Ms. Zhang, a 61-year-old woman with inoperable ovarian cancer, recently passed away after going through “Qigong treatment,” imposed by a quack specialist.

Discomfort first manifested in Zhang's right shoulder. As the pain grew worse, she resorted to painkillers to alleviate the symptoms. After seeking advice from other patients and trying all sorts of unconventional treatments, Zhang was found in November 2015 to have several tumors in her stomach. Finally, doctors at two top hospitals in Shanghai diagnosed her with terminal, inoperable cancer.

Full of despair and desperate for a cure, Zhang went to Henan province on Nov. 26 to meet with Shao Xiaohua, a so-called Qigong master, who claimed that he could cure her in 35 days without any injections or medication. In return, he demanded 300,000 RMB as a treatment fee.

Shao told Zhang to stop taking painkillers, and demanded that she consume nothing except ginger tea for six days. According to Shao, his plan was to “starve” the cancer cells in Zhang's body.

Starving and deprived of painkillers, Zhang suffered from pain and sudden weight loss while on Shao's regimen. On Dec. 22, she experienced excruciating pains, shortness of breath and cardiac arrest. After that, her health condition steadily deteriorated, and she finally died on July 19.

Shao has been unreachable since Zhang's death. Zhang's widower, Mr. Liu, recalls that Shao had no credentials to practice medicine - only a suspicious physiotherapist certification.

A manager at Shanghai Qigong Research Center pointed out that Qigong is only a supplementary treatment method in Chinese medicine. It is impossible to rely on Chinese medicine alone to cure cancer.