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Posts: 19

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Q: Why Locals hate to take a shower this bad?

I gat lots of friends here and  most of them are locals. One common thing about all of them; they don't take a bath everyday. Once or twice a week is OK. Whats this all about; where i come from we take a shower everyday. Is it part of there Culture or 5000 years of History thing i keep hearing all the time?

11 years 26 weeks ago in  General  - Other cities

 
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Posts: 9192

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The Chinese I know shower often, I know, I like to watch. In our history bathing was done once a year up until 100 years ago, think powered wigs etc. People at home don't shower every day, we have so many white trash welfare bums it's sickening. If we're bashing China, take a good look at home.

GuilinRaf:

Queen Elizabeth I concerned her doctors because of her excessive bathing: Once a month!

11 years 26 weeks ago
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TedDBayer:

I shower often in hot weather but I have oily skin, never notice Chinese with oily skin.

11 years 26 weeks ago
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zack1:

He He OK

 

11 years 26 weeks ago
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11 years 26 weeks ago
 
Posts: 192

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This phenomenon usually happens  in the inland city of China,while ppl in coastal city enjoys shower everyday, for example, Guangdong province.

From my point of view, the reason is the different distribution of water resource. To them,

water is so precious that supposed to apply in more important fields instead of the resource for shower. 

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11 years 26 weeks ago
 
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I shower when it rains. Just step outside with a bar of soak, and instant presto! Hey, hey, I'm clean again!

 

 

Hugh.G.Rection:

Remind me not to go on a holiday to Egypt with you!

11 years 26 weeks ago
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giadrosich:

Lol. Or Eastern Africa! I spent 3 weeks there, and "Oh, my!" However, the good part was, coming back, I had all the room to myself on the plane!!

11 years 26 weeks ago
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11 years 26 weeks ago
 
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I don't know the truth to this, (I picked it up from James Clavell's novels), but from what I read regular bathing spread to the West from Japan.

GuilinRaf:

I know that I cannot live without my daily shower. And in the summer, I will sometimes shower twice in one day. 

11 years 26 weeks ago
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Hugh.G.Rection:

When I'm working I shower morning and evening, summer and winter. When I'm not working in the winter once a day, and in the summer up to three times a day depending on what I'm doing, and that doesn't include gym sessions (as tbh they're getting rare). But then in Nanning in summer it pushes 40C somedays and it's tropical heat too.

11 years 26 weeks ago
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lokethebloke:

I have a bath once a month whether I need one or not.    Save water, save the planet, on second thoughts, perhaps having a bath is a little wasteful!

11 years 26 weeks ago
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GuilinRaf:

Good point Loke. Maybe you can sit in the tub with a "wet wipe"?

11 years 26 weeks ago
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lokethebloke:

Raf,

you are are clever but sadly the production of wetwipes  is worse for the environment  than the over use of 90 liters of water.    It's all to do with the consumption of heat, water and chemicals.    Too much of all three just to produce one wetwipe.

11 years 26 weeks ago
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11 years 26 weeks ago
 
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I am from the south of China, now studying in the north. Right, my classmates as well as my roomates  shower once a week while I shower everyday, LOL.  I didn't know that difference until I came here three years ago.

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11 years 26 weeks ago
 
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BTW at home they are trying legistration against wearing scented products in the work place, no deodorant or perfume or colognes, better you should naturally smell bad and offend everyone, than smell smell good and offend someone

Hugh.G.Rection:

TedDBayer, lol! Where is 'at home' if you don't mind me asking?

That sounds outrageous and if it is the USA / UK / Canada / Aus I suspect some serious lobbying and even legal challenges from the relevant industries.

11 years 26 weeks ago
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Jnusb416:

They're not necessarily talking about regular stuff like deodorant. I think they're trying to limit the use of perfume/cologne. There is some really offensive perfume out there, it irritates my allergies. I think there are certain jobs where you shouldn't wear that kind of stuff.

11 years 26 weeks ago
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TedDBayer:

I think old women wear Channel No 9 and some other perfumes to keep men away, getting fat and ugly doesn't do enough I guess. Home is the Great White North, Canada, but so white anymore.

11 years 26 weeks ago
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11 years 26 weeks ago
 
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I've spoken about this topic with chinese friends and they say it is due time ago China's conditions were not so good and even not all houses had a bathoom. Then it remained as a costume. It is true now all middle level houses or apartments here have a bathroom but people have then some weird ideas for us like if you shower too much you damage your body and get rid of some natural extracts or stuff the body needs. That's why many people only was their hair in winter and can remain without cleaning their bodies in 4 or 5 days.

One more point, most of chinese people do shower at night so in the morning they go to work without previous shower, maybe just washed face. It is easy to identify who took a shower in the morning if u ride the metro.

Just look and smell. A lot of people smell bad :(  girls know about this but seems to be a common practice. It is justified by females because male gender has stronger smell but since they do not, then is ok to not shower in the morning. All of this are things explained by chinese friends.

GuilinRaf:

I observed this with my last girlfriend. She felt the morning shower was a waste but the evening shower was indispensable even if there was no hot water.

