Why do Chinese people love to drink hot water all over the world?

When comparing Chinese and Western cultures, we will find that Chinese people have the habit of boiling water and drinking hot water, while in foreign countries, not all countries have the habit of drinking hot water. So, how did the Chinese people develop the habit of drinking hot water? To explain this phenomenon, we need to be divided into 3 stages to say a few words.

First, the Chinese tradition, since ancient times

In ancient China, although drinking hot water has no scientific support, but boil the water to drink does have a theoretical basis, the theoretical basis is the entire system of traditional Chinese medicine. Chinese medicine is advocating hot drinks and hot food. Under the cultural concepts constructed by TCM, Chinese people have a deep-rooted belief in hot beverages, believing that this is in line with the concept of health. Secondly, Chinese people have been drinking tea since ancient times, and drinking tea requires hot water, so drinking hot water comes naturally.

But even so, for a long time, drinking hot water was not popularized, and it was only a privilege for a small group of people in the upper class. It was the privilege of a small group of upper-class people, because burning hot water required fuel, and ordinary people did not have the financial means to do so. In ancient China, only the upper class people had the means to boil water for drinking, and the common people would only make fire when cooking, and would not waste fuel to boil water. Drinking hot water was not popularized because it was a high consumer product or a luxury item among the working people at the bottom of the society.

2. Republican era, scientific concepts were publicized

In 1932, during the cholera epidemic in the world, the bacteriological theory was introduced into China, and people knew that infectious diseases could be spread by bacteria in the water, so they thought of boiling water, which could kill most of the bacteria in the water, and the boiling of water for drinking was thus scientifically backed up.

At that time, in the economically developed southeastern coastal cities like Shanghai, there were many "cooked water stores". The "cooked water store" solved the dual needs of the grassroots to drink hot water and save fuel at the same time. Because of the relatively cheap price, people are more willing to buy boiled water directly from the "cooked water store" to save their fuel costs. However, in the vast countryside, although there were also stores selling boiled water, the vast majority of the general public still chose to continue drinking raw water due to economic pressure. During this period, drinking hot water, although already publicized to some extent, did not reach the level of universal popularity.

Third, after the liberation, the government vigorously publicized

After 1949, the government fully realized the importance of improving the level of public **** hygiene to improve the quality of life of the people, and took the initiative to undertake the work of popularization. The Central Patriotic Health Committee has repeatedly called for "repeated education of the masses to drink boiled water and sterilized water, not raw water". The concept of drinking boiled water to prevent diarrhea and infectious diseases was also y imprinted in the minds of rural Chinese people.

As for now, the Chinese tradition of boiling water is also due to the fact that after the liberation of China, the official government has comprehensively strengthened the publicity and promotion of this aspect of "drinking hot water" and "drinking boiled water". Drinking hot water fits the Chinese cultural tradition, also fits the habit of drinking tea, plus the German invention of hot water miracle "thermos" has been popularized in China, greatly facilitating people to save hot water. In the case of timing, location, and people, drinking hot water has been quickly popularized, and developed into a good habit for Chinese people.

On the contrary, some developed countries already have complete direct drinking water systems, so the water can be directly consumed because it is produced according to higher standards, for them, there is no tradition of drinking hot water, and there is no need to develop the habit of drinking hot water.

But in some poor countries, they have neither a complete public **** health system, also did not develop the habit of boiling water to drink, for the general public, daily drinking water has a great security risks, similar to cholera, dysentery, this kind of water-borne diseases, can not be avoided from time to time will be prevalent in these countries.

At present, domestic tap water is ordinary drinking water, although the domestic drinking water system has not yet been popularized, but ordinary drinking water is also produced in accordance with certain health standards, is to get continuous monitoring of the safety of the water source. And the Chinese people have developed a good habit of boiling water to drink, so China's public **** health environment can be maintained at a relatively high level.