A 50-year-old Chinese herbalist doctor said he will fast for 49 days to challenge the world record of 44 days set by US magician David Blaine last October and also promote traditional Chinese medical science.

A second-generation doctor of traditional Chinese medicine, Chen Jjianmin will begin the life-challenging adventure on March 20.

He will have no food, but he will drink water over the 49-day ordeal to break the record set by Blaine in last October in London.

Chen, of Luzhou city in southwest China's Sichuan province, said his fast would 'attest to the regimen of traditional Chinese medical science'.

The record attempt would take place in Bbifengxia valley, a mountain resort in neighbouring Ya'an city, and be monitored by 50 witnesses invited from around the world, Xinhua news agency reported from Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province.

Chen 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 had taken water only, while going to work regularly.

Experts of western medicine questioned Chen's wisdom of 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'.