“Doctor, I’ve got a flu.”
“医生，我感冒了。”
“Doctor, I got a fever.”
“医生，我发烧了。”
Illness is a great unifier.
疾病是一个伟大的统一者。
What’s the go-to answer given by all Chinese to this situation? “Drink hot water!” Yes, that’s it! On the other hand, the other answer given by all Western parents is to drink cold water and pop a paracetamol. Cure the symptoms, not the disease itself.
所有中国人对这种情况给出的首选答案是什么？ “喝热水！” 是的，就是这样！ 另一方面，所有西方父母给出的另一个答案是喝冷水和服用扑热息痛。 治疗症状，而不是疾病本身。
So, does “hot water” actually solve all problems related to health and hygiene or is it the perfect metaphor for the differences in perspective between the Eastern and Western mindsets?
那么，“热水”是否真的解决了所有与健康和卫生有关的问题，还是它是东西方思维之间观点差异的完美隐喻？
Nowadays, as science and technology develops faster than well-spun rumour, “well-being” has become a popular buzzword worldwide. These concepts of mindfulness, wellbeing and wellness become even more important if we look at the growing life expectancy of the developing world. If we are to live longer, then we need to maintain our operational systems in top condition. A vital part of that is being hygienic.
如今，随着科技的发展速度比流传的谣言更快，“幸福”已经成为全球流行的流行语。 如果我们看看发展中国家不断增长的预期寿命，这些正念、幸福和健康的概念变得更加重要。 如果我们要活得更久，那么我们需要保持我们的操作系统处于最佳状态。 其中的一个重要部分是卫生。
However, what does “being hygienic” even mean? When a person is sick, for Chinese, drinking hot water and taking immediate medical cures, natural or otherwise, is the tried and tested method; whereas the exact opposite is true for my western friends, who just leave it for the body to react and respond or sometimes, even drink cold water, a veritable death sentence for anybody from the lands of the rising sun.
然而，“卫生”到底是什么意思？ 当一个人生病时，对中国人来说，喝热水和立即接受治疗，无论是自然疗法还是其他疗法，都是久经考验的方法；而对于我的西方朋友来说，情况恰恰相反，他们只是让它让身体做出反应和反应，有时甚至喝冷水，这对任何来自旭日之国的人来说都是真正的死刑判决。
Drinking hot water is actually a way for Eastern people to be hygienic, since the act of boiling kills bacteria in the water. The most confusing and unbelievable thing is that both ways work, even though they contradict each other, a nod to non-duality and the Eastern philosophies that govern the Chinese mindset perhaps. But if both ways work, then why does the preference for hot over cold even exist?
喝热水实际上是东方人保持卫生的一种方式，因为煮沸可以杀死水中的细菌。 最令人困惑和令人难以置信的是，这两种方式都有效，即使它们相互矛盾，也许是对非二元性和支配中国心态的东方哲学的点頭。 但是，如果两种方式都有效，那么为什么存在热而不是冷的偏好？
This led me to wonder, do our beliefs and perspectives of health and hygiene impact our constitution or is it our constitution that is impacted by such?
这让我想知道，我们对健康和卫生的信念和观点是否影响了我们的宪法，还是我们的宪法受到了这样的影响？
The actual meaning of constitution is the relatively stable nature of the human individual, in terms of morphological structure and functional activity, formed by innate heredity and acquisition including body development, biochemical functions, physical fitness, mentality and adaptive capacity. So, by definition, the physical constitution of people within a nation is different from that of her neighbour.
