Taipei Times - archives

Chung made a living by growing tea and fruit in the mountains. Recalling that he was stung by an entire nest of paper wasps more than a decade ago, he said with his heart still fluttering with fear that he was patching a leak in the water pipes across a river valley that day and disturbed a paper wasp nest by accident. He said that his head and legs were stung by more than 300 furious wasps and that he passed out after exerting all his strength to climb down to the ground. Because his brother Chung Hsu-liang had read Japanese books about urine therapy that said urine could save people’s lives, he instantly forced himself to urinate in a plastic bottle in preparation for saving his brother’s life.

Chung Hsu-liang said his brother’s pupils were dilated as he tried to open his mouth and drench him with urine. He also called an elementary school nearby to ask for students’ urine, and on the way to the hospital he kept pouring urine down his brother’s throat. Even during the first three days in the National Cheng Kung University Hospital, he still contacted an elementary school in the neighborhood to ask for more urine, on which he secretly fed his brother without telling medical personnel. Because paper wasps have very poisonous venom, only ten stings could be deadly, let alone more than 300 bites. The fact that Chung Hsu-chun miraculously recovered, prompted medical personnel to keep track of his health for years and wonder what secret remedy he might have tried. Chung Hsu-chun was too embarrassed to mention his drinking urine at first, and did not tell the truth until later.