One of the perks about spending time in China is the low cost and sometimes high quality of the local massage industry. The problem is that I'm not looking for some cut-rate prostitute...I just want a massage and perhaps a foot rub thank you. I have a much cuter girlfriend that most of the women giving massages, anyways, thank you. ;-)

While in Shanghai I found a great massage place across the street from my hotel. The Meridianic Massage at 2/f Building 6 Lane 800 Huashan Road +86.21.62269278 is excellent. I saw masseuse #32 and with a grand opening special it costs RMB 90 for an hour back massage followed by an hour foot massage.

My question for the moment is whether anyone can recommend a good, clean, massage parlor in central Beijing. I'm staying near the Grand Hyatt (but not there, I'm not rich) and feel comfortable taking the subway.

One of my favorites is located near the Penn and the Crowne Plaza (I can't recall the name of that street, but it's on the north side and features good signage).

My approach towards foot massages is to try anywhere once. Sometimes, the real hole in the walls turn out to be the best (e.g. the place across the street from me in SH; we recently brought the owner of a fancy massage place there and she was blown away by the quality/value). BTW, I've heard of anyone being solicited for sex during a foot massage; this simply isn't an issue. While it's true that most of those "full service" places are also after the foot massage market, as long as you stick with the latter (or any massages that cost less than 300), you have little to worry about.

PM me if you're going to be around this weekend. Chances are, we're going to hit one of our favorite spas on Saturday afternoon.

I would very much appreciate some more specifics on excellent, non-sexual, massages in Beijing, Shanghai or the Pearl River Delta area. Like exact address or location, pricing and other data.

One of the best things about visiting Shanghai recently was the super massages. I looked in the various English publications and found one two for one offer at a very nice place (about 200RMB) as well as trying a couple of places we just walked past. All were fine, but of course, some are better than others. And, I suspect the places that have a sign in English may be charging more.

As someone that has been to enough shady places (though I've never imbibed) and seen enough from the outside as long as you steer clear of the "hair parlors" that are open late at night and usually go to joints before 10-11pm, you should be fine. The girls may bug you at first but you can probably tell them that you'll tip them anyway if they do a good job (this usually works). As a poor student that's the best advice I can offer...

I like the massages at the Prime Hotel in Beijing (fairly close to where you are staying). They are the best I have found around that area and are 100% clean.

My friend, an ex-pat living in Beijing, took us to a place called "chong sianmo" that was a hole in the wall foot massage place but very nice and inexpenisive (65 RMB for a full hour).

It's not high end spa like ...looks more like a doctor's office, but the girls were attentive. Some of the massage therapists are blind.



Unfortunately, I don't remember the exact location and the business card is in Chinese

here are some numbers (I am not sure if they are phone numbers or addresses or what since I don't understand the characters next to them)

010-65940979

13701248819

100026

For Shanghai go to Dagulu. Plenty of "clean" massage places there.

My friend took me to a Thai foot massage place in Hong Qiao several weeks ago. The place is part of a chain from Chong Qing, apparently pretty popular nowadays.

Their name is 重庆家富富侨足浴. The one I visited is at 仙霞路8号2楼. The normal set price is 190 CNY for 2-3 hours of foot and full body massage. They have many locations in Shanghai including one in Pudong

塘桥店，位于上海市浦东新区浦建路15号4楼（近浦东南路口)