体质的实际含义是人类个体相对稳定的性质，在形态结构和功能活动方面，由先天的遺傳和习得形成，包括身体发育、生化功能、身体素质、心态和适应能力。 因此，根据定义，一个国家内人民的体质与邻国的体质不同。
As an Oriental person, I have always believed that the way we are built is different. From my experience with Occidental friends, there are indeed humongous differences in what we perceive to be hygienic, what we have been taught is hygienic and how we go about making ourselves and our living environments as hygienic as possible. When I asked my Western friends what they found most unusual about Chinese hygienic beliefs, they came up with the typical answers, mopping the floor with toilet water, inner ear-cleaning with communal instruments in Laomendong, the habit of every Chinese person to hang their bedclothes outside on the bushes every day…
作为一个东方人，我一直相信我们的构建方式是不同的。 根据我与西方朋友的经验，我们感知到的卫生，我们被教导的卫生，以及我们如何使自己和生活环境尽可能的卫生，确实存在巨大差异。 当我问我的西方朋友，他们觉得中国人的卫生信仰最不寻常的是什么时，他们得出了典型的答案，用厕所水擦地板，在老门洞用公共工具清洁内耳，每个中国人每天把床上用品挂在外面的灌木丛上的习惯……
But of course, from our ethnocentric perches inside our own cultures, it can be hard to shift perspective and understand that others operate from different cultural and societal beliefs, and that this is because at a very basic level, we are BUILT differently.
但当然，从我们自己文化中的民族中心主义位置来看，很难改变观点，也很难理解其他人来自不同的文化和社会信仰，这是因为在非常基本的层面上，我们的构建方式不同。
First of all, we can acknowledge that there is indeed a certain difference in the constitution of the eastern and western people. According to Souhu, Eastern civilisation has existed for a long time and has been dominated by farming civilisations under Imperial rule. Under the influence of Confucian culture, people have developed a calm temperament and value peace. Therefore, their diet culture is comparable to that of a herbivore.
首先，我们可以承认，东西方人民的体质确实存在一定的差异。 根据苏胡的说法，东方文明已经存在了很长时间，并一直由帝国统治下的农业文明主导。 在儒家文化的影响下，人们养成了冷静的气质，重视和平。 因此，它们的饮食文化可与食草动物的饮食文化相媲美。
Nomadic civilisations in the west, however, were more focused on food gathering and hunting. Hunter Gatherers were brave and aggressive, and had more independence, will and resistance, which cast them more in the carnivore mold.
然而，西方的游牧文明更注重采集食物和狩猎。 狩猎采集者勇敢而咄咄逼人，有更多的独立性、意志和抵抗力，这使他们更处于食肉动物的模子中。
Scientific research also confirms that the average length of Westerners’ intestines is less than Oriental people, which determines that there is a huge difference in the function of the digestive system of each, resulting in different constitutions. Therefore, Westerners can eat cold food without hindrance but Easterners may suffer discomfort and fall ill if they eat this way. Therefore, if our constitution is essentially different, could this explain all of our behaviour and opinion towards being hygienic?
科学研究还证实，西方人的肠道平均长度比东方人短，这决定了每个人的消化系统功能存在巨大差异，导致体质不同。 因此，西方人可以毫無阻礙地吃冷食，但東方人如果以這種方式吃，可能會感到不舒服和生病。 因此，如果我们的宪法本质上是不同的，这能解释我们对卫生的所有行为和观点吗？
Westerners love to walk in bare feet when they come home to release the heat from the body but for eastern people, wearing thick socks and slippers is always the safest and best way because to us, the feet are the second heart of the body. It is essential to keep them warm since we believe that as long as they are warm, our body temperature can be kept stable.
西方人回家时喜欢赤脚走路来释放身体的热量，但对东方人来说，穿厚袜子和拖鞋总是最安全、最好的方法，因为对我们来说，脚是身体的第二心脏。 保持它們溫暖至關重要，因為我們相信只要它們溫暖，我們的體溫就能保持穩定。
It is also grossly unhygienic to wear shoes in the house, and yet many Westerner’s wear shoes inside. To expect them to take their shoes off at the front door, as is the custom in most Chinese houses, would be like asking somebody to take their trousers off in terms of feeling undressed.
在房子里穿鞋也是非常不卫生的，然而许多西方人在室内穿鞋。 期望他们在前门脱鞋，就像大多数中国家庭的习俗一样，就像要求别人脱掉裤子一样。
My Occidental friends prefer soft beds whilst Eastern people prefer harder beds since from our knowledge, it helps us to release pain and pressure for our spine. Another slumberly concern related to sleeping customs is that it is considered hygienic by Chinese people to air their blankets under the sun once every week or 2 as it reduces the growth of bacteria.
