In my previous columns, I have introduced the living spaces and layouts of Chinese people by comparing Japan and China. In fact, the Chinese lifestyle can be seen not only in the differences in living space and layout, but also in the small accessories scattered throughout the house.

Commitment to hot water

It is probably no exaggeration to say that no other people in the world are as obsessed with hot water as the Chinese. The reason behind this is the theory of yin-yang harmony in Chinese medicine. The Chinese have long believed that drinking hot water has the effect of "warming yang," which helps to ward off cold and neutralize the "yin" qi in the body, thereby curing illness. Also, tap water in China is not directly drinkable like in Japan, so if you want to drink room temperature water in China, it is customary to boil the tap water and then leave it to come to room temperature. Also, if you go to a restaurant in China, you will probably notice that in most cases, what is served to customers is hot tea instead of cold. This is also an effect of this Chinese medicine theory and custom. Therefore, many small items reflecting this custom can actually be found in Chinese homes. First of all, if you look closely at a Chinese home, you will always find at least one water heater or kettle. Once the water is boiled, the next step is to keep it warm. In the case of a water heater that has a keep-warm function, you can just leave it there after boiling, but in the case of a kettle, there are other things that need to be kept warm. For this reason, the Chinese have always had the habit of using thermos bottles or heat-retaining bottles.

A Chinese house with a water heater (left), kettle (middle) and thermos (right).
* Source: Consumer Life Database ((Consumer Life Panorama))

Chinese people use hot water in many situations in their daily lives. The first and most common use is for direct drinking. It is also often used for cooking and making tea. Other than that, hot water is also used for washing dishes and feet in cold weather (this practice is thought to be decreasing with the spread of water heaters). Therefore, there is a high need for Chinese households to always have enough hot water. This is where the vacuum flask is widely used. In the first and second columns, I introduced the double use of water in the kitchen and the use of hot water buckets for washing, etc. The vacuum flask, like the hot water bucket, is a custom from a bygone era, and when I visit middle-aged and older families, I find that many of them still retain this custom.

The challenge of diverse cooking and small kitchen space

In my first and third columns, I introduced the fact that due to the small kitchen space in Chinese households, the one thing that often gets left out in the kitchen is the refrigerator. There are many ways to cook Chinese food. There are many ways to cook Chinese food, and therefore, there are quite a few cooking utensils to use. On the other hand, the space in the kitchen is limited. Therefore, where to store and install the cooking utensils is quite a big issue. In fact, it is not only the refrigerator that has been evicted from the kitchen. This is especially true in Shanghai, where the per capita living space is particularly small. For example, people are trying to solve this problem by putting rice cookers in the living and dining rooms, and microwaves in the crevices.