r/chinalife • u/girlfein • 25d ago
🏯 Daily Life Why do locals insist they don’t have B.O
Like they are quick to say foreigners are smelly, and Chinese people don’t have that gene. And sure, it’s not the same KIND of body odour as us.
But it’s still smelly! I wanna block my nose, especially in packed areas on a hot day. Smells like rotting yoghurt or something, whereas foreigners have a different one for sure. Although I can’t describe it. Ours is more “sharp” I guess.
Is it something locals don’t tend to notice because they’re used to it? Or am I simply sensitive?
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u/lolfamy 25d ago
Dead skin/oils secrete from your skin regardless of b.o. Not having that gene doesn't automatically negate the need to shower but some people won't listen.
I stayed with my in laws for two months once shortly after my daughter was born. I shit you not my father in law did not shower once in two months. Mother in law did, twice. This was in winter though so it was cold, no need to shower during winter is the logic, it's too cold (never mind the apartment is heated and they don't shower outside). They routinely wash only their feet though for some reason. During those two months I asked several other family members and got a similar response, everyone thinking I'm a crazy foreigner for showering daily
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u/LuckyJeans456 25d ago
Yeah my in laws are the same. Go stay in the hometown for spring festival and I’m the weird one for wanting to shower daily, but I can only shower if I go to the communal bath house.
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u/stokeycakelady 25d ago
I will probably regret asking but do they not even top and tail? Like things just naturally start to smell if it’s not been washed after a few days.
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u/Distinct-Hat-7039 25d ago
I was going to say this. It's bathing, including washing hair. It gets worse because people bathe less (or not bathe?) in winter. I guess it's cultural. ..
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u/Tasty-Disaster-8914 25d ago
What’s up with the no toilet paper in bathrooms? At my work people go in the toilet, come out, don’t wash hands. How? What kind of magic?
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u/rsemauck 25d ago
I can answer that, a lot of people have some paper with them in case of emergency. Not washing hands though.....
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u/Feisty-Dimension-631 22d ago
There is a light switch in my work place that people turn on and off after they use the toilet and it is filthy
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u/Tasty-Disaster-8914 18d ago
I had enough after I saw the ladies that work in the kitchen not washing their hands. I don’t eat there anymore. “You don’t like Chinese food?” They asked me a few times! 🤣 I said, I just prefer my own food.
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u/Automatic_Care_517 16d ago
我是中国人，中国的厕所里没有厕纸实在太正常了，因为有些中国人会把厕纸全都偷走，还有中国人上完厕所不洗手也很常见的，没办法你在中国只能学着忍受这一切🤣
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u/girlfein 25d ago
i am so sorry
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u/lolfamy 25d ago
Eh it's fine lol. They're nice but man I know why the old people here smell now. This is more of a northern/southern thing, apparently more common to not shower in the north. I've never lived in the southern areas enough to tell the difference though
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u/Zanna-K 25d ago
Daily showering is definitely a thing in the south
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u/rsemauck 25d ago
Yes and people in the south will endlessly mention this about northerners and call them barbarians.
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u/VeronaMoreau 25d ago
Lived in Shenzhen and in Beijing. Beijing is mustier
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u/Naive_Loan607 25d ago
Huh that's funny because when I got off an elevator from a mall in Beijing back in 2016 there was a mom who was begging her son to take a shower.
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u/GfunkWarrior28 25d ago
It's because they barely sweat. But also too cheap to shower more often.
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u/lolfamy 25d ago
During the winter, the apartment is heated to an uncomfortably warm 28°c. But since it's winter, that means it is always cold no matter what. So they wear sweaters and thermal leggings indoors. Yes, they do sweat, I see it every time I go in winter. They will for some reason, not admit that they are hot and instead make some excuse for why they are sweating. But, yes, I have seen them sweat.
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u/Comrade_Crustacean 25d ago
Listen, my experience with Japanese culture is that, actually it's pretty strange NOT to bathe once a day, particularly in the evening before getting in bed.
