Yes
Taking a bath once created a country with civilized etiquette.
In fact, the Chinese did not pay attention to bathing in the past. Liang Shiqiu said, "We Chinese have always regarded bathing as a major event."
As early as 3,000 years ago in the Western Zhou Dynasty, people had to bathe and purify themselves before worshiping gods and ancestors to show piety, which was called " Quit”. The ordination rituals of the Western Zhou Dynasty were very solemn and elegant, with full-time officials in charge. The pre-Qin bathing etiquette was very complete. The princes had to wash their hair and take a bath before going to see the emperor.
Scholars say that Chinese bathing etiquette has become a custom and is followed by the world, which is unique in the world. In the heyday of the Han and Tang Dynasties, the imperial court had more bathing etiquette, and the position of "hot spring supervisor" appeared, responsible for the affairs of the royal hot springs; in the Ming Dynasty, there was a special bathing management organization "Huntangsi".
Bathing in China at that time was a serious religious and even political activity, and the appearance of officials was closely related to "political civilization."
Going to the temple, bathing is connected with people's living standards. The "Book of Rites" specifically stipulates that the etiquette of respecting the elderly must include boiling water for the elderly to bathe, taking a bath every five days, and washing their hair every three days. There are also detailed rules for bathing procedures for ordinary people and bathing during births and funerals.
During the Qin and Han dynasties, people visited the river in late spring in March to purge evil spirits, and it evolved into a national spring outing. At the same time, taboos were everywhere: men and women were not allowed to bathe naked, and men and women were not allowed to wear towels; Kings and ministers take different baths, and those with different identities, seniorities, and statuses also take different baths.
Public bathhouses began to appear in the Song Dynasty when urban economy developed. "Along the River During Qingming Festival" There is a bathhouse among the many shops. Su Shi wrote "Like a Dream" after bathing in the public bathhouse. From the words "Send a message to wipe people's backs", it can be seen that the public bathhouse at that time had complete services.
Looking at Europe in the 15th century, it was really pitiful. Europeans actually believed that the plague could invade the body through bathing. As a result, for hundreds of years, all walks of life, especially the court and the upper class, basically did not bathe or wash their faces.
At that time, Louis XIV, the famous "Sun King" of France, used a lot of perfume in order to cover his body odor.
The evolution of bathing customs in China
In China, there are many customs about "bathing". The "Three Baths" for the first time in life are the cleansing rituals of returning the soul to the Western Heaven. Every April 8th, we bathe the Buddha in fragrant soup. Every year during the Dragon Boat Festival, we wash our bodies with orchids and mugwort to remove evil spirits and illnesses. We bathe cats and dogs on June 6th. Women in Rizhao, Shandong Province have to wash their hair on Chinese Valentine's Day.
In China, bathing has a long history. The ancient Chinese classified it very carefully. Xu Shen's "Shuowen Jiezi" of the Eastern Han Dynasty said: Mu: wash your hair; bath, sprinkle your body; wash, sprinkle your feet; bath, sprinkle your hands.
It can be seen that the meaning of bathing in ancient China is not completely consistent with the meaning of bathing today. Only by combining the explanations of these four words can bathing be fully understood today.
In primitive society, people lived a life of fishing and hunting for a long period of time, and sometimes they needed to go into the water to catch fish. Furthermore, when the weather is hot in summer, people will also jump into the water to take a bath. This is the primitive bathing.
With the development of society, people have gradually developed the habit of bathing at home. As late as the Shang and Zhou dynasties, utensils for bathing had appeared in China. By the Western Zhou Dynasty, bathing etiquette gradually became customized, and bathing penetrated into all aspects of society. Bathing is not only regarded as a way to cleanse the body and moisturize the body, but also as a precursor to the grand etiquette of the court and the people.
In the Song Dynasty, public bathrooms appeared, and bathing became more popular. When the Mongols took over the Central Plains, they changed their old habit of seldom bathing and built public bathhouses in the capital. In the Qing Dynasty, due to social trends, bathing became fashionable.
However, under the influence of feudal hierarchy, the bathhouse industry was classified as "lower class". In fact, the emergence of the bathing industry is the progress of society and the result of urban development and commercial economic prosperity.
The bathhouse structure of the Qing Dynasty followed that of the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, with slight modifications. For example, the bathhouse in Yangzhou is divided into several compartments in a large pool, and there is a "baby pool". The water in the pool is small and not hot, making it suitable for children to bathe. There is a storage closet in the bathhouse.
Shanghai calls bathing "bathing". Since the 1850s and 1960s, large bathhouses have been set up in Shanghai. "Changyuan" in Pentang Lane and "Yiyuan" in Zilai Street were built in Tongzhi of the Qing Dynasty. During the period, it was the first bathhouse to install a basin.
The bathing industry has its own industry gods. The founder of the bathhouse industry in Beijing is Zhi Gong. The founder of the bathhouse industry is Zhi Gong. There is a temple in the backyard of Xishengtang in Houmenqiao, Beijing. In the past, in the third month of the lunar calendar, people in the bathhouse industry came here to worship.
The services provided in the bathhouse are multi-faceted. In addition to bathing, there are also services such as pedicure, massage, hair and braiding, tea and food. As a result, there were many "hot bathers" who went to bathhouses every day and stayed in bathhouses all day long. The main purpose of entering the bathhouse is to take a bath and to relax.
For most of the 20th century, Chinese people took baths in public bathrooms, and bathing once every two weeks was considered a luxury. Most units with good benefits had "employee baths" that were allowed privately. Family members enter.
The bathing style in old Shanghai was more commercial and humane. In the past, several time-honored bathhouses in Qingdao hired masseurs and pedicure masters from Shanghai.
Shanghainese are very economical, and they often use a curtain to cover a simple bathroom behind Laohu Zao, which mainly sells boiled water. The pure feeling of bathing is definitely not comparable to the ginseng bath and surf bath in today's bathing centers. .