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Sign up with Google Sign up with FacebookQ: Why don't people smell worse?
Credit where it's due,
I think given how hot and humid it can be in this country, and that people live in shitty cramped conditions, probably don't bathe much, wear the same clothes all the time and definitely do not use deordorant it's pretty impressive how much they don't smell bad.
I take the train to work, and you know on a really hot day people won't smell like a bed of roses but it's not nearly as overpowering as it should be.
Then you can tell right away if you're on a car with somebody from a country where they live in the same way but don't have the magical lack of smellyness people here do.
I just wanted to say something nice. People here definitely don't smell as bad as they could given their hygiene level and the temperature outside.
8 years 37 weeks ago in Family & Kids - China
Chinese bodies are different.
Hotwater:
I was only half joking. I think over a long time people's bodies do evolve to their local climates
Chinese don't sweat as much as we apes do.
According to my wife, her bus ride to work is like being in a sealed tin of vomit, rotting meat, rotten eggs and backed-up sewage...welcome to come and enjoy the fragrance if you're so inclined.
My parent in laws won't shower for weeks in winter, but almost daily in summer. When I was teaching at the uni. I noticed the same pattern with some of my students (others where just water-shy or something). Same now, with my colleagues, especially the female ones. Maybe people here are more likely to shower daily in summer ?
I normally smell of beer and ciggies.
expatlife26:
I'm a big fan of german beer. And it's been a really great development that now practically every stupid little convenience store I run across has a selection of really good german beers, especially weissbier.
What gives? I never see chinese people drinking this stuff but it's really great to have that kinda access! we sure as hell don't in the us!
Chinese bodies are different.
Hotwater:
I was only half joking. I think over a long time people's bodies do evolve to their local climates
I believe it was a Japanese scientist who discovered the 'Asian' skin gland gene that differentiates them from us white monkeys. It influences a number of things:
Wet vs. dry ear wax. Chinese ear wax just falls out like powder flakes. (hence the air pollution??)
Abundant vs. sparse sweat gland excretions - an important part of body odour. OTOH, sweat glands have a cooling function, allowing our organs to run hotter (brains?).
Large vs. small mammary glands. Yup yup.
It isn't a perfect split. There is an X% of the Asian population with the more active skin gland gene too, just like X% of westerners have the other gene. Personally, I'm happy we in the west are accustomed to having the average population with the active sweat gene. Imagine being a sweaty bugger in China, emitting BO only an hour after showering, and being surrounded by people who haven't showered for a week, who mock you for the smell. Hygiene wouldn't be something you DO, it would be something you ARE, which fits perfectly into China's static appearances culture.
Maybe this explains why it is so hard to find deodorant, and when you do, you have a choice of two or three, all bloody expensive.
I agree that there's less sweat related BO for the reason coineineagh mentioned. There are many people, though, whose clothes could be fresher.
What they lack in BO they more than make up for in bad breath. Jesus Christ! It's not just a matter of a garlic heavy diet. It's way beyond that. A lifetime of poor dental hygiene leading to tooth decay and advanced gum disease, with a side of a H. pylori from dodgy food handling practices.
I think the old timers just get used to the stench. When i first came here i was choking on BO daily. Slowly but surely you get used to it.
Also the longer you are here the more people usually shelter themselves. Go to certain places, learn what bus not to take at which time of day ect. It could also play a role.
expatlife26:
Thats a good point yeah i thought about that on the other question about them being nicer before too. For a lot of us its probably that we choose to hang out with people more on our level.
People with their shit together usually have things improving and avoid stuff they don't like so it seems as though stuff has changed when it probably hasn't. haha i bet icnif thinks things haven't changed at all!