I took the elevator in the morning. When I reached a certain floor, the elevator door opened and I saw a mother with a five or six-year-old boy squatting at the elevator entrance, carrying a schoolbag. The elevator was quite crowded. The boy came in and was eager to find a place. He stepped on me. The child was too light and I didn’t feel anything. Then I watched him squat down again. I just thought that this kid’s grandparents must have been farmers or educated youth, and he liked squatting so much. In my impression, when jumping in line, farmers like to squat in the yards and fields. Every morning when the captain assigned work, many people rolled tobacco cannons and squatted against the wall.
This reminds me that Zhang Yimou has made many films showing the northwest style. There is one shot that left a deep impression on me. A big girl with long braids, holding a bowl full of noodles, squatted at the gate and ate, with a kind of contentment on her red face.
In Chen Peisi's sketches, there are also many unforgettable scenes of Chen Peisi wearing a big cotton-padded jacket, sniffing his nose, squatting and eating noodles.
People in northern China, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Hebei, Gansu, Northeast and other places like to eat squatting.
Although everyone squats, both at home and abroad, the squatting movement has been unsightly since ancient times. It is too reminiscent of the posture of going to a latrine. "Ciyuan" explains that the word "squat" has an important meaning of "ju". What kind of posture is this? When sitting, the buttocks are on the ground and the legs are straight and spread forward. This movement is called Chu, also known as "Ji Chu". You may say, I sit like this on the tatami or bed every day. It's very comfortable. What's wrong with that? Indeed, today you can sit wherever you like at home, and it will not hinder your view. But in ancient times, doing so might pollute the visual experience of others.
Before the Tang Dynasty, people generally did not sit on stools. They would kneel down and sit on the mat when meeting and talking in public. Knees will hurt after kneeling for a long time. In order to feel comfortable, some people simply spread their legs and sit on the ground, which is like Ji Chu. But the problem is that the traditional clothing of the Han nationality is loose and loose, and it is easy to be exposed, and the ancients did not wear underwear. Therefore, Jiju's action is suspected of exposing one's body in front of everyone, which is quite indecent.
There is a famous "Jiju" story in history, which is about the emperor Liu Bang of the Han Dynasty who met the elder Li Shiqi. When Liu Bang came to Gaoyang and summoned his counselor Li Shiqi, he ignored his dignity and adopted an inelegant squatting posture. "Historical Records: The Chronicles of Emperor Gaozu" records that at that time, "Pei Gong sat on the bed and asked two women to wash their feet." This is equivalent to ordering a VIP set meal for two at the bathing center today. Meeting the respected Li Shiqi in such an exposed and obscene way, of course Li Shiqi got angry and cursed Liu Bang for "meeting an elder". Compared with "Ji Chu", a more disrespectful posture is "Ju Si", which means sitting with the soles of the feet and buttocks on the ground and the knees raised. Think about it, if a big man wears no underwear and spreads his legs in an M shape in front of you, do you think you will feel better?
I really don’t know exactly when the connotation of squatting changed from “sitting with legs apart, buttocks on the ground” to “bending legs as if sitting, buttocks not touching the ground”. But in retrospect, the evolved "squat" touches the ground on the soles of the feet after all, which is an improvement compared to the previous instep and buttocks. This is probably due to the widespread use of chairs, stools and other seating devices in the late Tang Dynasty, which gradually changed from the "sitting" posture. By the Northern Song Dynasty, people had become accustomed to sitting on stools with their legs hanging down. After hundreds of years of sitting like this, they finally changed the habit of having their feet on the ground to the soles of their feet. The "squatting" posture has also changed, becoming closer to the posture of sitting on a stool - don't the smokers squatting on the curb today seem to have an invisible small stool stuffed under their buttocks?
At this point, the most comfortable posture in the world has been popularized. The "squatting" posture has evolved, and the benefits are self-evident. First, it is convenient and not tiring. You can squat anywhere at any time; secondly, you will no longer be considered rude due to the suspicion of exposing privacy. It’s comfortable and convenient without offending anyone, so why not? But the side effect is that after squatting for a long time, the spine is easily unable to straighten, and people are easily numb. Over time, it becomes "habitual squatting."
Lu Xun wrote in "Lace Literature: Thoughts and Actions": "Suppose a person spits on the roadside, squats down and watches, and soon there will be a crowd of people surrounding him.
"Some commentators say that this text brings to life the numbness of the spectators and satirizes the bad nature of the people. But I can't see the meaning anyway. I squatted to observe the spit on the ground up close. It is an absolute pragmatism philosophy. Vision and thinking Wherever you are close, your eyes and posture will be closer. The Chinese civilization has its feet on the earth and its eyes are on the soil. Of course, squatting is the most suitable.
