#文章首发挑战赛#
Text: Xiao Peng's brilliant notes
Editor|Xiao Peng's brilliant notes
[Preface]
There is such a place on the mainland, where you can not only eat, sing, watch movies, but even take a bath and take a sauna, and this place is the bathing center.
Although the bathing centers on the mainland are generally in the north where the weather is relatively cold, and there is even a very strong bathing culture there, there are also bathing centers in some southern cities.
With the advent of winter, the weather is getting colder and colder, and at this time of year, the business of bathing centers in the northern part of the continent, especially in the northeast, will rise off a cliff.
However, in recent years, the business of bathing centers has become more and more deserted, not only has it lost its former popularity, but also a large number of bathing centers have closed down.
With the development of the times, we also pay more and more attention to recreational activities and physical relaxation, and it stands to reason that the business of bathing centers should be getting better and better.
So, why is there less and less business in bathing centers, and what is the reason why people are no longer willing to go to bathing centers?
【The Rise and Fall of Bathing Centers】
Unlike what most people think, the bathing culture, or bathhouse culture, is not unique to China, for example, our neighbor Japan, because there are many hot springs in the country, so a hot spring culture similar to the bathing culture has developed.
Historically, about 2,600 years ago, the earliest known public baths appeared in the Indus Valley, and the reason why it was determined to be a bath is that archaeologists have not found any paintings or sculptures here, and they have been coated with waterproof asphalt.
After that, the bath culture was not limited to Asia, in the Han Dynasty on the mainland, the ancient Roman Empire in the West appeared bathhouse culture, and the ancient Romans at that time, the favorite social activity was to bathe in the bathhouse.
And at that time, the ancient Romans had already begun to develop the bathing culture, and the bathhouse was not only divided into cold pools, warm pools and hot pools, but even saunas had appeared, and there were special people responsible for massage and places for leisure and entertainment, which was no different from today's bathing centers.
On the mainland, the development of the Western Regions culture was relatively late, and the use of hot springs for bathing began to flourish in the Tang Dynasty, but at the beginning, it was limited to princes and nobles.
In the Song Dynasty, because of the development of the economy, it led to the emergence of public baths, and because of this, compared with other countries, the development of our bathing culture is relatively late.
In the Qing Dynasty, the bathhouse was already the only way for most northerners to bathe in winter, after all, the cost of bathing in their own home was too much, and it was not as cost-effective as going to the bathhouse.
With the development of the times, the model of the bathing center has also developed to the same level as the bathhouses that were once enjoyed only by princes and nobles in ancient Rome.
At its peak, the domestic bathing center not only had a bathhouse, but also a cinema, chess and card room and other entertainment facilities, and some places even had a gym, and in the Northeast, the best buffet was also in the bathing center.
However, it is a pity that from the time when our bathhouse really developed like this, even the time of the forties has not yet arrived, and the bathing center has gradually become a "sunset industry".
[Increase in entertainment items]
One of the most important reasons why bathing centers are not popular today is that people now have access to more forms of entertainment than in the past.
In the past, because everyone had no way to entertain, especially in winter, they could only stay at home, and sometimes they would not go out for a day.
But going to the bathhouse to take a bath is a must-do, so many people will find a way to take advantage of this rare opportunity to go out.
At the same time, it is also a very enjoyable thing to find a bathhouse, so the bathhouse will slowly evolve from a simple bath to an entertainment mode such as a bathing center.
But with the development of the economy, people can choose more and more entertainment methods, such as in the past, in addition to going to the bathing center, people are basically only left to sing karaoke or play cards.
But now it's different, we have more diverse entertainment options, not only among the elderly, but also among the young.
For example, in recent years, there have been script killing, escape rooms and various board games among young people, as well as various online games, which are actually competing for business with bathing centers to a certain extent.
And although the current bathing center is also improving, in the final analysis, it is still the "three-board axe", and aesthetic fatigue will inevitably occur after a long time.
As a result, although bathing centers are becoming less and less attractive to people, many people will choose ordinary bathhouses instead of well-equipped but expensive bathing centers even if they want to take a bath in a bathhouse.
[Strengthening the concept of hygiene]
At the same time, with the development of the times, people's awareness of safety and health is much stronger than in the past, although most bathhouses have a rule, that is, people with infectious diseases are not allowed to enter.
However, despite the fact that there are such regulations, and those who suffer from infectious diseases generally do not choose to go to the bathhouse to bathe, there are no absolutes in everything.
Because although the bathing center has this rule, no one will specifically check whether the customer is carrying an infectious disease, unless there is a particularly obvious skin disease, there will be a staff to prevent him from bathing.
Not to mention the case where you have an infectious disease on your body, but you don't have symptoms, so you don't know if you have an infectious disease.
As a result, bathing in public baths has always been at risk of being accidentally infected by infectious diseases, but in the past, people didn't pay much attention to it.
However, during the epidemic, many people were accidentally "hit" because they took a bath in a bathhouse, so from that time on, we paid more and more attention to public health.
This has led to a plummeting decline in the business of bathing centers since the beginning of the epidemic, and even many people who love bathing have quit this hobby because of this.
Even now that the epidemic has passed, many people have developed Xi, which has led to the fact that although the business of bathing centers has rebounded at this time, it is still much worse than before.
【Emphasis on food safety】
Not only has health been paid attention to, but with the development of the economy, people's living standards are gradually improving, and the most intuitive manifestation is in clothing, food, housing and transportation.
Especially after experiencing the epidemic, we have paid more attention to the hygiene and safety of food, such as the use of chopsticks for eating has become common sense for everyone.
And although many bathing centers can eat, most bathing centers use the form of a buffet, that is, the dishes are prepared and placed there for customers to take for themselves.
This form may have been very popular in the past, but after the epidemic, this model has undoubtedly increased the number of people who come into contact with food ingredients, and has added hidden dangers to food safety.
And in the bathing center, most people go to eat after taking a bath and then experience other activities, which leads to many people who have not wiped clean water stains and drip on food.
The water in the bathhouse itself has been soaked by many people, and the dripping of water on the rice further increases the risk of infectious diseases.
At the same time, although the buffet of the bathing center has a formal catering license, after all, their main business is not to do catering.
This also leads to the fact that many people's trust in the food in the bathing center is lower than that of the restaurants outside, which is probably the same level as the roadside stalls, which further reduces the number of people who go to the bathing center to consume.
[Antipathy for edge rubbing items]
However, some netizens will joke that no one goes to the bathing center because it is now strictly controlled and there is no "one-stop" service, so some big brothers with special interests will not go to consume.
Although this is a joke, in the past, there were indeed some places that were ostensibly in the name of bathing centers, but behind the scenes, they were doing some illegal business.
And this behavior has led to a bad reputation for activities such as bathing, pinching feet, and massage, especially some male compatriots, who are afraid to tell their wives that they are going to the bathing center.
After all, if some unnecessary misunderstandings are caused, it is really possible to cause family discord.
And it may also happen, as soon as you say that you want to take a bath, massage or something, your friends around you will look at you obscenely, as if they are saying "I understand".
Therefore, for the sake of their reputation, many people will also reduce the frequency of going to the bathing center as much as possible, try to go together, or simply do not go.
Of course, this is not all the reasons, but on the one hand, we now have less personal time, coupled with the high cost of bathing centers, which has led to the fact that going to the bathing center itself has changed from a very ordinary thing to a pastime that only a few people occasionally go to.
It is precisely because of this that most bathing centers are not doing well, and people are going to bathing centers less and less, so why don't you go to bathing centers?
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