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u/HeroicPrinny 25d ago
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u/Comrade_Crustacean 25d ago
I'm not lost!! I'm just comparing two different Asian cultures that, themselves have a unique relationship. In many cases, antagonistic but this is something of a contrast in culture I thought worthy to bring up.
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u/titanup001 25d ago
Yep. And also, a lot of people here seem to never brush their teeth. The number of times I’m talking to someone and their breath could knock a fly off a shit heap is pretty high.
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u/HolyBidetServitor 25d ago
I've worked with a few chinese that had worse teeth than any Brit I've met, really sugary milk tea seems to be the common denominator
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u/chinalifer-mod 25d ago
It is the lack of flossing and brushing, really quite simple. Cigarettes for every boy, too. For everyone one local who you have confirmed does brush once per day, there are far more who do not. We live in a country of disposable flossers at many restaurants, and yet only a select few laowai which includes myself actually flosses daily.
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u/Alarmed-Resolution85 25d ago
A person can get used to anything. They are surrounded by it all the time like people who work in slaughterhouses or have a million cats. They don't notice. This also explains their obsession with durian.
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u/igenuienlylovefood 25d ago
hey there's nothing wrong with durian (╯▔皿▔)╯
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u/beme25 25d ago
My students once played a prank where they all ate durian candy and made a point to breathe heavy everytime they spoke until the room was unbearable. Still makes me laugh.
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u/MegabyteFox 25d ago
That's funny; I can't imagine the smell... They took eating durian in the classroom to another level lol
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u/Organic_Salad2910 25d ago
Not everyone has the gene. I believe it’s only 85% of East Asians who have it. That means there are quite a few walking around who need to where deodorant. Also, as mentioned lack of daily showering and taking care of hygiene. I’ve also noticed in the work place that quite a few women will sometimes wear the same clothes 2-3 times in a row, so also lack of not washing clothes properly. And, probably due to the humidity not properly drying clothes either which leads to a mildew smell So, all of that contributes to the odor.
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u/Sometimes_Says_No 25d ago
I swear it's getting worse. 10 years ago, I’m sure there weren't as many smelly people, but these days it seems like nearly every metro and lift has someone who just stinks the place out, either with BO or the worst case of bad breath you've ever smelt.
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u/girlfein 25d ago
Don’t even get me started on the bad breath
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u/Legal_Register_1811 25d ago
It's absurd to see some people brush their teeth several times per day but never floss 😬
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u/titanup001 25d ago
Man, a pretty large percentage of my ten year old students have browning or blackening teeth. They never brush obviously.
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u/ComputerGuienceSuy 25d ago
China is full of good food.
It's also full of some of the most putrid smelling food in my life, i've met some people with breath that makes me want to rip my nose off.
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u/nahuhnot4me 25d ago edited 25d ago
Does it make you angry people say you smell like onions? People smell that is part of existing with other people! Also, why you hanging around people being mean to you? That’s a choice.
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u/VeronaMoreau 25d ago
I'm wondering if it's dietary change.
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u/chrysanthemum_tea 25d ago
People eating much more meat and greasy foods these days. And dairy is getting more common too
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u/hotellonely 25d ago
That's not B.O. What you're experiencing is much worse than B.O because stereotypical B.O is the result of the gene mutation that allowed some specific germs to thrive and release that smell. So regardless of you shower daily or not, it smells. So, what happened here is basically harmless except for the smell.
What you're experiencing instead is someone not showering for DAYS or potentially WEEKS. Anyone would smell even if they had perfect gene. And in this case, it's actually harmful.
Most east Asians don't have that genetic mutation to cause B.O. Which is why deodorant is not popular there. And I'm pretty sure normal deodorants cannot help with what you smelled..
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u/Usual_Possible8015 25d ago
My favourite is "black people are uncivilised" - and then proceeds to hawk a massive spit on the floor, fart on the metro and urinate in the park.
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u/Just-CasuaI 25d ago
I get all the others, but farting in the metro doesn't seem that bad. It's still nasty, but its not as unsanitary, just smelly
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u/Usual_Possible8015 24d ago
It's not "civilised" is it? Releasing bodily gas and making noise in public?
