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[China: World Residence Tour] The Living Environment and Cleaning Conditions of Chinese Housing

  • Release date: Mar 08, 2021
  • Update date: Sep 05, 2025
  • 15014 Views

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In this article, I would like to introduce the cleaning habits of Chinese people. When it comes to cleaning, there are actually many differences between China and Japan in terms of the environment of the room to be cleaned, the cleaning tools used, and the cleaning method. In this article, I would like to introduce the characteristics of each.

Different flooring materials for different spaces

As I have mentioned before, the handover of houses in China differs from that in Japan in that the houses are handed over as skeletons. This has the disadvantage of requiring additional cost and effort for interior work. On the other hand, there is the advantage of being able to freely decorate the house according to one's lifestyle. Therefore, flooring materials are often laid according to the characteristics of the space. Of these, the most different from Japan is the flooring used in living rooms and kitchens. In Japan, living rooms and kitchens are often already floored before you move in, especially in condominium-type buildings. In contrast, in China, some families put marble or tiles on the floor.

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Marble/tile living room (left) and wood flooring living room (right)
* Source: Consumer Life Database (Consumer Life Panorama)

What is Consumer Life Panorama?


This is a website-type database that has accumulated visual data on more than 1,000 sei-katsu-sha from 18 countries around the world. The database includes many 3D models of living environments and 2D data of items owned by each sei-katsu-sha, and is useful for understanding overseas sei-katsu-sha, which is difficult to grasp using only letters and numbers.


Using visual data such as those cited in this column,
Compare the differences in the attributes of overseas consumers
To get a realistic understanding of the actual usage of each category
To understand the overall lifestyle of target consumers
etc., can be utilized as a “no-go” home visit survey.

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Overview

Demo Site

In the living room of Chinese households, there is a division between marble/tile and wood flooring. There are three main reasons for marble/tile households. First, marble is more elegant than wood flooring. Secondly, marble/tile is scratch resistant and easy to maintain. Thirdly, marble/tile is easy to clean. On the other hand, there are two main reasons for households to install wood flooring. One is that the atmosphere of a home with wood flooring feels warmer. The other reason is that wood flooring is softer than marble and more child-friendly. Also, for kitchens that are close to the living room, most families opt for marble/tile. The reason for this, along with the reason why Chinese people prefer to have a separate kitchen, is because of the way Chinese food is prepared. Unlike Japanese cuisine, Chinese cuisine universally uses oil-intensive cooking methods such as stir-frying, deep-frying, and baking, which often results in splashing oil on the stove and floor. Most households choose marble/tile because it is easier to clean the splashed oil.

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Japanese wood flooring kitchen (left) and Chinese marble/tile kitchen (middle, right)
* Source: Consumer Life Database (Consumer Life Panorama)

Cleaning order and tools to use

In China, when we talk about sweeping the floor, we are not just talking about sweeping dust and debris. For this reason, in addition to brooms and vacuum cleaners, mops and floor wipers are often used together. The order of use varies from household to household, but one common example is to use a broom or vacuum cleaner first to sweep up dust and dirt, then a wet mop to wipe the floor, and finally a dry mop to wipe the floor. For Chinese people, it is important to wipe the floor with a mop as well, because sticky and grease stains on the floor cannot be removed with a vacuum cleaner or broom.

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Chinese families installing floor wipers.
* Source: Consumer Life Database (Consumer Life Panorama)

In addition to mops and floor wipers, there is something unique about vacuum cleaners. In Japan, vacuum cleaners are often put away in a storage space in the entrance or living room, but in China, there is no such storage space, and many vacuum cleaners are placed directly in the room. In addition, among the Chinese households surveyed by Consumer Life Panorama, there are many households that have vacuum cleaners, but not many that have robot vacuum cleaners. In fact, even though the market for robot vacuum cleaners in China is growing right now, the penetration rate is only 3%. Some of my friends in China actually said that they are planning to buy a cordless vacuum cleaner in the future, but are not thinking about a robot vacuum cleaner yet, while others bought a robot vacuum cleaner but do not use it often. The reasons cited were the worry that they would not be able to clean properly, or that they would make too much noise while working at home.

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Chinese households place vacuum cleaners directly on the floor.
* Source: Consumer Life Database (Consumer Life Panorama)

Translated with AI Translator

  • Intage Inc

    Author profile
    Yang Yan

    A Chinese researcher living in Japan, reporting on the actual living conditions of overseas consumers, mainly in China. A robot vacuum cleaner is very useful for our dual-working family.

  • Intage Inc

    Editor profile
    Yusuke Tatsuda

    In charge of creating the Global Market Surfer website. She thinks that her little daughter will break the robot vacuum cleaner and is not ready to introduce it yet.

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