11 years 26 weeks ago
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zack1:

It makes sense..maybe thats why the're still lots of public bath places all over

11 years 26 weeks ago
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11 years 26 weeks ago
 
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Until today, and still after reading this............ it does not make sense.... why not?

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10 years 43 weeks ago
 
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I grew up having a bath once a week on Sundays( shared water with my 5 brothers and sisters) before the school week .......  I progressed to showers 2or 3 times a week,, depending on the workload..... then every day, but to this day I question the need.........  all was good when I was a kid at once a week ..........  nowadays I shower every second day.............  wife showers every day and often 2 times a day ...............  my little thing is, water i precious and I see no need to add my soap and shampoo to it any more than I need to, to keep myself happy and comfortable.......  don't get too close if you don't appreciate my aroma.

Hugh.G.Rection:

When I was growing up raping your wife wasn't even a crime (UK 1960s), but times and attitudes have moved on; I think for the better.

10 years 43 weeks ago
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BHGAL:

water is precious

10 years 43 weeks ago
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Hugh.G.Rection:

Water is made of the most abundant elements in the Cosmos.

 

And your wife isn't precious?

10 years 43 weeks ago
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BHGAL:

you trying to tell me that keeping our fresh water clean is not a real important thing, these days  .... I beg to differ ...............  and here I thought  you and I had some similarities in beliefs.................   My wife is very precious ..the brand thing was a joke.

10 years 43 weeks ago
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Scandinavian:

you better use the water to scrub your armpits before some corporation taints it with pigeon or something. 

Back home when I was single, I would sometimes have a lazy sunday where I would not leave my apartment or if I did, just down to the local shop, those days did not always require a shower. No need to be fanatic about it. In southern China with 30C+ summer temperatures and very high humidity, 2-4 showers per day is needed

10 years 43 weeks ago
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10 years 43 weeks ago
 
Posts: 247

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Actually most that I know shower at least once a day. The students often have wet hair when they come back from their naps. However if you think not bathing once a week is bad, just ask the girls you know if they intend to follow the rule about not bathing for one month after giving birth (OMG!!!). Of the ladies I have asked 2 of the 3 have said that they followed this rule.
Maybe this rule is specific to my area have any of you heard of such a thing ???

Rin:

I've heard this. Ridiculous!

10 years 40 weeks ago
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10 years 43 weeks ago
 
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Several girl students have confided in me that it is common for girls not to shower when it is their special time.  Apparently they feel uncomfortable in the communal showers and or ashamed.

 

Cue standard vacant stare when I explain that special time is a time  when personal hygiene is important. Either that or they cannot comprehend that a man knows about these things.

 

Whilst we are talking hygiene related matters, I cannot fathom why people take a shower at night, sleep a hot sticky sleep - at this time of year anyway - then get out of bed in the morning and put on, hopefully, a fresh set of clothes without showering. 

 

Not just a locals thing but Westerners also. 

Scandinavian:

the girls are also taught that they can get sick if they shower during those delightful days, just some village old-wives bollocks

10 years 43 weeks ago
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GuilinRaf:

"Not just locals but Westerners also."

So true!

Once we had a birthday party in Guilin and this one guy, from a Western country, had moved to a new apartment. He actually went to the party in the same clothes that he wore while moving, greasy hair and all.

No one wanted to sit next to him. He noticed this and got very defensive.

I was (rightly) chided by my (then) girlfriend at the time, who pointed out how I complain about locals not bathing, but that Westerners are not any better.

With the evidence right there in front of us, there was no way I could refute what she said....

 

10 years 42 weeks ago
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Everyone situation is different. But most people I know in China who don't shower/bath everyday it's simply because they grew up in an area with limited water and showering can be viewed as and IS a waste if you need water for crops and animals.

I've been to quite a few homes in the countryside who don't even have a bathroom AND water can be limited. Under those conditions it's very normal to not shower every day.

Those of us from western/developed countries are a bit spoiled in that sense. We thinks it's weird because we never lived in a situation where you can actually run out of water and or you need that water to provide a living for yourself (crops, animals, etc etc).

Then of course there's just dirty people, that's a whole different topic though Smile.

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10 years 42 weeks ago
 
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in some ' almost forgotten' place one only takes 2 showers, one is when he/she s born, and the second and the very last is when he/she dies, like you said, Culture! just the same as some people eat raw meat and we dont...

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10 years 42 weeks ago
 
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I would also like to add that part of it could be due to saving money.  If you have to pay for the water, using less of it means saving more money.  Chinese people are very good/serious about saving money. They have too since there are no retirement plans or government programs to really help them when they get too old to work or get sick.  Every little bit you can save really counts.

 

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10 years 42 weeks ago
 
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I  am amazed at this stuff   .....  water is  a very precious resource ....  adding soap and shampoo and and and ...... is not good for this resource......  really, I don't care what you smell like.... marketing soaps has reached epidemic level in my humble opinion.

laundry, showers, wash the car .... all over done

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10 years 42 weeks ago
 
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