中国人爱喝热水的真正原因：原来是现代才发明的 [美国媒体]

The real reasonwhy Chinese people like hot water: it's a modern invention

中国人爱喝热水的真正原因：原来是现代才发明的



Recently a Weiboposting of the now middle-aged rock star Zhao Mingyi holding a Thermos hascaused quite a stir. Holding a Thermos is now seen as a sign that you're now inyour middle age.

最近微博上一张中年摇滚歌手赵明义手拿保温杯的照片风靡网络。拿着保温杯在现在已经被视为人近中年的标志。

This got a lot ofpeople talking about why Chinese people like water hot. I came across the talkshow 锵锵三人行, and the host talked about the Thermosphenomenon and why Chinese people like hot water. His answer really surprisedme:

引起了许多关于中国人为什么喝热水的讨论。我碰巧看了一期谈话节目《锵锵三人行》，讲的就是保温杯现象和为什么中国人喜欢喝热水。节目的答案真是让我吃惊：

In antiquity,Chinese people always liked drinking water cold, sometimes with ice. Peoplehave enjoyed ice tea since the Song dynasty.

在古代，中国人一直是喜欢喝冷水的，有时候还要加冰。从宋朝时起人们就爱喝冰茶了。

The concept of 寒 (cold) in Chinese medicine refer to acategory of foods (green bean, durian, etc) and not thetemperature.

在中医里，寒性的概念指的是一堆食物（绿豆，榴莲等）而不是气候温度。

By the end of the19th century, foreigners established concessions in Chinese cities, and manysettlers contracted typhoid fever and died. The disease also infected thesurrounding Chinese communities, aggravated by unsanitary livingconditions.

19世纪末，外国人在中国城市建立了租界，很多外国人得了伤寒死去。伤寒同样也感染了周围的中国社区，肮脏的居住环境使这一情况变得雪上加霜。

In 1934, citiesin China advised the public only to drink water after boiling

1934年，中国城市政府建议公众只喝烧开的水。

In the 1950s,"drink hot water" has become a political slogan seen on posters.Factories and institutions start to centrally provide boiled water to theworkers. This is why you need a big thermos to store hot water for your family.

到了20世纪50年代，“喝热水”成为了海报上的政治宣传口号。工厂和研究机构开始为工人集中供应开水。这就是为什么每家都需要保温瓶的原因。

In 1959,kindergartens are instructed to feed kids with hot water 3 times a day to getthem into the habit of drinking hot water

1959年，幼儿园被指示要求每天给小孩喂三次热水来培养他们喝热水的习惯。

So really,Chinese people like water hot just because it kills germs.

所以说中国人爱喝热水的真正原因是热水杀菌。


[–][deleted] 107points 2 days ago
That's why welaowai drink beer. Same function, but much much much older.

我们这些老外喝啤酒的原因也是一样。都是为了杀菌，但是喝啤酒的时间可就更更更久了。

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[–]longjiang[S]41 points 2 days ago
Yeah, I learnedthat from the PBS series "How we Got to Now", the episode"Clean", it mentioned how Dr. John Snow's map of the 1854 Londoncholera outbreak clearly showed no death at the brewery because the workersdrink beer.
Now I drink 2cans of beer everyday to fight hot water addiction.

你说得对，我是在PBS的连续剧《我们如何变成现在这样》叫“清洁”的一集里看到的，剧里讲到琼恩·雪诺医生画的1854年伦敦霍乱地图，地图清楚地表明酿酒厂一个人都没死，因为酒厂的工人都喝啤酒。

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[–]only_in_china32 points 2 days ago
Dr Jon Snow? Heknows nothing...

琼恩·雪诺医生？他什么都不知道……【美剧《权力的游戏》】

[–]TeRou1 3points 1 day ago
If anyone's readAll The Tea In China, in the last chapter they talk about how that someanthropologists believe that England moving from alcohol to tea for a sterilewater source greatly improved their productivity, decreased accidents, and gavethem a competitive advantage.

读过《茶叶大盗：改变世界史的中国茶》的人会知道，书中最后一章里谈到，人类学家相信英国从饮用酒精转而饮用茶叶，既获得了杀菌水源，又极大改善了生产率降低了事故发生率，使英国获得了竞争优势。

[–]TeRou1 2points 1 day ago
As I write this,I'm enjoying sterilized water of the fermented type. But I'm also not workingin a dangerous 19th century factory either.

就像我写的那样，我喜欢发酵型的杀菌水，而且我也不在19世纪的危险工厂里工作。

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[–]Draxx01 1point 1 day ago
There's someinteresting studies on the alcohol content of drinks has changed overtime. I believe the recent trends date back to Heineken'sconcerted marketing efforts labeling it as refreshing in like the 70s-90s eraof peak booze. Prior to that the main drink of choice for the UK was somethingof a much lower % that workers could drink a pint of without ill effect. Thecurrent drinking culture and drinks of choice don't reflect what pastgenerations were imbibing.

有研究表明酒类饮品的内容物已经随着时间改变了。我相信最近一次改变要追溯到喜力啤酒的一次整体营销，将自己的啤酒贴上和70-90年代巅峰啤酒一样清爽的标签。在此之前，英国的主流酒类都是低酒精度的，工人们即使喝了一品脱也不会受到影响。现在的饮酒文化和酒类选择并不能反应过去人们的饮酒习惯。

[–]mxd_richard 2points 1 day ago
easy to get fat

喝啤酒容易发胖。
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[–]Pkeod 3 points1 day ago
Yes, it's liquidbread.