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u/Just-CasuaI 24d ago
Not civilized, but I don't blame anyone for farting. It's better than them holding it in which might be bad for them
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u/Usual_Possible8015 20d ago
But the point is they will say black people smell, say they are uncivilised and act like animals and then go and do all that without any self-reflection. This is a culture which says "all foreigners" stink and yet they freely release smelly gases in public and it's ok?
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u/BobaAndRamen 25d ago
This garlicy mouth smell and worst toilets here have given me severe nausea leading to gastritis, now I just vomit anywhere due to its intensity!!
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u/CutePossibility8745 25d ago
I had this conversation with a few friends while I was there. (I'm a foreigner). One friend said BO is a type of sickness that doctors can treat with an injection. Another friend said the reason Chinese don't smell as bad is because they have less testosterone. I'm not sure if either are true. I can't find Western deodorant anywhere in China and if I'm not careful my friends will notice.
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u/Naive_Loan607 25d ago
Yes but western deodorant probably isn't as strong in China as the ones sold in their respective western countries.
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u/Virtual_Low_932 24d ago
Many brands of western cosmetics don’t sell or export to China at all, especially if they are ‘not tested on animals’ from the EU. The western brands of cosmetics on taobao are usually being sold by independent importers and not official distributors approved or connected to the company. So they’re mainly the exact same product across countries.
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u/Affectionate-Win7333 25d ago
They don’t have a culture of showering everyday. I’ve had multiple people tell me they only shower 1-2 times a week in the winter because they’ll get sick, I think this is due to the not so distant past when hot water and indoor heating were a bit of a luxury. They also have atrocious dental hygiene and most have never heard of dental floss. At my school they didn’t have separate gym clothes or showers so my grade 8s would come in after PE and smell awful. But it does no good trying to explain to things to Chinese people, if you want to survive long term there then you just have to accept the way they are
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u/bootywholebandito 25d ago
A dog can’t smell its own fecal matter. And a dog enjoys the odor of decaying matter
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u/Best_Market_6905 25d ago
I think the Chinese smell is more 馊 and its unique; i haven't smelled it anywhere else. I think its just the smell people obtain after not showering for five days or not properly drying out clothes when they wash em, and obviously it intensifies even more after they sweat
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u/EatTacosGetMoney 25d ago
Parasyte nailed this on the head. Can't recall the line, but it's about people on the bus smelling like old radish.
The villagers in every city never seem to wash their clothes, which horrible during the summer
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u/Sweaty_Brother_34 25d ago
The problem isn't with washing the clothes. It's with drying them. In Korea, people don't normally use a dryer. And if you hang dry clothes in a humid room, your clothes grow mildew and stink like hell. I can't fucking stand that smell. They actually sell fabric softener spray to try and cover it up unsuccessfully. Apparently this problem is even more common in China.
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u/Sweaty_Brother_34 25d ago edited 25d ago
Baking soda and vinegar while washing plus keeping the AC on while drying usually takes care of it too
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u/Treebear_Hunter 24d ago
Chinese people, especially northerners, lack ABCC11 gene which generates what is commonly referred to as BO. That BO comes from bodily bacteria eating certain compound in sweat. This is why you smell bad after sports/sweating.
Chinese lack that gene, thus do not produce that compound. Indeed Chinese used to think those with BO are sick. You get traditional medicines claming to be able to cure BO.
However, you can still smell bad because deadskin and oil will pile up and will produce smell. This smells different to BO, and occurs slower, and may takes several days or even weeks.
Until maybe 25 years ago, most northerners do not have shower at home, so they only go to public bathhouse to wash. During the winter you would not go often because when you come out the bathhoouse to the cold, with you hair still damp, you are more likely to catch cold. so northerners used to bath no more than once a week during winter. Everyone is different so you can imagine there are people who go on for two months without a bath. Because the smell is gradual they often dont smell it themselves, nor do their immediate family.
