Laundry in China

Don’t you just find it amazing the topics I can come up with? Laundry! Well, here we go.

In general, Chinese people do not use dryers. (Lots of people have no idea what a dryer is! When people come to my house, they think I have two washers!) Many do not even use washing machines. Instead they wash clothes by hand. There is a laundry soap sold in bar form that is very good at removing stains when washing by hand.

Another interesting tidbit — people who do use a washing machine usually wash underwear by hand. They consider it disgusting to wash undies with regular clothes, together in a washer. (I guess it would be akin to throwing diapers in with your t-shirts. Yuck. Dare I tell you that TP is sometimes — often!– not used?)

Since there are no dryers, of course the clothes have to be hung up to dry. Either the home has a small “porch” area for this, or people just find any available spot to do it, for example, this fence above or the tree below.

When I first came to China, I thought these are impromptu yard sales. Later when I learned better (yard sales and thrift stores do not exist) , I was amazed that nothing was ever stolen. I was equally horrified that people hand their undies up for the world to see — in front of shops or in their living rooms.
On a sunny day, blankets come out to be “aired” or “sunned.” Of course, this does freshen them and kill germs. But it’s humorous to see a row of strangers’ bedding lining the walkway. Sometimes the children can’t even play at the little playgrounds because the jungle gym bars are covered with blankets!

Again, my thoughts are “Don’t they worry about people stealing their blankets? Or touching them? Wiping their hands on them? Knocking them to the ground?” Obviously there is some kind of unspoken laundry code of behavior because none of these things ever happen.

And my final point in this laundry post — the gigantic hangers. When you wash your sheets or blankets, you can use these huge hangers, especially made for them. Nifty, huh? Here you can see “normal” hangers and the monstro-sized ones side by side in the general store.