Why do only people in China like to drink hot water?

People in China have been drinking hot water since ancient times.

Mencius has a saying, "Drink soup in winter". The word "soup" here means hot water, and the word "soup" in Japanese still retains this meaning.

Yuan Zuzhi, the grandson of Yuan Mu, a poet in the Qing Dynasty, traveled to western European countries for more than a month in 1883, where he found that westerners liked to drink cold water. He wrote: "Middle-earth people should avoid drinking cold water to prevent bad stomachs, while Taixi must drink cold water to remove heat;" Middle-earth wine must be drunk warm, while Tessie drinks it cold. "It means that people in China don't drink cold water to prevent stomach upset; Westerners like to drink cold water, thinking that they can cool off the heat.

In drinking, this is the same rule.

More than 200 years ago, an Englishman came to China and discovered the truth. During the reign of Emperor Kangxi, an Englishman named Ma Jiani visited China, and compiled what he saw and heard into a book, mentioning the reason why China people like to drink hot water: China people like to drink tea.

Although China people have the habit of drinking hot water since ancient times, it is not so easy for ordinary people to drink hot water. For a long time, most people in China also drink raw cold water most of the time.

Writer Chen once said, "No matter in urban or rural areas, rich or poor, most people in China can drink hot water at will-this was in the mid-1990s 20 years ago."

For ancient people, it was not easy to eat a hot meal, let alone waste fuel to boil water. Only when the family was sick and the woman gave birth to a child would she burn wood and boil water. Drinking hot water was relatively easy for a few upper-class people in ancient times.

Even in the Republic of China, drinking hot water was still a luxury for most people. In the early Shenbao, it was reported that alum was used to clean the raw water for drinking.

Drinking hot water once saved the lives of China people?

1862, cholera broke out in Shanghai.

Wang Shixiong, a doctor at that time, observed that the number of Shanghai residents was "3,000 per day" and there were 3,000 new cases every day. Subsequently, the epidemic spread to the north, but not to the south. It has been suggested that this is because southerners drink hot water more frequently than northerners.

As a result, the rumor of "drinking hot water to prevent cholera" quickly spread throughout the country. Drinking hot water has become a matter of life and death, not just health care. However, cholera only spread to the north, because merchant ships between Beijing and Shanghai spread the virus to the north.

During the Republic of China, China's social culture was influenced by Japan and the West. The introduction of bacterial theory made drinking hot water have a certain scientific basis, because heating can inactivate pathogenic bacteria.

Later, the government and intellectuals consciously advised residents not to drink "cold water without boiling", and the state also promulgated the policy of "drinking hot water", and the habit of drinking hot water or cold water gradually formed.

Drinking hot water has many benefits.

So, how about hot water? Besides sterilization, drinking hot water has many benefits.

1. Relieve nasal congestion

The heat of hot water will produce steam. Holding a cup of hot water and taking a deep breath of this mild steam can relieve sinus congestion and even relieve sinus headache. Because there are mucous membranes in the neck and upper body, drinking hot water helps to warm the area and relieve sore throat caused by mucus accumulation.

Why do only people in China like to drink hot water? Refreshing cognition: Drinking hot water saved the lives of China people.

2. Calm the central nervous system

Drinking hot water can calm the central nervous system and lubricate the body.

Help relieve constipation

Drinking hot water can help the intestine to contract, so that the waste in the intestine can be excreted.

This may help to lose weight.

Drinking hot water can wake up the body's temperature control system. When you drink hot water, it will activate the body and lower the internal temperature, thus activating metabolism. However, this should have a slight effect on weight loss, after all, it consumes little energy.

5. Promote blood circulation

Taking a hot bath can dilate your blood vessels and transport blood more effectively, and drinking hot water has a similar effect.

Reduce the pressure level

Because drinking hot water helps to improve the function of the central nervous system, drinking hot water may reduce anxiety.

However, overheated water will hurt your esophagus, affect your taste buds and burn your tongue. Eating too much food is one of the inducing factors of esophageal cancer.

Except for China people, probably no country has the habit of drinking hot water. Most people get fever only when they drink tea or coffee. If it's just water, they generally don't choose to drink hot water. Moreover, the cold water they drink will not be cold boiled water, but more directly take the water from the cup to the faucet.

It is said that the tap water quality in China has reached the standard of direct drinking, but at present, we have no habit of drinking directly from the tap.