Chinese Trends: What’s Chinese Health-preservation

~Yangsheng: Chinese Virtue of Health-preservation~

“Prevention is always better than cure.”

In the fast-paced world, we often struggle to keep up and health-preservation. Often, we find ourselves fighting an uphill battle. It’s always a scuffle, with our responsibilities, liabilities, and goals. There’s always something going on. A hindrance that we must overcome. We succumb to the pressure of the social account-abilities that we have. In return, we neglect our most critical asset: our health.

1. Situation

We forget to take care of ourselves merely because we want to keep up with the pace. We eat fast food meals instead of home-cooked ones. We stop exercising to cope. Instead, we opt for unhealthy vices. We abuse our bodies to the point of no return.

That is why today, we will delve into an intriguing Chinese health-preservation, “养生 (Yǎngshēng).” 养生  (Yǎngshēng) directly translates to health-preserving. The idea originated from Taoist teachings. It refers to a medical, recreational activity that prolongs human life. It deems to achieve this through nourishing the body, enhancing physical capacity, and disease prevention through many ways. Basically, “养生(Yǎngshēng)” means keep your five viscera in good health.

2. Why this topic?

The modern world is a pressure-driven environment. As a result, people who subscribe to such surroundings neglect their health to cope with the pressure. Most people nowadays have unhealthy irregular diets. In addition, nearly all people do not get enough sleep. As a result, they compensate the void with social rewards. People eat lots of meat, indulge in drinking sprees, and smoke. Most people have forgotten the importance of health. Consequently, the age of people getting terminal diseases keeps getting younger and younger. That is why it’s important to make a change. Prevention is always better than cure. That is only achievable through preserving health.

One might wonder how do fast-paced communities apply the concept to their daily lives? It is possible with proper maintenance and discipline. One example is China. Nowadays, it has been steadily raising awareness about health preservation. Many people in the mainstream subscribe to this concept. They inculcate to people that health is the most important asset a person can have. Instead of fleeting social rewards, we must exercise, get enough sleep, and have a balanced diet. That’s how important health preservation is to Chinese people.

3. Explain the knowledge point

Let us now delve into the knowledge point.

养 (Yǎng), third tone, means maintenance and supplement here.

生 (Shēng), first tone, means life.

“养生(Yǎngshēng)” means according to the law of our life, nurture our body and mind consciously. It can apply as a verb, we can say “to preserve one’s health.”  It also can apply as a noun, we can say do “health-preserving”. It’s the part of speech that changes with context.

Now that we are well-versed with the imperative aspects of this concept,  let us look into various examples to further master the topic.

4. Examples

yǎng shēng wén huà

养生文化

Culture of preserving one’ s health

Zǎo shuì zǎo qǐ yě shì zài yǎng shēng.

早睡早起也是在养生。

Early to bed and early to rising is also preserving our health.

Rén men yuè lái yuè zhù zhòng yǎng shēng.

人们越来越注重养生。

People are paying more and more attention to health care.

The exchange of our health for a fleeting social reward is often not worth it. No amount of pleasure and wealth can cure you once a terminal disease infects you. That is why we must preserve our health. Health preservation is the best investment we can have.