Why are the Chinese afraid of wind?

[sthubbar]

My wife and her mother are often expressing various fears of wind.

At night, if I'm hot, I like to have a fan blowing on me and my wife freaks out if she feels the slightest breeze. I think she said something about her mouth being blown onto her forehead.

With the baby they are frequently saying things like "Watch out for the wind." "Keep the baby protected from the wind."

Any ideas on the basis of this belief?

[leeyah]

Well, for one thing it may be because the word 风 (wind) sounds the same as 疯 (lunatic).

I think most of this comes from fengshui, the balance of five elements for optimal happiness in all possible life situations.

As other most common superstitions include fear of cold (wind/water) & the North (disasters almost always came to China from the North) so 北风 northern (cold) wind is considered especially harmful.

Here's an amusing list of 40 basic Chinese superstitions (no mention of the wind, though)

[skylee]

Take a look at this definition of "wind" as a term of Traditional Chinese Medicine (source is a glossary of standard terminologies of the World Health Organisation - Page 50) -

1.6.11 wind 風; 風邪

wind as a pathogenic factor characterized by its rapid movement, swift changes, and ascending and opening actions, also called pathogenic wind

People believe that actual wind might lead to the wind inside the body, I think.

[renzhe]

It could also be much simpler.

My parents warn me about draft or direct wind all the time.

Wind can take away a lot of body heat very quickly, so it can lead to cramped muscles or a cold if you're not careful. Some people are really picky about it.

[leeyah]

My parents warn me about draft or direct wind all the time.

Oh yes, same thing with me

But I guess most superstitions to do with natural phenomena must have originated from ancient real life experiences.

True, wind/draft can indeed cause health problems in some hyper-sensitive people and it's definitely bad for small children. I personally saw a severe case of facial cramps due to exposure to strong draft. Very nasty.

But then as skylee mentioned Chinese medicine is all about the inter-action of the five elements and their influence on Qi & wind happens to be the first of the six exogenous factors, besides cold, summer heat , damp, dryness & mild heat, according to 中医:

The vital activities of the human being are closely related to changes in weather. The body has constantly to adjust its internal function to adapt to the variations of the six factors of the natural environment. If these factors change abnormally or over-tax the adaptability of the human body, or the body's anti-pathogenic factor is weak and vital function is impaired beyond its ability to adapt itself to the changes in the weather, the occurrence of disease may depend on such factors as wind, cold, etc. which are considered as pathogenic factors and referred to as six exogenous factors.

These pathogenic factors invade the human body from the exterior via the mouth, nose, or body surface and the resultant diseases are called exogenous diseases.

In a nutshell: Wind is characterized by constant movement and considered yang pathogenic factor and often attacks the upper part of the body, weakening the defensive Qi ....etc etc

(from "Essentials of Chinese Acupuncture" Foreign Languages Press, Beijing)

[chrix]

well maybe this is an American thing? Because Americans also like to accuse Germans of being afraid of wind :

- http://nothingforungood.com/2008/04/17/moving-air-causes-death/ (in English, written by an American)

- http://usaerklaert.wordpress.com/2007/09/17/die-seltsame-angst-der-germanen-vor-sich-bewegender-luft/ (in German, also written by an American), and this entry also lists additional accounts by Americans on this apparently puzzling phenomenon:

http://adaabroad.blogspot.com/2005/03/fear-draft.html and these two explanations of German "draftophobia":

None of us could understand any German and we had no idea what was going on until someone took the time to explain it to us. The explanation was that if we open the windows, the air would blow through the train. We explained that we realized this and it was for precisely that reason that we opened the windows in the first place.

Es zieht: One of the first proverb-like sayings taught in German language courses is Frische Luft ist gesund, "Fresh air is healthy." Don't be fooled. For obscure reasons, Germans have got it into their heads that air is the enemy, especially indoors.

For a bit of enjoyment, go into a cafe on a dull winter's day, one where the guests can barely be distinguished through the cigarette smoke, and tilt open a window just a crack. Before you have retreated three steps, the cry Es zieht! -- "There's a draft!" -- will go up and in a flurry of panic the window will be slammed shut. In Bavaria, some patrons will make the sign of the cross. What elsewhere is known as a breeze is, in the Teutonic realm, the grim reaper's mocking breath. To help the recovery from this near brush with oblivion, butane lighters will flare as the entire room lights up as one.

and

Edited June 17, 2009 at 03:07 PM by chrix

[leeyah]

This is great, the Zugangst (or is it Angst vor Zug? ) So familiar... :

Man sitzt in der S-Bahn. Draußen sind es mehr als 30 Grad, keine Wolke am Himmel, die Sonne strömt durch die Fenster und heizt alles mit einem politisch völlig unstrittigen Treibhauseffekt auf, bis niedrige Backofen-Temperaturen erreicht sind. Und alle Fenster sind zu.

Denn was passiert, wenn jemand eins öffnen will? Sofort erschallt der Chor:

Fenster zu! Es zieht! Es zieht! Oh weh! Es zieht!

