The Current Status of Massage Practice in Taiwan, China

Taiwan
Speaker: Tsung Wen-shiong
Title: The Current Status of Massage Practice in Taiwan

1. Background
The population of Taiwan was 23 million in 2006, and 50,167 persons were visually impaired, according to statistics obtained in at end of June, 2006.

The massage practitioner training class held by visually impaired persons and related organizations provides a one-year course to study academic subjects including introduction to massage theory, anatomy, meridians-and-points, pathology, and so on.

After the training is completed, trainees are required to take the National Examination for Qualified Massage Practitioner administered by the government.

Through 2006, 2,676 persons obtained third class qualification and 377 persons obtained second class qualification of massage practitioner.

Approximately 2,500 people are engaged in the massage business. Their monthly salary varies from around $600 to $2000 depending on their technical competence and working location.

2. Types of massage business in Taiwan
1) Corporate chain massage clinics locate mainly in Taipei area.
The average income is $1000 to $2000.
2) Massage rooms provided by the organizations related to the visually impaired at airports, stations, hospitals, supermarkets, and so on, charge about $3 for 10 minutes.

The average monthly income of massage practitioners is from $600 to $1000.

3) Many publicly or privately employed massage practitioners with fixed salaries, get paid around $600 per month on part-time basis.

4) Self-employed massage practice rooms are mostly run by partially-sighted persons with high-level techniques.

Their average monthly income is around $2000, though this type of operation is small in number.

3. Conclusion
1) It is becoming more difficult to guarantee a suitable environment for the visually impaired to engage in the massage business.
Currently, in Asian countries such as Japan, China, Korea, Singapore, and Malaysia, the massage business is open to the general public, while only Taiwan permits only people with visual impairments to engage in the massage business.
However, this limitation is not applied to acupressure (Shiatsu) and foot massage, and many Shiatsu and foot massage centers are operated by sighted people.
This not only affects the massage business by blind people, but the many years of pressure to open the market to competition also presents difficulties to the visually impaired in running massage businesses.

2) Massage in Japan and China is recognized as a medical practice, but in Taiwan it is a traditional non-medical practice.
This gives massage in Taiwan significant limitations against improving academically.
Organizations that represent the visually impaired in Taiwan have been asserting that massage should be approved as a medical practice, but this issue has not yet been resolved.
Massage is a main source of income for many visually impaired people in Taiwan.
Affected by social transitions over many years, however, income from massage practices by the visually impaired has been decreasing year after year.
In addition, it has been difficult to improve massage training systems and academic levels in Taiwan because of the absence of protective policies and the lack of recognition as a medical practice, and the situation is getting worse year by year.
This situation is the most challenging hardship that massage businesses operated by the blind in Taiwan now face.