impossible not to think that he is just a quack.
Lu defends his high fees, insisting 'that is what people spend in a year on cosmetics'. In any case, $120,000 buys clients seven two-hour sessions. In that time, they have a mixture of sheep placenta and beauty cream spread over their bodies and they then sun themselves under ultra-violet lamps.