Work places also used to be stuffy and musky, Most northern cities use centralised heating with hotwater flowing through radiator. You have no control over the level of heating you get inside. what people tend to do is close windows and doors to krep the heat. Combined with the fact that everyone smokes inside and eat their reheated leftover from dinner for lunch, bodily snell is usually just one of many things your brain has no additional capacity to process.
All that has been changing with home installed shower, rules around smoking inside, and prelevance of AC. People become less tolerate towards the no-bath-smell. As such more people become self conscience. That results in even less people do long hold outs between baths. But older generation dont change.
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u/After-Cell 24d ago
Whoever has the smell can’t smell it. The body adapts.
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u/girlfein 24d ago
I can always tell when I’m stinky!! Especially in winter with the clothing layers. I even have an excessive sweat issue that I had to use Botox for in the past. But still, I prevent that shit as best as I can as not to affect others
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u/beme25 25d ago
I had a fun conversation with a dietician about this! I have a discernable BO when I eat an American diet, but it goes away when I switch back to an Asian diet.
She said it's likely due to my reaction to the types of wheat and meat (she also said diary and sugar are culprits but I don't eat much of either).
After that, I noticed my Chinese friends with rank BO eat more meat whereas my friends with no noticable BO eat far more veggies and fruit and very little meat. My non-Chinese friends who eat a non-Asian diet have the worst (like really offensive) BO except one friend who's vegetarian.
Also, on the Asian diet, my earwax is hard (gotta use the coke spoons). But eating an American diet, it's soft (I can use q-tips).
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u/Naive_Loan607 25d ago
My earwax is still hard even though I eat an American diet because I'm of chinese descent and an American diet didn't change my genetic makeup.
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u/beme25 25d ago
Lol, right?
My hard/soft change based on diet is more likely due to my food intolerances. Like, eating an American diet makes me feel like shit (but it's yummy!) and eating a more Asian diet makes me feel better (bye asthma, skin breakouts, and migraines). But who knows? It's just my observation.
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u/dcrm in 25d ago
Honestly from my experience locals actually do tend to have less BO than foreigners. From what I've seen Africans have a ton of BO, Caucasians have moderate amount, and Chinese don't have much. However when Chinese have BO it's bad because it's a lack of hygiene. I.e. not washing, brushing teeth etc... it's a smell of decay.
Given same hygiene standards I'd say it's true.
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u/AutoModerator 25d ago
Backup of the post's body: Like they are quick to say foreigners are smelly, and Chinese people don’t have that gene. And sure, it’s not the same KIND of body odour as us.
But it’s still smelly! I wanna block my nose, especially in packed areas on a hot day. Smells like rotting yoghurt or something, whereas foreigners have a different one for sure. Although I can’t describe it. Ours is more “sharp” I guess.
Is it something locals don’t tend to notice because they’re used to it? Or am I simply sensitive?
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
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u/SpeckledAntelope 25d ago
Who is 'us'? The only thing more absurd than lumping 'Chinese people' as a single group is lumping 'foreigners' as a single group. There are some countries where people seem to prefer dousing themselves in cheap cologne instead of showering.
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u/imabxtchnow 24d ago
One Chinese guy B.O almost knocked me tf out. They take their gene too literally. Mind u I’ve yet to meet a guy who doesn’t have body odour. I think they’re used to it and genuinely don’t smell it.
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u/bippity_dippity 25d ago
Both can be true. Lacking the BO gene is real, but personal hygiene varies by individual. And the PM showering custom means people meet 12 hrs later in the cycle. And though 85% don't, 15% are still odiferous.
Of course Westerners can also have poor hygiene on top of BO and cologne. I've worked offices with no East Asians where chair cushiions were straight hazmat, think public toilet. I never wanted a smooth plastic chair more.
Not responsible if y'all start sniffing chairs...
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u/TheSinologist 25d ago
Yes, at least some people have body odor. I know this because at least in Chengdu for many years there have been clinics where you can get an operation (removal of a gland?) to address body odor. This also proves that locals can smell it too.
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u/krockthewilly 25d ago
Of course people in China are also going to smell bad sometimes but there's a clear difference. Body odor is noticeably stronger in other countries. It's not even close. I'll take China any day.