我的西方朋友更喜欢柔软的床，而东方人更喜欢硬床，因为据我们所知，这有助于我们缓解脊柱的疼痛和压力。 另一个与睡眠习俗有关的睡眠问题是，中国人认为每星期或2天在阳光下放一次毯子是卫生的，因为可以减少细菌的生長。
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For women, childbirth points to yet another essential difference. For Eastern women, the need to be in confinement after giving birth means that they should not drink or eat anything cold, since the absorption of cold would affect the body and the infant’s health. A draft could cause colds, rheumatism, joint pain and even diarrhea! Bathing could cause long-term headache, joint soreness and so on. In the West, however, women now go right back to their lives after their child is born, just as soon as they feel able, without any limitations. The days of confinement after birth went out with the oil lamps.
对于女性来说，分娩是另一个重要的区别。 對於東方女性來說，分娩后需要禁閉，這意味著她們不應該喝或吃任何冷的東西，因為冷的吸收會影響身體和嬰兒的健康。 通风会导致感冒、风湿病、关节疼痛甚至腹泻！ 洗澡会引起长期头痛、关节疼痛等。 然而，在西方，女性现在在孩子出生后立即回到她们的生活，只要她们觉得可以，没有任何限制。 产后禁闭的日子随着油灯熄火而熄火。
Of course, with the development of globalisation, the difference in the degree of scientific progress between the East and the West is getting smaller. Will the differences in physical fitness and habits between these two polarities gradually disappear?
当然，随着全球化的发展，东西方科学进步程度的差异越来越小。 这两种两极性之间在身体素质和习惯上的差异会逐渐消失吗？
Water pollution is a global topic and harmful to human health which impacts our way of being hygienic. Currently, less than 2 percent of the global water supply is drinkable. The severity of water pollution depends mainly on population density, the type and quantity of industrial and agricultural development, and the number and efficiency of the waste treatment systems employed.
水污染是一个全球性话题，对人类健康有害，影响了我们的卫生方式。 目前，全球供水中只有不到2%是可饮用的。 水污染的严重程度主要取决于人口密度、工农业发展的类型和数量，以及所采用的废物处理系统的数量和效率。
Therefore, this problem is particularly prominent in developing countries. The level of water purification treatment is indeed different from that of western developed countries. Some believe that the poor water quality in the East is the reason people drink boiled water; in order not to get sick.
因此，这个问题在发展中国家尤为突出。 净水处理水平确实与西方发达国家不同。 有些人认为，东方的水质差是人们喝开水的原因；为了不生病。
Also, there are some problems in household hygiene: such as the storage of raw and cooked foods side by side in refrigerators and keep-fresh boxes. It may be because in the Eastern diet, raw food in not eaten and is always cooked, so some families will ignore basic food hygiene guidelines as regards keeping food chilled.
此外，家庭卫生也存在一些问题：例如将生食和熟食并排存放在冰箱和保鲜箱中。 这可能是因为在东方饮食中，生食不吃，而是总是煮熟的，所以一些家庭会忽略保持食物冷藏的基本食品卫生指南。
Insufficient awareness of, and equipment for, the purification, dehumidification or moisturisation of indoor air also leads to the breeding of bacteria. For example, in addition to air purification systems for factories, and filters to clean indoor air, Western countries have long ago employed advanced professional equipment, but they have just begun to spread in China.
对室内空气的净化、除湿或保湿的认识和设备不足也会导致细菌的繁殖。 例如，除了工厂的空气净化系统和清洁室内空气的过滤器外，西方国家早就使用了先进的专业设备，但它们才刚刚开始在中国传播。
Imagine a time when eastern people live western people’s lives and vice versa. Will the result be totally different? Will peoples’ constitutions change when their living conditions and beliefs change? Will the go-to answer be to drink ice water for eastern people then? Perhaps some beliefs are so deeply entrenched, they literally do become part of us.
想象一下，东方人过着西方人的生活，反之亦然。 结果会完全不同吗？ 当人们的生活条件和信仰发生变化时，他们的宪法会发生变化吗？ 那么，答案是为东方人喝冰水吗？ 也许有些信仰根深蒂固，它们真的成为了我们的一部分。
We are ALL the same in that respect.
在这方面，我们都是一样的。