What Was the Cleaning Culture Like in Ancient Times of China?

As in every culture, China had different cleansing rituals. Just like other societies, the Chinese people, who could not always find the opportunity for personal cleaning, found the solution by developing different practices. In fact, one of them is very familiar to us: flush toilet!

You might think how filthy a people who use a flush toilet after the cleaning cultures of the Middle Ages can be. We are right, we think that we have not come across cleaning rituals that will alienate people from life as much as other civilizations in China. But we still can’t say that they are great compared to today, here is the issue of hygiene. ancient china‘s approaches…

Sources date bathing in China as far back as 3,000 years, to the Shang Dynasty.

Unfortunately, it was not possible to take a bath in ancient societies, and in general this action was class. But sources lead to the knowledge that there was a cleaning culture in China before the Shang Dynasty. Archaeologists date from 476-221 BC. to the Warring States Era They discovered three royal baths that belonged to

The bath-like structures found were decorated with ceramics and had sewer pipes with drainage holes. China’s technology should not be taken for granted!

The earliest evidence of bathing cultures is the Oracle Bone Script, written by the Ancient Chinese 3,000 years ago.

Wooden and bronze baths were classic in China. In the Zhou Dynasty, bathing meant much more than personal hygiene. For the bath culture, which was accepted as a social ritual in ancient times, it was also the first public bath in China. Zhou Dynasty (1046-256 BC) It is thought to have originated during the

In the Zhou Dynasty, the people every five days they were expected to boil water for their parents to wash and to help their parents wash their hair every three days.

What would you do if it was a tradition to take a bath in the house you visited? There is exactly such a custom in China.

It was a custom to use the bathroom provided to the guests by the host before going to have fun, even when they were guests outside of their home life. Later, during the Han Dynasty (206-220 AD), the Chinese government’s bathing ritual is included in the official holiday program. Thus, the importance of bathing as a social ritual has increased even more.

The government has foreseen a “bath vacation” every week.

Looking at ancient Chinese studies It is written that the Chinese government gives the public a bathing holiday every five days. When the government passed to Tang Dynasty, this period was determined as ten days.

More affluent and upper class people use scrubs in the bathroom; it was considered a luxury for ordinary people to have access to these items. Bath beans were also used to cleanse and moisturize the skin. A soap made from ground peas, flavored with various herbs and spices, and used by the Han Dynasty. bath beans, cleansing the skin It was actually a very old shower gel.

The Chinese people also cared about dental health.

More for teeth cleaning society that prefers traditional wayswas using one of the oldest pastes. Salt to strengthen and clean your teeth; They used wine, tea or vinegar to wipe their mouths with their fingertips.

In the future, they developed the techniques and succeeded in obtaining tooth powder. This powder; pig tooth, saponin, ginger, black cohosh, lotus leaf, green salt mixed with materials such as It is known that they made the first toothbrushes from willow branches and later from animal hair.

Rice water served as a detergent, while straw ash was used for washing clothes.

quite productive ancient chinese societyThey discovered many things through trial and error. In terms of cleaning, they have come a long way, and they have also turned to find out what else such substances are good for. When they realized that rice water is a good source of protein for the body, they started to consume it besides cleaning.

Thin strips of bamboo were used as toilet paper.

Flush toilet with sewer system located in Xi’an.

While the people, who provided toilet cleaning with branches and leaves, switched to bamboo strips with the Han Dynasty, this turned into straw paper over time. But these products are Qing and to the Ming Dynasties until public use would be delayed; because only the noble and upper classes could use it.

China has come a long way since willow twigs and bean soaps. When you started reading the article, you thought you would need to plug your nose, but surprisingly, ancient chinaCompared to contemporary societies, they have succeeded in keeping their own people and their environment clean.