Qin The Spa
What: Traditional Chinese treatments in a five-star setting
Why: To breathe, stretch, rub and scrub your way to relaxation
How Much: RMB 1,800 for the White Tiger Autumn Rites package
Where: 6F, Four Seasons Hotel, 500 Weihai Lu, near Shimen Yi Lu. Tel: 6287 0993
The Four Seasons’ brand new and very spacious 762 square metre spa, which opened in August, is a study in traditional Chinese treatments performed with high-end hotel flair.
As you enter through the imposing elm doors and are seated in the waiting area, you’ll find yourself surrounded by traditional Chinese artworks and contemporary Chinese furniture.
Qin, which means to ‘affect deeply’, understands that taking care of the details is one of the most important parts of any spa experience. Customers are welcomed with tiny cups of fragrant fruity tea, and are asked to fill out a health evaluation form so that the staff can identify any potential risk-factors that make you incompatible with any of the treatments.
Treatment rooms at Qin, like the spa itself, are large and accommodating, furnished with a toilet, shower, dresser, basin, and large sofa, all surrounding the treatment bed in the centre of the room. The music is more accurately described as traditional Chinese muzak, but it’s unobtrusive and relatively inoffensive.
"Her small but surprisingly strong hands pull arms and legs into positions that border on the uncomfortable, but never cross over into painful."
Available on the menu are a range of nail and skin care treatments, massages, body wraps and more, but if you have the time and inclination to go all out, try one of Qin’s specially tailored treatment packages.
The White Tiger Autumn Rites package starts off rather conventionally, as the therapist leaves you to change (beware, the disposable underwear is a thong, and thus very uncomfortable if you put it on back-to-front). When she returns, the treatment begins with a foot bath sprinkled with flower petals.
It’s the next part of the treatment that is both a little out of the ordinary, at the same time as being a brilliant way to get in the right frame of mind for relaxation. The therapist begins by leading you in a series of qi balancing meditation and tai chi-like breathing exercises, and then helps you stretch. Her small but surprisingly strong hands pull arms and legs into positions that border on the uncomfortable, but never cross over into painful.
The result of all this breathing and stretching is that by the time you lay on the massage table, your mind is already much clearer and your body feels alert and responsive. No trying to calm your thoughts and relax into the massage.
And what a massage! We were given the choice of soft, medium and hard pressure, and chose the last for the Chinese-style (no oil) massage. At many of Shanghai’s expat-oriented spas, this doesn’t mean much but our therapist meant business as she kneaded, rubbed and squeezed for 60 minutes.
Following the massage comes a full body wrap, with an invigoratingly cool white ren shen (ginseng) and rice wine concoction applied to your skin, before you are wrapped in a ‘cocoon’ of blankets and left to stew. Being unwrapped and disentangling the sticky sheets in order to get to the shower isn’t pleasant, but the silky feel of your skin as you wash away the opaque, green layer makes it worthwhile.
When you’re finished in the (huge) shower, you return to the massage bed for the last part of the treatment, a hydrating rhubarb and angelica gel. As the therapist methodically rubs the gel over your body, she will recommend that you leave it on for at least a couple of hours for maximum benefit.
The whole package took exactly two and a half hours, but we left feeling better than we can ever remember. It's highly recommended for anyone who deserves a whole afternoon of indulgence. Do you happen to know anyone who fits that description?
