OP: The weather is unbearably hot, but running the AC all the time leaves me weak. Any solutions?
Cnetizens: Get a winter melon, lie on a bamboo mat and cuddle it to sleep.
OP: Here’s my experience from last summer. Temperatures in Shanghai stayed above 35°C through July and August last year. I almost never turn on the air conditioner at night, only run a fan. Waking up soaked from the heat was pretty normal. Then I roll over, and my arms and legs touch something nice and cool. It’s not that sharp shocking cold that makes you shudder just really pleasant. What’s more it holds a steady cool temperature. No matter how long I hug it, it barely warms up. Once my skin moves away from its surface it cools down quickly again. It regulates itself surprisingly well. You don’t need to worry about it turning lukewarm.
Pros Great at keeping a constant cool temperature energy-free totally silent thick rind means it lasts a long time up to three months multi-purpose you can even hold it while doing squats or use it as a barrier so you don’t roll off the bed. Cons You’ll reek of vegetable odour after sleeping all night with it. You can’t eat it afterwards. Don’t get any ideas about turning it into a stuffed winter melon bowl. Don’t ask how I found out. It’s really heavy. Getting it home from the market is tough and throwing it away later is just as much hassle. The inside turns completely mushy watery pulp so you have no choice but to dump it. (cr 星辰大海随风去)
AC and electric fans can be found in nearly every household across China, yet not everyone likes keeping the AC running nonstop. Some people with extremely weak constitutions cannot stand air conditioning at all, nor can they bear constant airflow. That’s why people have come up with all sorts of ways to beat the heat.
Winter melons are 96% water. Their surface stays several degrees cooler than the surrounding air, so sleeping with one in your arms is basically hugging a natural cold water pack. As long as the rind stays intact, you can use it all summer. Just watch out for ruptures — if it splits open, all the liquid inside leaks out. Using winter melons to beat the heat has been a folk custom in China since ancient times.
There’s also the zhufuren竹夫人(literally bamboo lady, aka bamboo wife), a similar popular cooling tool. It’s a hollow cylindrical cage woven from thin bamboo strips. Air flows freely through its gaps, carrying heat away nonstop.
Chinese people had plenty of other clever ways to stay cool. In 1978, the bronze jian fou was unearthed from the Marquis Yi of Zeng’s tomb in Suizhou, Hubei. Dating back over 2,400 years, it’s China’s ancient version of a refrigerator. Ice went in the outer vessel, and wine was stored inside the inner container.
The Tang Dynasty had cool pavilions built next to water. Waterwheels channeled cool air indoors. Some even pumped water up to the rooftops to create artificial water curtains. The cooling trick relied on waterwheels spinning fans paired with flowing water.
By the Tang Dynasty, plenty of icy treats already existed. The most famous one was su shan酥山, an icy dairy confection. Modern researchers have worked out its general recipe. First, heat dairy cream until it nearly melts and turns soft. Drip it onto a plate to shape it like rolling mountains, then store it in an ice cellar to freeze solid.
Song Dynasty people enjoyed frozen drinks too. Records of the Eastern Capital’s Dreams documents summer treats sold in Bianjing, the Northern Song capital.
Cold treats grew far more diverse in the Song Dynasty. Historical records show that as early as 962, the third year of the Jianlong reign—the exact timeframe featured in Where Winds Meet—the imperial court set up the Bingjingwu冰井务(Ice Well Service), an official department dedicated to making cold food for summer relief. Every summer the government handed out these icy delicacies to officials to help them beat the heat. Booming Song Dynasty commerce gradually made cold drinks accessible to ordinary people, and the variety of icy treats available to civilians expanded greatly. Documents note three major cold drink shops operating in Kaifeng, capital of the Northern Song, selling a huge range of refreshments including bingxue(icy snow), cold congee soup, licorice decoction, preserved papaya, fresh papaya, chilled lychee paste, golden tangerine balls, snow foam spleen-soothing drink, elsholtzia beverage, perilla drink, cold rice wine drink, soapberry syrup, sweet soybean candy, mung bean water, brined plum drink, jiangcha tea, Wuling San herbal mix, Dashun San herbal mix, lychee cream and snow foam plum wine. The most common cold drink back then was bingxue冰雪❄️, comparable to modern ice pops. In winter Song people filled bronze basins with water mixed with sugar, sometimes fruit juice and plant gel, and left them outdoors to freeze solid. These blocks were then stored in ice cellars. The following summer they would cut the frozen slabs into chunks or carve them into animal shapes such as dogs and foxes to sell at cold drink shops.
Street vendors also sold frothy soybean drink, pear juice, plum syrup, ginger honey water and papaya nectar. The menu rivals today’s trendy bubble tea shops. Vendors set up stalls everywhere — at street corners, alley entrances and bridge crossings.
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