Chicken-blood therapy (鸡血疗法) was a form of pseudo-medical therapy popular in China during the Cultural Revolution. It was practised mainly by village doctors in the 1960s. Originally banned by the government, it was eventually accepted and encouraged by the Communist Party of China.
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Therapy
The therapy consisted mainly of simply drawing blood from a rooster and injecting into the patients. Claimed benefits included making the patient highly aggressive and strong.
Government attitude
After learning of chicken-blood therapy, the Government of China initially banned the therapy; Premier Zhou En-Lai reportedly said that “The Central Ministry of Health’s handling of chicken blood therapy is a violation of Mao Zedong Thought.” However, in 1967, the ban was lifted as part of the Cultural Revolution. Red Guards from Beijing and Shanghai jointly began encouraging the use of chicken-blood therapy as a legitimate cure.