An young actress dies of cancer after choosing traditional Chinese medicine over chemotherapy.
Xu Ting, who had been documenting the treatment for her lymphoma on social media site Weibo, was just 26.
She shunned chemotherapy – treatment that is feared in China – for methods including acupuncture and blood letting as well as cupping, which Michael Phelps underwent at the Rio Olympics.
Xu was only diagnosed two months before her death.
Lymphoma is commonly treated with chemotherapy and radiotherapy in the west, but she made the controversial decision to use Chinese medicine – against her family's wishes.
She told her 300,000 followers: 'I know that chemotherapy is extremely painful, and is a process that can even speed up my death.
'(I don't want to) let chemotherapy torment me to the point where there's no beauty and talent left.'
She posted shocking images of the injuries sustained by Chinese techniques, including of her back after a cupping session.
But the medicine did not work, forcing Xu to finally accept chemotherapy last month – but it was too late.
Her death has proved divisive in China, with her sister calling the man who treated her a 'fraud' and her fans begging her to turn to western treatments.
However, others maintain that traditional medicine is effective.
Hou Jiang of the Beijing Evening News said: 'Some people say that traditional Chinese medicine can't cure cancer, so therefore traditional Chinese medicine is a sham. This kind of logic is ridiculous.
'There are many cancer patients who still pass away after receiving chemotherapy. Will these same people also say that western medicine is a sham?'
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