How the Chinese Stay Warm All Winter Without Central Heating

Your heating bill goes up every winter, and you still sit in your own living room with cold hands and cold feet. My mother kept six children warm through every winter of my childhood without a single heater, and almost everything she did costs next to nothing. My name is Mei Lin. I grew up in Guangzhou in the south of China in the 1950s and 60s, and I came to America in 1987. Most homes in southern China still have no central heating, and our winters were a damp, grey cold that creeps into your bones. In this video I share my mother's twelve habits for staying warm, and how to do each one safely in an American home so your heating can do less work. In this video: Why Chinese families heat the person, not the house, and the room temperature older people should never go below How to fill and use a hot water bottle safely, and why my grandmother called hers the soup old lady How to warm your bed instead of your bedroom, so you can turn the heat down at night The padded door curtain every Chinese home hung in winter, and the cheap ways to stop drafts today Heating one room and staying in it, plus the space heater rules to follow every single time The one old Chinese habit you must never copy, and the alarm every home needs Why damp cold feels colder, and how sunshine on your quilts makes them warmer The foot soak my mother gave all six of us before bed, and how to do it safely Warm food, ginger tea, and why eating enough matters more as we get older Moving every hour, letting the sun in, and keeping a hot drink within reach The night fifteen neighbors squeezed into one room, and why the warmest thing in any house is people Timestamps: 0:00 A winter without heating 2:50 Number 12: Heat the person, not the house 6:08 Number 11: The hot water bottle 9:01 Number 10: Warm the bed, not the bedroom 11:04 Number 9: Stop the drafts 13:24 Number 8: Heat one room and stay in it 14:35 The one habit never to copy 16:31 Number 7: Fight the damp 18:47 Number 6: A hot foot soak before bed 20:50 Number 5: Eat warm, and eat enough 22:58 Number 4: Keep moving 24:28 Number 3: Let the sun in 25:53 Number 2: Keep a hot drink within reach 27:01 Number 1: Gather together 29:35 All twelve habits in one breath No gadgets, no expensive heaters and no tricks. Just simple, safe habits that kept a family warm with almost nothing. Please do not let your home get too cold to save money, especially if you are older. If you are shivering, turn the heat back up. How did your family keep warm in winter when you were a child? A coal stove, a wood fire, everyone in one bed? Tell me in the comments. I want to hear it before it is gone.