Hot water/Cold water

[tywy_99]

My wife learned that her sister in China now has hot water in their home. It is heated by solar energy. My wife was curious as how we have hot water. I showed her the hot water heater behind the door and in the wall. She told me that she never had hot water in China. She says now since she left China, everybody has hot water in their home!...lol.

She said she had to boil water on the stove if she ever wanted/needed hot water. She was surprised when I told her that I have always had hot water in the home. That makes me think how priviliged I am to be an American. I mean, I would've probably died if I had to boil my water!

My wife is a fragile young woman; soft mannered in her being, but living the life she lived in China growing up, she is most definitely a survivor. And she still is. I find that remarkable!

[sleepless in Houston&CQ]

When did she leave china? We have had electric or gas water heater at home in China at least for 10 years.

Emma

Edited September 18, 2007 by sleepless in Houston&CQ (see edit history)

[tywy_99]

When did she leave china? We have had electric or gas water heater at home in China at least for 10 years.

Emma

I asked her and she said she had hot water in her bathroom to take a shower with but no hot water at the kitchen sink. Of course, I don't know. I never really thought about it! Is it like that in China? She's been here for four years.

[chilton747]

My wife has the hot water on demand. She only uses it for her shower. She has hot water in the kitchen but she will not use it. She will boil water if she wants hot water other than using the shower. Makes no sense to me.

[Tony_onrock]

Depends on which part of China and which city.

Now it seems to be quite common for most households (except in the countryside) to have gas or electric heaters.

Central air conditioning is common as well for new apartments. The house development where I bought the apartment provided each apartment with the main central air-conditioner free of charge, but then of course you have to buy the internal units (which turn out to cost a bit more than domestically produced whole system and rumored to be a bit less reliable).

In the countryside, some places still don't have running water.

[jbray]

My first year in China, I had a gas "hot water on demand" machine, but only for the shower. The problem was, I was on the 7th floor and had poor water pressure. So, the machine wouldn't kick on, most days.

 

My second and third years, I didn't have a machine at all. I had to boil the water if I wanted a hot shower. I had a 3 gallon tea kettle (it was HUGE). I would warm that up and pour it over me. I had no heat, so in the winter it was really incomfortable.

 

My wife always had hot water though... The problem I always had with those darn machines was, you don't seem to be able to adjust the temperature in the shower. You have to go out and fiddle with the knobs.

[SirLancelot]

When did she leave china? We have had electric or gas water heater at home in China at least for 10 years.

Emma

I asked her and she said she had hot water in her bathroom to take a shower with but no hot water at the kitchen sink. Of course, I don't know. I never really thought about it! Is it like that in China? She's been here for four years.

 

TY99, it's crazy how drastic a difference China's own standard of living can be. In the poorer western inland provinces of China, there will definitely be places where they don't have hot water on demand; for that matter, they don't even have enough clean running water into the homes. On the other hand, in rich cities such as Shanghai, Beijing, HangZhou and the like, you have people with astounding wealth, where some homes are worth millions of USD. I know Chinese people in SH who spend what you probably make in a month on one night of ritzy KTV partying. I also know poor students from GuangXi whose parents couldn't even afford their 4000rmb yearly tuition. (This may sound normal to Americans where many parents don't pay for--or can't afford--their children's college tuition, but it's unheard of in China where parents sacrifice and save everything for their children's college education.) It's a very diverse set of population.

 

Bottom line though, the "poor" class of the US still has it infinitely better than the truly "poor" class of China. There's no comparison. But there's an ever growing middle class in China who have almost all the amenities of the western world, including flat panel TVs, DVDs, computers/laptops and Internet, cell phones, AC, fridge, microwave, hot water, etc... It's not easy to generalize about the Chinese standard of living as it's so dramatically different between regions and between the rural countryside and the urban metropolises.

Edited September 19, 2007 by SirLancelot (see edit history)

[david_dawei]

no hot water lines in my wife's apartment (at time of our meeting)... many apartments around that city don't... if they want hot water, they boil it or have an overhead hot water tank installed in the bathroom for 10 minute warm showers.

[Guest ShaQuaNew]

no hot water lines in my wife's apartment (at time of our meeting)... many apartments around that city don't... if they want hot water, they boil it or have an overhead hot water tank installed in the bathroom for 10 minute warm showers.

Lan's home in Shenzhen has two showers, though one of the showers is simply a tile floor with a drain where the washing machine lives and other storage.

 

The other bathroom is full service, meaning a comode, sink and tub / shower. There are no hot water lines anywhere in the building, and only one faucet in the kitchen, which is cold water. Kitchen counters are several inches lower than the American standard, which forces you to hunch over; not good for the ergonomically correct.

 

In the shower / tub however, lives a propane heater attached to the shower wall just below the shower head. There is a ON / OFF valve to turn the propane ON or OFF. After you turn the propane valve ON, you turn another knob to start the flow of gas to the propane burner. Then, there is an electronic switch the sends a spark to ignite the gas, which should be clicked simultaneously when your turn it ON. Then, ON goes the flame. The device instantly heats the water and works very efficiently. Of course, one must be sure a window is open and turn it OFF immediately when done to avoid suffocation or carbon monoxide poisoning. Still, I got used to using it very quickly, and didn't mind observing the safety protocol.

[yyp]

Straying off the subject a little....

 

In December 2001 I traveled to Xinjiang Provence to spend a week at Christmas time in a small northern village, landing at the Urumqi airport at night in the snow. The airport and hotel were an experience into themselves. I spent the night at the airport hotel and was picked up by a driver sent from the village the next morning for my three hour drive to the village.

