It's a quote you've heard countless times: "Drink plenty of hot water."
Hot water in China, just like the magic elixir, can drink more hot water for all diseases. Why do Chinese love to drink hot water so much?
The world seems to be the only Chinese who loves hot water. Chinese who travel abroad, the most common complaint is not that the language barrier can not find the way, but that there is no kettle in the hotel room.
If you go to a country like Japan, you'll find that almost all restaurants offer ice water. For Americans, the source of happiness is the ice cube machine. Hot water is only used when making coffee or tea.
How to drink hot water? Drink it with a straw?
Chinese dependence on hot water is perfectly reflected in tourism. An Emirates flight attendant wouldn't say Chinese at all, but she could perfectly say the word "hot water."
Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport is also equipped with water heaters for Chinese tourists.
But many foreigners still can't understand Chinese enthusiasm for hot water, just as many Chinese can't accept ice water. Perhaps in the eyes of foreigners, the habit of drinking hot water Chinese has been deeply rooted since ancient times.
But in ancient China, hot water was still a luxury, and only dignitaries could drink it regularly. On the one hand, most of the utensils that can be used to hold hot water are expensive pottery; on the other hand, the fuel used to boil water also requires silver.
In short, most ordinary people do not drink hot water all the time. City dwellers who want to drink hot drinks have to pay for them at the water shop.
Water shop, is a kind of shop specializing in providing drinking water and hot water, just like you go to the milk tea shop every day on the way to work to buy a cup of life-sustaining happy water, the old Tianjin people in the late Qing Dynasty will also buy boiling water in front of the water shop every morning to wash and make tea.
The water shop is also like a milk tea shop, it also provides takeaway service, if you have money, the water brother will send hot water to your home.
Residents close to river water and well water are often accustomed to taking water on the spot, but the water quality is very bad. People downstream are still washing rice and drinking water, and people upstream may be taking out garbage and washing toilets in the river.
Such unhygienic habits exacerbated the cholera epidemic in China in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Japanese doctor Suzuki did bacteriological research in Tianjin and found that the main cause of the cholera epidemic in Tianjin in 1902 was the water of the Haihe River.
Soon after, Tianjin's "Du tong Yamen" warned residents: "Whoever drinks water and tea must use boiling water." If the water shop sells water that is not boiled, it will be fined 500 silver dollars and will be fined 6 months of hard work.
In the Republic of China, every spring and summer during the epidemic period, many of the epidemic prevention regulations of the health management agencies are related to "water".
In March 1920, the Beiyang Epidemic Prevention Office reminded the public that boiled water must be drunk, and cool drinks such as soda and Dutch water must also be made of boiling water, and as for cold drinks mixed with ice water, red cheese, and dried apricot water, they are all prohibited from being sold.
Of course, "drinking more hot water" is not a habit that can be developed overnight. In 1950, the "Patriotic Sanitation Campaign" was launched throughout the country, which once again emphasized the importance of drinking hot water.
The "Current Affairs Handbook" sponsored by Xinhua News Agency clearly states, "To drink water, you must drink boiled water, do not drink raw water, eat cooked and fried dishes, and do not eat any cold mixed vegetables." ”
Many factories and government agencies in the city have begun to set up centralized boiling water supply areas to provide boiling water to people with tickets or free of charge. Some units will also choose two days a week as patriotic health days to popularize basic health knowledge to everyone.
A lot of the retro nostalgic posters you see today are also from that period.
At that time, the precious dowry of the girls was in addition to the flashlight of household appliances and the thermos bottle. Because thermos bottles are also treasures, at the beginning only factories in Shandong, Anhui, Guangdong and other provinces were made, and the productivity was not high.
Exemplary individuals who perform well in the Patriotic Sanitation Movement will also be rewarded with buckets and water bottles, comparable to the tablets and vacuum cleaners you draw at the annual meeting today.
Hot water education is so pervasive that even elementary school students will receive such intimidation in their textbooks: "Children drink raw water for several days and fall ill."
At that time, many schools required students to bring enamel cups and drink boiling water. If you secretly take tap water to drink, you will also be beaten up for a small report.
In this way, no matter whether men, women or children, Chinese have a heart to drink hot water.
No wonder 21-year-old Wang Junkai, 30-year-old Lu Han, and 53-year-old Black Panther drummer Zhao Mingyi all have thermos cups.
Is it useful to drink more hot water?
A British study found that hot drinks of about 70 degrees can only relieve symptoms such as runny nose and cough in a short period of time. If you replace the hot drink with hot chicken soup, the effect is better.
In short, hot water does not cure a cold, but it can make you feel a little more comfortable. Not only that, eating raw and cold food diarrhea, uncomfortable, drinking hot water can make you comfortable for two points. The big aunt came to the pain to death, drinking hot water can make you comfortable three points, of course, the effect of drinking hot water is not as good as hot compresses.
No wonder international students came to China, and they also fell in love with drinking hot water, and directly shouted: "After drinking hot water, it seems that it will be much more comfortable." ”
However, it should be noted that hot drinks above 65 degrees celsius are class 2A carcinogens approved by the World Health Organization, and long-term drinking will increase the risk of esophageal cancer.
Although the hot water is good, don't be greedy.
Source: WeChat public account "The answer is as follows" (original title: Why Chinese love to drink hot water so much| text)
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