In fact, the Chinese are not the only nation that likes to squat. North Korean people seem to like squatting very much. It seems that squatting is the most comfortable movement for them. Rural people in North Korea also like to squat. After doing farm work, many people squat in the fields to eat.
What’s more interesting is that I have lived abroad for many years and rarely saw Westerners squatting. Many foreigners don’t like squatting. First of all, Europeans don’t know how to squat. Yes, this is the posture →
For most Asians, it is effortless to do it, but for Waiguoren, this posture is simply outrageous....
A program interviewed these Waiguoren Ren, they...are...in pain...and have to...squat...down...
"I have been observing squatting in Asia for several years..." What are you thinking in your mind? ..
“Isn’t it really a yoga pose? "This girl's heart is broken...
Only those who have practiced yoga can do this...
There is also a study on the Internet that 100 Asians can Asians squat, but only 13.5 Americans can do it, and 9 out of 13.5 are Asian Americans, and the rest are yoga fanatics
Why are Asians so good at squatting?
This question is not nonsense, but a long-standing topic on the English Internet. People often ask similar questions on many question and answer websites.
I don’t know when. At first, many Europeans and Americans suddenly discovered this magical skill of East Asians as if they were discovering the New World:
While traveling, I saw local people squatting on the ground in twos and threes...
While queuing up, I saw an Asian pregnant woman squatting on the ground...
While watching a basketball game, I noticed that the members of the Chinese National Men's Basketball Team were also squatting on the ground to rest...
They all took to the Internet to describe their shock, and said that they had tried to imitate the same posture, but fell to the ground within a few seconds.
As a result, there was a phenomenon in English. The technical term is "Asian Squat". As Chinese people, it feels very good to do something that we were born with, and suddenly it has become a hidden skill for us.
Someone asked on Quora: Why can only Asians do Asian squats? There is another word similar to "Asian squat", "kimchi squat", the two words have basically similar meanings. .
Urban Dictionary explains "Kimchi Squatting" this way: This is a popular military slang in the army. 90% of Asians can squat. Most Asians can wait for the bus, smoke, and relieve themselves. When squatting for a long time, only less than 5% of Americans can maintain this posture.
Many websites have begun to explain the benefits of "Asian squats": it can lift the thighs, Exercises leg muscles, promotes digestion and defecation... etc.
They also started teaching squatting techniques and even had a short documentary
According to their explanation, it's really. In the Asian squat, you need to spread your legs so that the soles of your feet are completely in contact with the ground, and you cannot stand on your heels.
Someone specially found a lot of people to test it, and it was confirmed that most testers cannot squat.
However, some research enthusiasts have dug up photos of American college students in the 1950s and said that squatting was also popular at that time. So whether Americans have lost this skill in the past few decades or there are other reasons. , no one can give a reasonable explanation for this yet.
But... there is another term that is more popular than "Asian Squat", "Slav Squat", which refers to the common squatting posture among Slavs represented by Russians. . There are far more pictures of “Slavic squats” online than “Asian squats.”
Many people are also asking, why do Russians love squatting so much? One of the more mainstream explanations is that the Slavic squat originated during the Tsarist period. At that time, in order to prevent the prisoners from escaping when they were escorting exiled prisoners, they were often required to squat on the ground with their hands behind their backs; later, prisoners in prisons were also often required to do so. Squatting on the ground, they brought this habit with them after they were released from prison, and it was copied by more hooligans and gangsters. Over time, Slavic squats became a cool fashion in Russia...
After these pictures of Slavic squats spread, they gradually formed a subculture, and there are many bored young people all over the world. They took photos of themselves imitating Slavic squats and posted them online. They also established a special website and Facebook group... People from Russia and other Eastern European countries who are deeply proud of the squatting culture also participated in it and had a great time. He has even created many hip-hop songs with the theme of "squatting". The lyrics are basically "I squat and I am proud".
Slavic squat has three characteristics. First, when squatting, you usually hold something in your hand, sometimes it's a cigarette, sometimes it's beer or vodka.
Second, Russian gangsters who like to squat usually have another hobby, that is, they like to wear striped sportswear - maybe Nike, maybe Puma, maybe Adidas, in short Just striped tracksuits. The love for striped sportswear is in the blood of Russians...
The third characteristic is that Russians can squat on anything to think about life.
It seems that "Asian squatting" is not exclusive to Asians of yellow race. European squatting is also very distinctive.
There is an old saying in Beijing, "It's not as delicious as dumplings, but it's not as comfortable as lying down." I think it's more accurate as "it's not as comfortable as squatting." Earning money while standing is not easy; earning money while kneeling is too humiliating, and it might be the abacus that is being knelt on, which is more painful than standing up. It is better to earn money by squatting and laugh at life. It is the most comfortable and enjoyable. At this point, there is great enlightenment and great breakthrough.