Date:27/12/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/12/27/stories/2006122704791100.htm

Opinion - News Analysis

China's different kinds of hot water

Pallavi Aiyar

The Chinese tradition of sipping "cha shui" or "tea water" throughout the day has, in fact, saved tens of thousands of lives.

IN CHINA, getting a simple glass of water can be a trial, for the uninitiated. Staggering into a restaurant on a hot summer's day, you may ask sweaty and panting for some water, only to be presented with a boiling cuppa that would scald the skin off the toughest tongues.

The variety of words in Mandarin Chinese describing different kinds of hot water is revealing. There is "kai shui" or boiling water; "re shui" or hot water; "wen shui" or literally water at room temperature but in practice water that is cooler than "re shui" but warmer than what would normally be described as lukewarm; and finally there is "liang shui" or cool water which is, in fact, lukewarm water. The only way to get a glass of non-warm water is to ask for "bing shui" or ice water and even this occasionally only elicits a glass of hot water with fast dissipating ice cubes.

In fact many Chinese rarely drink "bai shui" or plain water. Instead they sip "cha shui" or "tea water" throughout the day. This tradition, strange and frustrating to the Indian resident in China for whom memories of thirst-quenching glasses of cold water take on nostalgia tinted hues, has in fact saved tens of thousands of lives. Boiling water before drinking it is as powerful a preventative medicine as the most cutting edge vaccines.

Access to clean drinking water or water that is uncontaminated by sewage is one of the most pressing, if unglamorous, health challenges facing the world today. Diarrhoea caused by unclean drinking water kills more children across the world than HIV. According to the latest UNDP Human Development Report (HDR), some 1.8 million children die of diarrhoea every year — nearly 5,000 a day.

Of these diarrhoea deaths (the majority of which take place among children below the age of five) India accounts for the largest number in the world: 450,000 a year. By contrast in China, which is the only other country with a comparable population, diarrhoea deaths number 150,000 a year, a third less than in India.

Surprisingly then, India and China are, in fact, not very far apart on indicators pertaining to access to clean drinking water and sanitation. According to the 2006 HRD, in 1990 the percentage of the population in both countries with sustainable access to an "improved water source" was 70 per cent. By 2004, the corresponding figure for China had risen to 77 per cent but for India it had increased even more to 86 per cent.

In the context of "sustainable access to improved sanitation" China fared better than India — the percentage of its population with such access rose from 23 per cent in 1990 to 44 per cent in 2004. The corresponding figures for India stood at 14 and 33 per cent.

Prima facie there is not much to distinguish the two countries on this front. India's water and sanitation problem is well know but the UNDP report points out that China too has 16 cities with populations of more than half a million that have no waste water treatment facilities at all. Nationally less than 20 per cent of municipal waste in China receives any treatment. In 2003, China's own State Environmental Protection Agency warned that more than 70 per cent of the water of five of China's seven major rivers was too polluted for human use.

Nonetheless diarrhoea deaths in China are a third of those in India. On empirical evidence alone water poses much less of a health risk while travelling around China than India. While a great majority of tourists to India end up with at least a mild case of "Delhi belly" a substantial proportion end up in hospital with more serious cases of bacterial infection, largely caused by ingesting contaminated water.

Most travellers to India are warned off even using tap water to brush their teeth. Increasingly bottled water is also considered unsafe and tourists are advised to carry their own water purification contraptions with them.

In China visitors will, of course, get the occasional bout of traveller's diarrhoea but it is significant that the universal term for this affliction is "Delhi belly" and not "Beijing belly." Foreigners resident in China accept offered water without fear in most places. The primary reason for all of this boils down, no pun intended, to boiled water.

For centuries, ever since tea drinking became a national pastime in China during the Tang dynasty (AD 618-907), the habit of boiling water for tea has helped the Chinese lead healthier lives.

In his book The Chinese who built America: the Chinese railroad men, Stan Steiner points out how the 13,000-odd Chinese emigrants who worked as construction labourers building the great American railroad network in the 19th century were constantly belittled by their white co-workers. The Chinese were mockingly referred to as "effeminate" and their habit of brewing barrels of tea that were served all day long in tiny cups such as "ladies see fit to use" was laughed at. However, it was this very habit that saved the Chinese workers from the dysentery, cholera, and death that plagued their colleagues from elsewhere.

Science has certainly come a long way since the 19th century, but despite all the miracle cures that now abound the simple Chinese habit of boiling water continues to be one of the most effective when it comes to saving the lives of thousands of children. In addition it has also saved the country billions of dollars in health care and productivity losses related to diarrhoea.

Of course boiling water cannot explain fully the disparity in diarrhoea deaths between India and China. Other factors such as climatic differences also have an important role.

Nonetheless, for the Chinese, tea and the habit of drinking boiled water has quite literally been a lifesaver. Something to keep in mind the next time you find yourself in China and have difficulties procuring an "uncomplicated" glass of water.