Society
The fall of an old bathing business
By Qin Zhongwei and Meng Jing (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-03-03 07:45
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Communal bathhouses were part of everyday life in Beijing. But as lifestyles change, washing with others is becoming a thing of the past and the traditional public bathhouses are giving way to modern bathing complexes, Qin Zhongwei and Meng Jing report
Crowded, steamy and wet, the traditional public baths were, until two decades ago, the solution to Beijing's hygiene needs.
Yan Cuizhen, a 49-year-old woman, used to regularly visit the public bathhouse near her house in Dali hutong, Xuanwu district until she moved to her apartment building in the 1990s.
"I often went there with my mother and sisters when I was a little girl. The admission fee at that time was only 0.26 yuan per person. But taking a bath was still a luxury, as my mother only earned about 10 yuan each month," she told METRO.
Recalling washing in the steamy and not-so-well-equipped bathrooms, Yan said people would come in happily with other family members, and in the women's section, the mothers would scrub each other's backs or wash their children's hair in the hot soaking pool, while children sang and played.
Although there are many who view public bathhouses as a reminder of an impoverished past and are glad to see them go.
Others such as Yan take a more nostalgic view and look back to a time when a trip to a bathhouse was a sociable occasion where cleanliness and nakedness meant togetherness .
There used to be over a hundred such community bathhouses in the 1980s according to He Peiyun, vice-chairwoman of Beijing Bath Trade Association.
"But now, there are only around 50 left, due to more and more apartment buildings replacing the old courtyard hutongs and people are able to take baths or shower in their own homes, " she said.
At the same time, around 2,000 new and expensive bath clubs have emerged in the city in recent years, reducing the need for the traditional bathhouse still further.
Bathhouses vary considerably in size and amenities-from small establishments with 10 or 20 rooms and a handful of lockers to multi-storey saunas with a variety of room styles or sizes and several steam baths, jacuzzi tubs, and sometimes swimming pools.
Most have a steam room (or wet sauna), dry sauna, showers, lockers, and small private rooms.
It should be noted that many bathhouses are membership only.
Besides being places to wash, these modern bathhouses are more like recreational centers, as they provide buffets, spas, saunas, and other facilities. Meanwhile, the traditional bathhouses that are usually only equipped with hot soaking pools and some beds to relax on, are losing their popularity.
"For those traditional bathhouses whose sole function was letting people take a bath it is hard to make money now, " He said.
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