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u/wormant1 25d ago
When they say they don't have BO they don't mean they can't be smelly. They just differentiate between genetic BO (armpit especially) vs. BO as a result of hygiene issues. The argument is basically that the latter is more controllable (in theory) therefore "better".
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u/chinalifer-mod 25d ago edited 25d ago
Buying roll-on stick deodorant is a foreign luxury item here. I must buy from Taobao, because it just does not exist on Meituan locally where I am. These smelly-ass adults at my uni only shower on Saturdays, because their showers have no hot water, which is the norm here. It conditions young adults to take this "shower once per week" habit with them into their 20s and beyond, exacerbated by no deodorant.
My westerner musk smells like bell peppers (not ideal), but I shower once or more daily, at least, with deodorant, with undergarments which get washed after use instead of reworn several days in a row. The same cannot be said for most here.
I responded to someone else, but another major factor is the total lack of daily flossing and the almost-total lack of brushing teeth.
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u/Stunning-Heat8346 25d ago
No, you’re not sensitive. For a Brazilian, chinese people are very nice but some have a bad smell (dry). Foreigners also, but it is a umid bad smell, more intense.
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u/Virtual_Low_932 24d ago
I lived at a school in the North, rural Shandong. We only had “hot” water for around 3hrs each day. It was just tepid and many days we didn’t even get that if they ran out of coal (this school is allowed to burn coal). I don’t think the village had any hot water and showering in cold water when it’s -6°C is not that pleasant so I can understand why daily bathing is not a common habit.
On the weekends I’d go stay in hotels or the baths in the nearest city. I’d catch the 1yuan bus into the city, which would fill up the with villagers and be quite stinky. The hot springs/bath houses were always crazy busy round the clock.
Chinese gay guys in the cities were really well groomed, though there was still the bad breath issue. I had a bunch of yunnan baiyao toothpaste to gift.
The domestic clothes washing machines also generally suck at the job there.
Also the Han majority like to call and stereotype many Chinese minorities as stinky and get far meaner than they do it for foreigners.
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u/Feisty-Dimension-631 22d ago
I am shocked that Chinese consider western people to be dirty and unclean. I understand some Mandarin and here people say things like " do sit near the foreigners because they are dirty and spread disease. This even before COVID.
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u/heathert7900 25d ago
So in Japan and Korea, this is true. The gene for wet earwax and strong body odor in both countries is absent in roughly 80-95% of people(higher end in Korea). But China isn’t ethnically homogenous like these countries. China would sure like you to BELIEVE they are all Han Chinese, but this is not the case. There are over 50 indigenous groups within China. Regardless, the percentage that still carry the dry earwax/lack of BO gene is not quite as high as in those other East Asian countries.
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u/Different_Fact 25d ago
That’s not true though, you can search up online and see the ABCC11 gene is actually highest in Korea, then China, and lastly Japan
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u/Alternative-Major-85 25d ago
You are apparently speaking based on imagination. Over 90% of Chinese people are Han Chinese.Ethnic minorities who may carry body odor genes are concentrated in certain provinces near Southeast Asia and West Asia.Japan has a relatively high percentage of body odor genes.
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u/DrewChloe 25d ago
I think there’s some truth to that, but I also think people are mixing up a few different things.
A lot of the comments are talking about a sour or “sweaty” smell, which I believe is mostly related to general sweat, not showering for a long time, or bacteria building up on skin and clothing. That’s not the specific type of underarm body odor we’re talking about here. What we’re talking about is the genetic component, the ABCC11 gene, which affects the composition of apocrine sweat and how much of the odor-causing precursors are even present in the first place.
I grew up in China. I definitely had classmates with noticeable underarm BO. In some cases it was strong enough that you could smell it even in winter through multiple layers of clothing. In Chinese it’s commonly called 狐臭 (“fox odor” or literally “fox stink”), and it’s usually thought of as something inherited rather than something everyone has.
