BUILDING 555 is an office tower along busy Nanjing Xilu in downtown Shanghai. On the second floor is a hidden oasis which provides a peaceful yet exotic environment.

Murmuring streams, fir trees and pebble passages offer an encounter with Mother Nature.

Karen Shiao, a professional woman in her late 40s, pampers herself there once a week with a "Sonolift" facial regeneration treatment and then an aromatherapy full body relaxation. It is a sensory experience that makes her feel completely calmed after three hours.

Shiao feels excited that more and more urban women are visiting the facility - MI Spa - these days, but she earnestly hopes more will come to unwind themselves from the stress of work, to reverse their skin's natural process of ageing and to detoxify.

The spa grew out of her personal experience and hard lessons as a successful businesswoman.

Raised in Taiwan, Shiao started to work for Tung Chee-hwa's Oriental Overseas Shipping Company after graduating from university. She worked extremely hard and after 10 years she was promoted to financial controller. Later she joined the largest transport company in France - Calberson de Generale, working as the financial director of one of its international group companies. In 1990, she was seconded to Sydney, Australia, to work for the Australian division while completing her MBA studies at the University of Sydney.

Australia's rich natural resources gave Shiao lots of inspirations for her future business.

She set up a trading company, selling Australian lobsters, abalone and king crabs all over the world. In 1994, she set up an office in Shanghai, thus began an era of exporting Australian seafood to China.

The brisk seafood business did not stop her from making further endeavours. She started another business, introducing the latest "argon and helium knife" technology for treating human cancer into China. By forcing high pressure argon and helium gas through the knife point, the technology makes it possible to lower the temperature to some-140 degrees centigrade, killing the cancer cells.

She busied herself among the several dozen hospitals in Shanghai, introducing the technology and helping with staff training.

Just as her business was getting more successful, the immunological imbalance of her own body became a problem, which Shiao believed was caused mostly by the frequent trips between the Northern and Southern hemispheres, constantly shuttling from summer to winter.

Her skin became extremely allergic and suffered from hydroncus and metabolism disturbance. She sought various medical treatments, but none helped very much.

By accident, a French friend suggested that she should try a spa therapy. Then something magical happened. Instead of causing allergy, the essential oils worked like a wonder on her body. After one month of treatment in France, she was completely cured.

The weird power of spa amazed Shiao. Returning to Shanghai, her affection for spas remained strong, but at that time - several years ago - quality spa facilities were not easy to find in Shanghai.

Encouraged by her previous love for the beauty industry, Shiao decided to launch a spa business herself. She was eager to share her incredible experience with women of Shanghai.

After intensive market research and staff training, MI Spa was finally opened on Nanjing Xilu in 2002. She wants women, especially those over 35, to know that they should take care of their skin, the circulation of the blood and the balance of nutrition, before it gets too late.

"The puzzle in Shanghai right now is that most people still just pay attention to the body and not so much to the mind when coming to the spa," Shiao said, emphasizing that MI Spa aims to offer guests a balance between body and mind.

While some spa facilities in Shanghai profit mainly from selling products, Shiao believes MI Spa's strength is service. "We are aiming at the long term," she said.

To spread her philosophy, Shiao also set up another spa facility a year ago in the Hilton Hotel in Nanjing. Compared with the day spa facility in Shanghai, this spa, not far from the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum scenic zone, is more like a hotel/resort spa.

Looking towards the future, Shiao hopes to continue sharing her experiences and philosophy with women all over China. "May all women of China come to embrace this true spa experience and feel the wonder and magic of beauty once more,'' she exclaims.