是啊，那可是液体面包啊。

[–]HautamakiCanada51 points 2 days ago
People naturallylike cold water for the same reason. In the wild naturally occurring ice coldwater will usually be fast running water from ice melt, so it will be clean andbacteria free. Lukewarm water normally comes from stagnant standing water whichis likely to be very high in bacteria.

人类天生的喜欢冰水也是一样的原因。自然界里的冰水通常都是冰融化后的流动水，所以是干净无菌的。自然界的温水一般都是不流动的死水，里面含有大量细菌的可能性非常大。

[–]Gish21Japan 33points 2 days ago
So really,Chinese people like water hot just because it kills germs.
Boiling waterkills germs. It doesn't matter if the water is hot or cold when you drink it.And there is no need to heat up already clean water.

“所以说中国人爱喝热水的真正原因是热水杀菌。”
煮开的水都是杀过菌的了。所以说喝的时候就无所谓冷热了。还有就是，本身已经干净的水没有再烧开的必要了。

[–]HautamakiCanada27 points 2 days ago*
If it's still hotyou know it was boiled recently enough to not get recontaminated.

如果刚烧开不久的时候喝那它就还是热的，而且这么短时间内也可以防止再次被污染。

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[–]longjiang[S] 9points 2 days ago
Yeah exactly, Iremember when I was a kid in China I always drank water boiled. Sometimesthere's no time to wait till it cools, so we just drank it warm.

说的太对了，我记得我小时候在中国的时候一直喝开水。有时候没时间等它凉了，就直接喝温的。

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[–]Smirth 5points 1 day ago
Yes it's a lotabout not trusting the water supply

都是因为供应的水不值得信任。。

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[–]Addahn 5points 1 day ago
You also knowthat it actually HAS been boiled, rather than a lazy employee walking into thebackroom and pouring you a glass from the tap. Hot water is the way therestaurant can show they've put in a little effort.

热水还可以让你知道这水确实是烧开了的，而不是偷懒雇员直接从水龙头接出来倒进你杯里的。热水可以表明餐馆是用了心思服务的。

[–]Gish21Japan -3points 1 day ago
Unless someone ispooping in your water, it's not going to get recontaminated. And just cause itshot doesn't mean it was ever boiled to begin with. Modern water machines cangive out hot water without boiling it
Anyway these daysthe way you know your water is safe is because it comes in sealed plasticbottles or from a tap or water machine that only give treated water. Heatingthis water up to 90 degrees doesn't make it safer.

除非有人在你水里拉屎，否则烧开的水是不会再次受污染的。而且是热水也不代表就是烧开的。现在的热水机出的热水有时候就不是烧开的。
无论如何，在如今，你要想安全干净的水，要吗就是直接从未开封的塑料瓶里出来的，要吗就是从处理过水源的水龙头喝饮水机里出来的。把水加热到90度并不能保证水就是安全的。

[–]mansionsong 5points 2 days ago
My best friend,whose parents are boat people from Vietnam (now Canadian), would always boilthe tap water, put it into clean glass jugs, and let it settle to roomtemperature before drinking. It always confused me when I was younger. But nowI suppose it must be a habit from their old lives.

我最好的朋友，父母都是从越南来的（现在是加拿大籍），总是把自来水烧开了再倒进干净的玻璃壶里，然后冷却到室温再喝。我小时候对此很疑惑。现在我觉得应该是他们以前的生活习惯。

[–]BillyBattsShinebox13 points 2 days ago
First thoughtthat came to my head is "how the hell is hot water a moderninvention?", but that's actually a really interesting explanation.

我脑子里第一个想法就是“热水怎么会是现代发明？”，不过文章里解释的其实挺有趣的。

[–]losacn 9points 2 days ago
Are there anysources other than a talk show?

这种解释除了这个谈话节目还有其他来源吗？

[–]filthywaffles33 points 2 days ago
One big gap withthis narrative: Chinese diaspora all over the world, with ancestors whomigrated hundreds of years ago, also fetishize hot water.
But he gets extrapoints for somehow working disease-ridden foreigners in there.

这种说法有一个比较大的漏洞：中国移民遍布全世界，其祖先在几百年前就已经移民了，但是他们也同样迷恋热水。
但是有一点他倒是说的非常对，有些疾病都是外国人带到中国去的。

[–]longjiang[S] 8points 2 days ago
That's a goodpoint, I'm wondering what's up with that. Maybe a lot of proponent of hot waterdrinking moved abroad after it already became a trend in the 30s?

说的好，我也一直在想这是怎么回事。可能是30年代喝热水风潮流行之后很多人爱喝热水的人才移民的？

[–]Domhnal 5points 1 day ago
I'm going towager like most scholars, he makes the mistake of equating the experiences ofthe landowners and wealthy with the experience of the average citizen. I can'tsee peasants all over Henan drinking ice water for their enjoyment, as bringingice to non-cold regions is a major luxury. Without digging in, I'm going towager when he says that the Chinese "enjoyed ice water" that he meansthe wealthy who were also literate enough to record their experience. When we talkdiaspora, we are not always referring to these people, whose traditions ofboiling water probably have more to do with tea culture and preference thananything else.

我敢像许多学者一样保证，他肯定是把地主与富人的生活和普通老百姓混为一谈了。我在全河南也没看到过喝冰水的农民，把冰送到温热地区是非常奢侈的。都不用细查，我就敢打包票他说的中国人“喜欢喝冰水”说的也肯定都是富人，这些人也有文化可以把经历记录下来。我们谈论的中国移民，也通常指的不是这些富人，这些移民喝热水的传统可能更多的与茶文化和爱喝茶有关，而不是其他原因。