Weiter geht es dann in der fahrenden Sauna. Ein Deo nach dem nächsten versagt, Schminke läuft die Wangen herunter und alle werden von Minute zu Minute gereizter. Und etwaig anwesende Amerikaner greifen verzweifelt nach ihrem Touristen-Führer um zu sehen, ob sie das mit der Berliner Luft falsch verstanden haben.

Ich habe schon lange nichtmehr so gelacht! Vielen Dank chrix

[chrix]

Bitte. And Zugangst ist right

[roddy]

There's a fear of killer fans in Korea which I've heard people repeat here. I'm not too sure it's unusal anywhere for a mother or grandmother to suggest you keep baby out of the wind though.

What do they say when you ask them?

[Madot]

This is fascinating. I've always said that the Chinese are the Italians of the East. Italians also have a morbid fear of drafts.

And in Laos, even though the customary dining etiquette includes using your fingers and sharing bowls, when everyone in the family comes down with the same cold that one of its members has caught, it is inevitably blamed on a change in wind direction. Go figure...

Mado

[sthubbar]

Thanks for all the ideas. Today a friend said that for him it is related to the Yin / Yang balance. I guess Cold is Yin and Hot is Yang. He mentioned that Wind is Yin and I guess it would upset the person's Yang somehow.

[imron]

Also note that 中风 = have a stroke. So best to avoid wind if you don't want to get 中ed by it.

[sthubbar]

chrix, thanks so much for sharing.

This quote from the first article is my same experience with Chinese.

The weird thing about this whole draft business is that while Germans are terrified of drafts, they are also big fans of “fresh air.” They sleep with their windows open in the middle of winter. If a room smells funny, they don’t whip out the Febreeze, they air the place out—regardless of the weather.

Middle of the winter and my roommates were always opening the window. I didn't mind so much since the heat was free.

And then this quote sums it up for me.

I can’t seem to tell the difference between “fresh air” and “a draft,” but then I’m just a stupid foreigner.

[Lugubert]

it is inevitably blamed on a change in wind direction.

A piece of Swedish superstition that others too have reported: When children made funny faces, my grandmother used to say "The wind might turn, and you'll stay that way." I don't think she really believed it, but I suppose it was more of a bogeyman thing just to scare us from making faces.

[studentyoung]

At night, if I'm hot, I like to have a fan blowing on me and my wife freaks out if she feels the slightest breeze.

Although my case is not 100% like your wife’s, I still don’t like a fan blows directly on me, and I always try to avoid such directly blowing.

With the baby they are frequently saying things like "Watch out for the wind." "Keep the baby protected from the wind."

It’s perhaps because a puff of sudden wind can easily have a baby have a cold or a fever, when s/he is feeling hot and sweating, for a baby’s thermoregulation usually isn’t well developed like an adult’s.

What’s more, some kinds of disease like facial paralysis 面瘫, migraine 偏头痛, headache, rheumatalgia风湿痛, etc., can be stimulated by a sudden wind. Therefore, many Chinese people, especially the senior, don’t like a sudden strong wind.

Cheers!

[imron]

When children made funny faces, my grandmother used to say "The wind might turn, and you'll stay that way."

That would be the whole facial paralysis thing

[studentyoung]

That would be the whole facial paralysis thing

Well, please have a look at this. ->

驾车吹风 不慎“面瘫”

本报3585000热线11月2日讯（记者姜涛）在驱车上班的路上，因长时间开着车窗受凉，左脸和左臂突然麻痹，把车也开进了路边的沟里，险些酿成惨剧。这是今天早晨发生在张博路上的一幕，驾车者张店的张先生被医生诊断为“轻度面瘫”。医生提醒有车一族：秋冬季节，驾车不要长时间开窗。

http://news.sohu.com/20051103/n227381582.shtml

[skylee]

At night, if I'm hot, I like to have a fan blowing on me and my wife freaks out if she feels the slightest breeze. I think she said something about her mouth being blown onto her forehead.

Won't you feel uncomfortable? I do the same but would feel uncomfortable if the wind comes directly. I would easily get sick (headache, stomach feeling funny, etc) if it keeps blowing directly at me.

[leeyah]

Come to think of it , actually I very much enjoyed riding on those 1kuai GZ buses with uncomfortable wooden bench-seats & all the windows wide open & very, very strong draft blowing throughout the vehicle. If you happened to grab a seat then it was even worse, the wind blowing right in your face, but it felt quite good in the Southern heat.

My point is: ALL the passengers were Chinese and no one objected to it, nor did anyone ever reach out to close the windows. On the contrary they seemed to enjoy it as much as I did.

[rs232]

I read some of the answer. some of them totally wrong . first most of time chinese people

do not afried of wind just when they are sleeping .casue base on Traditional Chinese Medicine .people is weak as them sleeping .so at this time Evil can hurt them and make them sick.what is the evil .at this moment the wind is.so we chinese keep the wind out of us when we are sleeping .that is absolutely right. i have aunt.she has been blowed to be sick by the sleeping wind and it got her Mouth oblique.and spent long time to treat it

so when you sleep you should keep the wind out of you :)