The bruises were from baguan, or fire cupping, a Chinese medical treatment in which heated glass jars are adhered by suction to the skin to cleanse it of toxins.
Indeed, the unexpected visual symmetry of the garish circles was so discombobulating that several times during our long conversations, I found myself addressing his purple forehead orbs. “Kids often think I have four eyes,” he said with a puckish grin. On his forehead were two large, perfectly circular purple-red bruises, one above each eye. Skeletally thin, with cheeks sunk deep into his face, he walked gingerly across the cream-colored hotel lobby as if his limbs were made of glass. Zhang Ming has become used to his appearance startling small children.
