Photo: screenshot from a video by the Beijing News

 
A video of a “Taoist master” performing breast enhancement, not as a surgical procedure but via mind-control from a distance, recently went viral on China’s social media. The man is suspected of fraud, according to the authorities.

Standing opposite 27 women who are in a line, a middle-aged man in a black coat and glasses stretches out his arms and makes circles with his fingers in the air, and then walks past them one by one, the video shows, purportedly making their breasts grow bigger.

Some of his patients’ on-camera feedback seemed to lend credibility to his technique. “My breast size grew from 87 to 91 millimeters the first time and then to 93 after the master did it for me the second time,” a woman said in the video.

“I can still feel my breast bulging,” another said, with a smile.

The “master” calls himself a Guhao Taoist master and says he is the head of a Taoist clinic affiliated with a temple called Jinque Palace in Shijiazhuang, North China’s Hebei Province. However, the authorities believe he may be a fraud and they also have doubts about his “patients.”

The Shijiazhuang Taoism Association announced on Friday that there is no Taoist clinic affiliated with Jinque Palace, and said the man is not a member of the association, warning the public not to be deceived by such tricks

A staff member at the religious affairs bureau of Shijiazhuang also told the media that while there is indeed a Jinque Palace in Shijiazhuang, there is no Taoist clinic there. The staff member said the man’s business is false.

Apart from breast enhancement, the man claimed he can also heal various diseases like bone fracture and breast tumors, as well as making people grow taller or lose weight without any surgery or medicine. He also claims to be able to make people smarter by “putting some air in their head,” according to media reports. He labeled his “skills” as Zhuyoushu, an ancient Chinese form of witchcraft.

The “master” sells Zhuyoushu courses via a website and WeChat accounts, behind which is a health management company registered in Wuji county, Shijiazhuang. The market watchdog of Wuji checked the registration on Thursday evening but found the company actually has no business venue there.

The online courses, teaching “secret beauty witchcraft” and feng shui skills, cost 9,800 yuan to 26,800 yuan ($1505.28). But the Global Times found on Friday that the website is no longer available.