There is a bathhouse culture in northern China. How did the bathhouse culture originate?

Although bathhouse culture is popular in the north, bathhouses first appeared in the south, and Hangzhou is the birthplace of bathhouse culture, including the favorite rubbing bath of northerners, which also developed from Yangzhou, and the origin of bathhouse culture is caused by the development of commerce.

Since the Sui Dynasty, the development of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal has made the North-South trade more frequent, and a large number of workers and businessmen began to gather in Yangzhou, which also spawned many business models serving these people. Bathhouses gradually evolved under this environment. These travelling merchants and workers carrying goods need to clean their personal hygiene. Living away from home is not so good for bathing, so public bathing has become popular. It is not only relatively cheap, but also provides a variety of services, which has won unanimous praise. At that time, there were two factions about rubbing bath, the South faction was good at acupoint massage, and the North faction was famous for penetrating the back. People in each place had different hobbies.

At that time, the bathhouse culture in southern China was very popular, which can be said to be a service industry integrating bathing and health preservation, and began to spread from south to north. Gradually, not only the folk people accepted this form, but also many dignitaries fell in love with this bathing method. Nowadays, many elderly people still have the habit and hobby of going to the pool every day, because in the cultural system, they have recognized this leisure way.

Later, with the progress of the times, the popularity of private bathrooms in the south was higher, but the climate in the north was cold, and it was not until nearly 3 years ago that private bathrooms began to be fully popularized. Therefore, the bathhouse culture in the north is still very strong, giving everyone the illusion that only people in the north take a bath, but in fact this is only a cultural imprint left over by historical development, which will gradually disappear in our lives with the development of the times in the future, but this service system will not disappear.