When did the ancients in China begin to take a bath?

China has a long history of bathing. As early as 3000 years ago in Shang Dynasty, there were records of bathing in Oracle Bone Inscriptions. It is also recorded in Zhou Li that there is a bathroom in the king's bedroom. By the spring and autumn period, our people had begun to use special equipment to take a bath. The Bathing Classic, written by Liang Xiaogang in the Southern Dynasties, is the earliest bathing monograph discovered in China.

According to historical records, in 334 AD, Shi Hu of the Eastern Jin Dynasty built the "Longwen Pool" in Yecheng, which was a large private bathroom in the early days of China. Xi Lintong's famous hot spring bathroom "Huaqing Pool" was built in the Tang Dynasty.

In the Song Dynasty, with the prosperity of commerce, commercial public bathrooms came into being. In Song Dynasty, Wu Zeng recorded in his Notes on Changing Zhai that "the house is in the bathing place, and the pot must be hung on the door", which shows that there are still signs to attract customers in public bathrooms in Song Dynasty. Not only that, there were full-time service personnel to clean the back of customers at that time, which was very popular with bathers. By the16th century, public bathrooms had become quite common in China.

Extended data

Bathing is closely related to the behavioral norms of people's lives. Living at home, both men and women should get up early, take a shower and change clothes. According to a lot of data in our country, ancient people were much more hygienic than we thought. During the Qin and Han dynasties, the habit of washing your hair for three days and taking a bath for five days was formed. So that the government has a holiday every five days, which is also called "Hume".

Etiquette stipulates that the younger generation should burn warm water once every five days to bathe their parents and once every three days to wash their hair. In the meantime, if parents' faces are dirty, they should burn rice and wash them with water. If your feet are dirty, wash them with warm water.

The ancients also bathed with pancreas and bath beans. The pancreas in the Tang Dynasty played the role of chilblain cream. High-end products are called "face medicine" and "oral fat", which are used to smear the face and mouth. The palace will give it to officials in winter.

Baidu Encyclopedia-Bathing (Chinese Vocabulary)

Baidu Encyclopedia-Bathing (Basic Meaning)