A 50-year-old Chinese herbalist concluded his 49-day fast Friday in Bifengxia Valley in Ya'an City of southwest China's Sichuan Province.

Chen Jianmin, a second-generation doctor of traditional Chinese medicine from Luzhou City, lost 15 kilograms of weight during the 49 days he lived in a 16-square meter special glass house hanging 14 meters above the ground. He was 56 kilograms when entered the glass house.

He had no food but he drank water during the 49-day ordeal.

Chen began the life-challenging adventure on March 20 to challenge the world record of 44 days set by US magician David Blaine in London last October.

Notaries from Ya'an City, who monitored Chen's fasting, said that Chen got up at 5 a.m., read books for two hours and drank 3,500 ml of water every day. Sometimes, Chen walked around inside the glass house.

Chen answered over 8,000 calls from across China during the fast.

Notaries said that experts with the Ya'an City People's Hospital gave Chen a thorough check-up twice and found that he was losing weight but he was energetic.

He will be sent to his hometown of Luzhou for recovery after completing the fast.

Chen, a postgraduate of Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, claims to have undergone long-term fasting on three previous occasions in 1987, 1994 and 1999. He says the longest lasted 81 days, during which he ate no food but only drank water, while going to work regularly.

Experts of Western medicine questioned Chen's fasting for such a long time. A physiologist at Sichuan University, who declined to be named, said modern medical research showed the average person could survive only seven days without food or water and he dismissed Chen's claim of an 81-day fast as definitely impossible.

(Xinhua News Agency May 8, 2004)