 

First interesting sight along the highway was traffic signs in Chinese and Arabic.

 

The hotel in the village I stayed at had restrooms with the hole in the floor for the toilet, but no showers and a large communal room for brushing teeth and washing your face (cold water.)

 

I had one shower the week I was in the village and I had to walk about a mile and a half through the snow and 12 Celsius below zero weather to an ¡°old¡± shower house (they had hot water.)

 

My host¡¯s home had no hot water and only one faucet in the kitchen for running water. There was no plumbing or sink in the kitchen; they simply caught the water in a large barrel.

 

Electrical wiring was strung along the concrete walls to where it was needed.

 

The toilet for the neighborhood was a brisk walk for two blocks to a sad looking outhouse.

 

The village had the flu when I arrived and they shared that with me! Then my hosts insisted that I visit their local clinic for attention. The clinic was poor and quite dirty, for doors inside the small building they hung old sheets. In the main room was one bed with a young girl laying there, she was so happy to say hello to me in English!

 

I was taken into the next room where they wanted to give me a shot of some strange looking brown fluid/medicine. Being an adventurous soul I let them shoot me with the strange brown medicine.

 

So the nurse/technician asked me to drop the back of my pants which I did¡­.then to my surprise I heard giggles. When I turned there were about seven people (including children) standing in the doorway watching the American get a shot in the rump!

 

Needless to say, the strange brown stuff made me feel much better.

 

For me the village was like a time warp, going back in time 70 years or so. As simple as life was in the small village I have never met more delightful and hospitable people. I have seldom eaten as good as I did in the small village.

[SirLancelot]

Straying off the subject a little....

 

In December 2001 I traveled to Xinjiang Provence to spend a week at Christmas time in a small northern village, landing at the Urumqi airport at night in the snow. The airport and hotel were an experience into themselves. I spent the night at the airport hotel and was picked up by a driver sent from the village the next morning for my three hour drive to the village.

 

Very interesting. May we inquire about the purpose of your trip to XinJiang province? Was it to visit your SO? Not too many visitors visiting XinJiang province back in 2001. That's certainly a very adventurous trip.

[yyp]

Straying off the subject a little....

 

In December 2001 I traveled to Xinjiang Provence to spend a week at Christmas time in a small northern village, landing at the Urumqi airport at night in the snow. The airport and hotel were an experience into themselves. I spent the night at the airport hotel and was picked up by a driver sent from the village the next morning for my three hour drive to the village.

 

Very interesting. May we inquire about the purpose of your trip to XinJiang province? Was it to visit your SO? Not too many visitors visiting XinJiang province back in 2001. That's certainly a very adventurous trip.

 

It was my first trip to China, and it was not to meet my SO.

 

I had studied Asian philosophy under a professor from China and then developed a deep desire to visit China. So in 2001 I took the time to travel to China, and a friend of mine was originally from this village, thus the introduction to the family and the trip to Xinjiang.

 

It was an experience of a lifetime which I shall never forget. The village is quite close to Russia; so many times I was asked if I was Russian.

 

I was surprised when I would walk through the village and everyone would look so intently at me, I do not believe there had been many foreigners in their village. At first It surprised me that the people could tell I was a foreigner when I walked through the village, because when I was outside I wore a ski mask to keep my face warm. I guess my blue eyes stood out, not to mention the western style clothes.

 

I remember one little girl, about six, who walked past me and stared so hard at me. I said hello to her in Chinese and English several times and she just continued to stare as we passed each other. Even when I had walked 100 yards beyond she continued to stare as if she had seen someone from space.

 

Many people came to the host¡¯s home to meet me, chief of police, village doctor and staff and many friends and relatives!

 

One morning I was still sleeping in my room when the door opened and the chief of police entered. He came to wake me to tell me that my breakfast was ready and I should hurry to my host¡¯s home to eat.

 

You might find it interesting, that in this remote village I believe everyone had satellite TV and telephones!

 

As you can see, when I talk of this trip to Xinjiang I tend to go on and on with my recollections. It was a trip, if you will, down memory lane where I was given a clearer glimpse of myself and others.

 

The life in the village was simple and so much slower than my life in Southern California.

[LeeFisher3]

The main reason people boil water, even when they have a hot water source in their home, has more to do with the safety of the water supply for drinking and food preparation.

[amberjack1234]

Lance, YYP you guys should be careful I almost got shot here sometime back for posting something about the poor rural side of China. There are folks here that think that all Chinese are wealthy like all Chinese think that all Americans are wealthy.

 

At the time I was just trying to point out that all of China is not what we see when we go there on the fantasy trips for a few days at a time.

 

Larry

[SirLancelot]

Lance, YYP you guys should be careful I almost got shot here sometime back for posting something about the poor rural side of China. There are folks here that think that all Chinese are wealthy like all Chinese think that all Americans are wealthy.

 

At the time I was just trying to point out that all of China is not what we see when we go there on the fantasy trips for a few days at a time.

 

Larry

 

You're right Larry. I should be more cautious.

 

YYP, nice story. That's a great adventure. I did something like that when I went to Guilin to teach in 2002-03, but Guilin is not quite as rural as your little village in XinJiang. Still, many of my students did not have hot water in their dorms. Every night at 6pm until 6:10 pm, they all take their hot bottle thermos to stock up on hot water. If they miss that time slot, they're shit out of luck for hot water until the next night.

 

They bunk 7-8 to a room. It was an eye opener for me.

 

Of course then I went to Shanghai to spend Chinese New Years (2003) and saw a completely different lifestyle for some. 16,000rmb spent one night on a big KTV party with lots of 16 year old Scotch. The juxtaposition of living standards is just so extreme in China.