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How the site works, plus a reading path into each section.
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Take one habit you have noticed about China — hot water, shoes off at the door, a gift that has to be pushed back twice — and this site will tell you what put it there, and when.
How a piece is built
Three moves, in order. First the habit itself, described the way you would actually meet it. Then the history: the campaign, the product, or the price that made it normal. Then where that leaves you — what changes in practice, and what does not.
The middle section is the point of the site. A habit with no traceable origin does not get a piece.
Start with these
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Language · 语言 Why Mandarin is called Putonghua
Mandarin is a Portuguese exonym that never came from Chinese; Putonghua was selected by name in 1955 and defined by the State Council in 1956.
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Culture · 文化 Why tomb-sweeping got a fixed date on the calen…
Tomb-sweeping is old; the public holiday is not. A 2007 revision added Qingming to China's paid holidays, and the first one fell on 4 April 2008.
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Buys · 好物 Why the thermos became a personal object
Hot water only became portable in the 1990s, once a stainless-steel vacuum flask could be made cheaply at home. Here is the object behind the habit.
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CityLife · 城市 Why cash stopped being the default in China
QR payment became the default in China between 2011 and 2013, then was halted by the central bank for two years before being formally recognized in 2016.
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Wellness · 养生 Why hot water is the default drink in China
Hot water became China's default drink in the twentieth century, not in antiquity. The dates that explain it are 1934, 1952 and 1985.
Pick a path
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Food 中国味
Why meals are ordered, shared, and timed the way they are.
First piece coming soon
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Wellness 养生
The everyday rules around the body, and how they started.
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Buys 好物
The everyday objects people actually keep, and why.
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Culture 文化
Festivals, holidays, and the rules that come with them.
Read first: Why tomb-sweeping got a fixed date on the calendar
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CityLife 城市
Habits that formed recently — payment, delivery, group fitness.
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Language 语言
The phrases people actually say, and what they assume.