The British Used to Drink Hot Water

By Zhang Jiawei

One winter, I traveled to a small town in Switzerland with some friends. One of my friends was not used to the Swiss cheese pot, so he took out a pack of instant noodles from his suitcase and went to the hotel staff for hot water.

The Swiss looked at him puzzled, “Hot water? We don’t have that here, would you like tea or coffee instead?”

It took a long time to get some hot water from the kitchen. When he returned, my friend grumbled,“Foreigners are so odd. They only drink ice-cold water, and don’t have any hot water for the Chinese people to drink. I wonder how in the world they keep from getting sick.”

The Europeans and Americans drink cold water not for the sake of their strong body. Back in the day they also drank hot water.

In the 19th century, a bestseller named The Handbook on Housekeeping Management was very popular in Britain—nearly every British citizen had a copy. It says that, “The old and the infirm should avoid drinking icy water or cold drinks. People who feel hot all over or who have just exercised should not eat cold food,otherwise they may become prone to illness or even die,” indicating that the British used to drink hot water in their daily life.

Before the emergence of modern medicine, people had scant knowledge of the fact that water should be sterilized before drinking, yet common sense told them that drinking hot water would reduce the likelihood of illness. Therefore, the idea that“hot water is good for health”became popular all over the world.

Long ago, the Europeans had no concept of the existence of bacteria, but through their everyday life they made a basic discovery: though they might become inebriated by drinking alcohol, it was great for controlling diarrhea (they didn’t know that alcohol kills germs); while on the other hand, though they would not become inebriated by drinking water, drinking it might lead to dysentery. The Chinese solved health problems inadvertently by their habit of drinking hot tea,as heating it sterilized the water.The Europeans drank alcohol on a daily basis from the middle ages to the modern era. In the 17th century, Dutch people drank a liter of beer per person per day on average.

Actually drinking hot water hasn’t become habitual for the Chinese people for a long time,not even for the high officials or noble lords. They say that Zhang Dai, a famous scholar in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), gave his friend Min Laozi cold water when entertaining him at his home, but the water they drank was unique:they only drank spring water from Mount Huishan, and they only fetched water in the evening when the new springs came bubbling up. Then they would carry water home in earthen jars,but only when a gentle breeze blew would they set off by boat,as they believed this was the only way to make the water clear and refreshing.

英國人以前也喝熱水

文/張佳瑋

有一年冬天，我和幾個朋友去瑞士某小城旅游，朋友吃不慣瑞士奶酪鍋，從行李箱里摸出早就備好的泡面，去找酒店工作人員要熱水。

瑞士人一臉懵懂：“熱水？您要喝茶還是咖啡？”

掰扯好一會兒，才在廚房討到熱水。朋友回去就嘟囔：“外國人真怪，自己喝冰水喝得滋兒滋兒的，還不讓中國人喝熱水，也不知道他們那身體怎么長的。”

歐美人喝涼水并非因為體格如何好，他們以前也喝熱水的。

19世紀，英國有本暢銷書叫《家政管理手冊》，英國市民階層幾乎人手一本。書中寫到：“老人與體弱的人應當回避冰，不喝冷的飲料。身上很熱的人或剛運動過的人，絕對不要吃冷的東西，很容易得病，還可能送命。”這說明，英國人以前也喝熱水的嘛。

現代醫學出現之前，人們不知道喝水要殺菌，只是根據經驗，發現喝熱水者相對不容易得病，就歸納出“喝熱水對身體好”的結論，于是各國都流行開來。

歐洲人早年沒有細菌之類的概念，通過日常生活發現：喝酒易醉，但不拉肚子（他們不知道酒精殺菌）；喝水不醉，但容易得痢疾。中國人喝熱茶，無意間煮水殺菌，解決了衛生問題。中世紀到近代的歐洲人以喝酒為日常。17世紀，荷蘭人平均每人每天喝一升啤酒。

中國人也不是長久以來都有條件喝熱水的，甚至達官貴人也都喝涼水。明朝士大夫張岱和他的朋友閔老子就是例子。他們不僅喝涼水，而且還很有講究。比如，喝惠山泉水，要等到晚間，新泉涌上，汲了之后，裝甕放船，趁有好風才走，讓水保持柔和清澈。

舊上海弄堂里的居民，自家燒水很麻煩，往往喝冷井水，或去老虎灶找熱水喝。體力勞動者沒得挑，比如黃包車夫，跑完買賣能去茶館喝一杯熱茶，但若是跑路上渴了，就只好找街邊水槽，甚至跟牛馬一起喝水。民國時，北京四合院富貴人家，有所謂甜水、苦水之分。苦水用以洗衣養花，甜水用來喝。好的甜水可以賣，老天津人以前想賣力氣的，就去南運河挑水，回來沿街叫賣，真有富人家肯花錢買。

所以，在現代飲水凈化系統出現之前，西方與東方有條件的階層都不愛喝涼水，普通百姓則沒得選，有什么喝什么。凈水問題解決后，西方人開始普及喝涼水。中國人則世代傳承了燒煮殺菌的習慣，再加上喝茶離不開熱水，家家有熱水飲也就不奇怪了。

（摘自《國家人文歷史》2018年第4期）

Residents in the old Shanghai lanes had trouble in boiling water,and they used to drink cold well water or go to a huge kitchen stove for hot water. Manual workers,like rickshaw pullers, hadn’t had much choice. They could go to the teahouse to drink a cup of hot tea after finishing their work.When they were thirsty on the road, however, they had to look for the street sink and even drink the water used by the cattle or horses. In the Republic of China(1912-1949), the wealthy elite of Beijing residing in the siheyuan(courtyard houses) had so-called bitter water and sweet water.The former was used for washing and growing flowers and the latter for drinking. Healthy sweet water could be sold. Old Tianjin coolies would go to the South Grand Canal to carry water, and when they came back, they would peddle it along the street, and they actually did find rich people who would pay for it.

Thus, before the advent of modern drinking water purification systems, the citizens of good means in the West and the East did not like to drink cold water, while the common people had no choice. After water purification came en vogue, the Westerners began drinking cold water, while the Chinese people’s habit of cooking and sterilization has been passed down through the generations. In addition,drinking tea cannot be separated from boiling water, which is why hot water can be seen nearly everywhere in China.

(From National Humanity History, April 2018. Translation:Qing Run)