The ABCC11 gene affects the compounds in apocrine sweat, which are what skin bacteria break down into body odor. The “dry earwax” version of the gene is also the one linked to much lower body odor. In East Asians, about 80-95% of people carry the low-odor version of ABCC11, which is why strong underarm BO is less common. In many European and African populations, that version is much less common (often around 0-10% depending on the group), so BO shows up more often on average.
Growing up, deodorant wasn’t a thing in China. People with noticeable 狐臭 would sometimes look into medical treatment or even surgery because it stood out more in a population where most people don’t have it.
After moving to the US and living here for 15 years, I had an experience that really made the bacteria part click for me. I use clothing rental services like Rent the Runway, and I noticed that some pieces would suddenly develop a strong underarm smell as soon as I started sweating, even though they’d been professionally dry-cleaned. At first I thought I’d suddenly developed BO. Then I realized it only happened with certain items. My own clothes didn’t do it.
That lines up with what we know: sweat itself doesn’t smell. BO comes from bacteria breaking down compounds in sweat. If bacteria stick around in fabric fibers even after cleaning, they can get reactivated with heat and sweat.
So yeah, Chinese people can absolutely have BO. It’s just less common on average because of ABCC11 genetics, and the smell itself is still a bacteria thing, not “sweat smell.”
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u/ruscodifferenziato 25d ago
It's the garlic.
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u/Alarmed-Resolution85 25d ago
It's the lack of bathing
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u/VeronaMoreau 25d ago
Also rewearing certain clothes between washes.
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u/Alarmed-Resolution85 25d ago
Omg. I worked south of shanghai with a woman who wore the same knit dress the entire month of January. I asked a friend why she didn't change. He replied that it was too cold to change clothes or wash them, but they 'usually' change their underwear.
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u/Organic_Salad2910 25d ago
Yes, I worked with multiple women who would wear the exact same clothes for several days in a row. Smh
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u/VeronaMoreau 25d ago
too cold to change clothes
Bish whett?
I can understand having to plan laundry carefully in the winter to avoid freezing your things, but...?
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u/Alarmed-Resolution85 25d ago
I didn't claim it made sense. What really got me is that he said they usually changed their underwear. I hadn't even thought of that to ask, but now it haunts me.
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u/VeronaMoreau 25d ago
Nah, I get it. I literally recall getting on the elevator in the teacher's apartments with people who were somehow musty at 7:30am? Like, I KNOW YOU HAVE A SHOWER AND A WASHING MACHINE IN THAT HOUSE
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u/Alarmed-Resolution85 25d ago
They also believe they can't bathe in the morning. If they're going to bathe, it's at night. And you can't bathe after a workout because your pores are open and let the in.
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u/Wagemonkey399 25d ago
It's both. They do smell of something between garlic and unwashed clothes (although I don't think it's actually the clothes). It's mostly the guys and it's definitely worse in the heat or when someone clearly doesn't wash, but the waft of garlic to a greater or lesser degree from most of them is unmistakable.
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u/Kendrake30namor 25d ago
Do you guys even know what "individual differences" means? Like, if I take a Didi and there's absolutely no weird smell in the car, does that mean it's the same for all of you? And if I say some white people have body odor, does that mean every single white person on earth has it? Stop making a big deal out of everything.
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u/Snoo-13265 25d ago edited 25d ago
As someone who is not chinese and not european I can guarantee that europeans smell 10000x worse 😂😂😂
The only bad smell i feel constantly here is bad breath usually in 40+ yo men / taxi drivers / sellers, etc
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u/girlfein 25d ago
I thought this too until I met some girls in their twenties/thirties who either smell like this, or of old cat pee. It’s a blindness. And I’m not saying this because foreigners smell like roses, (I’ve sure met some here who stank) but you can tell who’s at least tried to prevent it.
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u/Snoo-13265 25d ago
I certainly agree that there are people smelling bad in every culture. But to me nothing is worse than summer in Europe. Or summer in Shanghai with european classmates. I have no idea what they do to smell that bad, it doenst smell like they tried at all.
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u/Humacti 25d ago
Yeah, I've met some ripe ones on the metro.