8 Peculiar Things About Chinese Apartments That Lead to One Question, “How Can They Live There?”

Places
3 years ago

China has always been a distant and rather unusual country for many of us. There, you can stumble upon something weird every day, even in an ordinary apartment. A bathroom, for example, looks like a hygienic room in a hospital, you can’t walk barefoot on the floor, and the Chinese are ready to carry their favorite kitchen device across the world.

At Bright Side, we talked to a girl who moved to China and learned about the unusual things that can be found in Chinese homes.

No bathtub

People who like to spend time in a bathtub will be unpleasantly surprised in China — usually a bathtub can be found only in luxurious hotels. Ordinary apartments are equipped with a simple shower that looks like a hose mounted to the wall and a drain in the floor.

You won’t be able to have dinner in the kitchen.

Unlike our kitchens, where people gather for breakfast, dinner, or just to hang out with their guests, in China this room only performs its direct function — it’s a place for cooking. Therefore, the kitchen there is a rather small workspace with no dining table (which is often located in the living room).

The floor in the entire apartment is tiled.

While we think that tile only works for bathrooms and kitchens, they are good enough for the entire apartment in China. And, yes, they are cold. It’s unpleasant to walk around on them without slippers or socks. But in new buildings, they found an excellent solution. They build radiators right into the floor, not into the walls.

Furniture and home appliances might be covered with something “pretty”

The Chinese like to carefully cover their home appliances and other surfaces with different covers and napkins. These covers for washing machines, radiators, TV sets, and anything else can be easily found in any home or online store.

No ovens and an unusual device in the kitchen

You will hardly ever find an oven in a Chinese apartment. But you’ll definitely come across a rice cooker. The Chinese are so fond of this device that they take it along with them even when they go abroad, like for example to study.

Assigning your space

The Chinese will never choose an apartment with a big space that can become a bedroom for a few people. They would rather arrange a few small rooms for each family member.

A water heater is not a luxury, but a necessity.

They don’t have a central heating system in China, so if you want to have hot water at home, you have to buy a water heater.

Your home is not your property.

In China, you will hardly be able to pass on your apartment to your children and let’s not even consider your grandchildren. According to the law, all property there belongs to the state, and the citizens can only own housing for 70 years. It’s still unknown what will happen after this period (this rule was established less than 70 years ago), but by this time there will be nothing left of the house itself.

In China, everything old is being actively replaced with new things, including housing. Nowadays, it’s quite a common practice to demolish buildings that are over 20 years old, and replace them with modern and most likely short-lived ones.

Would you want to live in a Chinese apartment and experience their unusual quirks? Tell us in the comments below.

Preview photo credit Zhyk1988 / depositphotos

Comments

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3 years ago
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3 years ago
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South Korea also can have no bathtubs, have decorations, and those rice cookers. I wonder how many of these are in Japan?

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Japan does have bathtubs, but hardly we have decorations, and Rice Cookers are obviously common in Japan. Kitchens in Japan are small and just like China, only cooking is done. And, Japan has a system of passing the land after, maybe, 30 or 40 years.

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3 years ago
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Well many of these things are same in India,
Except the rooms one. Most people share a room

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3 years ago
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We have a rice cooker too, and it's one of the best devices in our kitchen..
I honestly don't even know how to cook a rice without a rice cooker

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Yes! I have better luck using our rice maker. We need to buy healthier rice for it though but my husband buys the biiig bags of rice so I feel weird buying another kind when that bag is so full haha.

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Except for the 70-year property ownership expiry and one room for one person, all other aspects presented in this article apply to Indian homes / people too.

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I don't think the whole world is the other way around.These things changes as per the normal climate of a place, and culture, which affects the lifestyle, and inturn the food habits of people.
For eg: people living in areas which are mostly humid or warm is fine with the tile floor in bedroom(bathroom and bedroom tiles are different though), and humidity and moisture may easily ruin a wooden floor. When weather is mostly warm no centralized heating is needed.So in case you need an occassional bath in warm water you need a heater. There are dining rooms where people in close knit joined familes would like to have their dinner together. Whereas in atomic working families eating on a small table in kitchen doesn't look bad.When people mostly don't want to spend much time in bathroom, and just wants to have a quick shower 1 or 2 times daily won't normally need bathtub. Rice is the staple of many asian countries and since rice cooker increases the fuel efficiency in cooking rice and reduces the actual effort,it is being used and since it is not available in non rice eating parts of the world, this device needs to be carried along.Even non electric varieties are available.

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Maybe you should take some time to do some proper research before writing tone deaf articles. There are also cross cultural sensitivity classes available. Or maybe even write from your own experiences instead of just speaking to "someone to moved to China".

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And thats what i like about Chinese apartments, those pictures really gives me a sense of home :) (im a chinese living in another country)

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Biggest difference between US and Chinese homes Chinese kitchens are extremely small very little counter, space and very few cabinets not to mention the bathrooms usually have a washing machine that drains into the shower

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I bought a Chinese clothes dryer my first winter there because living on the top floor it would take a week or more to dry my clothes in winter there. I don’t know how the Chinese dry their towels during winter.. all three of my apartments in Shanghai had a limited counter space in the kitchen not to mention limited space to store things which would drive me crazy I don’t know how the Chinese do it

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