Who doesn't love physical gratification? In Beijing, customarily modest Chinese friends have consistently surprised me with their artistic displays of hedonist pleasures: They love to eat and drink and to care for every part of their body. Here vast enterprises for pleasing physical sensations exist: restaurants, teahouses, beauty salons, manicure shops. Every weekend bathhouses provide me with brisk exfoliating scrubs, followed by lengthy massages using milk and honey, at great prices. When I feel really flush, I skip over to a swank day spa for hot rock massages, Japanese shiatsu massage or the traditional oil massage that the Chinese think Westerners like the best. But lately, during the week, dropping in for a foot massage together with friends has turned out to be pleasant, safe, therapeutic, cheap and utterly addictive.

Foot massage has existed as an ancient medical therapy in China for centuries. In fact, to become an established traditional Chinese doctor a student begins by studying massage, specifically foot massage, first. After training, a serious pupil becomes an apprentice and undergoes a total of nine years' training. True, just as in the West, some foot and/or body massage joints are seamy, offering sex for sale along with advertised services and it's often hard to tell what's going on until you walk in. But true foot massage, like blind massage, is health-directed and refreshing.

I know because my female colleagues lead me every Wednesday in lieu of lunch right around the corner to a pre-noon special price at the Immortal-Aloe-Vera-Foot-Massage-Parlor. We scamper excitedly up steep stairs, giggling and chattering in anticipation of much needed pleasure after staring all morning at our computer screens.

Chen, my work supervisor, explained to me the first time she invited me to go for a foot massage that foreign missionaries developed blind massage in south China out of empathy for these disabled people in 1904; it gradually spread throughout China. "The blind are said to be more intuitive so their hands are supposedly very clever, but I personally feel a sighted person could identify and feel areas with eyes and hands as good as or better than a blind masseuse."

Most of the employees in the parlor we frequent are young girls, usually non-residents, but one man, Sun, is a ruggedly handsome 20-something guy. He's everyone's first choice. Unlike the girls, who are simply working while husband hunting, Sun has revealed that he aspires to become a traditional Chinese doctor; he's had many advanced training courses in massage.

On today's visit I'm the lucky one; Mr. Sun sits in front of me and places a wooden bucket of hot water steeped with Tibetan herbs before me. I sigh with pleasure, transferring to the footstool while soaking my feet. I feel his strong hands unknot the tension in my neck, shoulders and lower back: Foot massage routinely includes these areas plus the arms as well. After 10 minutes he motions to me to snuggle back into the comfortable armchair. He deftly lifts my feet out of the water, wraps one in a towel, and begins massaging the other with aloe and oil. As always, I try not to moan from sheer pleasure.

"We always start with the left foot," he says softly, to stimulate the heart charka."

"Yes," I murmur, feeling my heart pound from both his ministrations and the fact that this handsome young man is sitting at my feet making me feel wonderful. Dazed, I ask, "Why is massage focused on the foot in China?"

"People use their feet constantly; it's one of the first places as you age to suffer from physical complaints," Sun says. "Plus the foot contains pressure points that correspond to all the major organs of your body; by massaging them we are dispensing preventive medical services. The foot also carries your weight, so it's good to rub it and relax it." As he speaks, he rubs and applies pressures rhythmically. I'm so blissed out I close my eyes.

To remain calm I query, "My organs are connected to my foot?"

"Sure, he replies, "Traditional Chinese medicine teaches us that the hand, head and the foot have specific pressure points connect to body parts. By applying pressure any blockages or anomalies can be gradually alleviated. The charm of the science is that it is non-invasive-but Western people often complain that it takes too long or that the results are not dramatic enough. We Chinese feel that patience and moderation are more suitable in both life and medicine."

I sigh loudly. My colleagues turn, watching me with curiosity. "Is he hurting you?" my work colleague Wang Qian asks me solicitously.

"No," I reply, "I'm in heaven. This is one kind of medicine that I have all the patience in the world for. I just wish I could train my boyfriend to do it."

The author is an American living in Beijing