That is a truly funny assessment Elizabeth. A rationalization that I often hear is that there is rarely central heating and that heaters in China can have respiratory side effects like congestion. A few years ago I briefly worked in an office at the Fuhua Yuan Software Park which didn’t have heat, people wore jackets all day.
Superstition is deeply rooted in Chinese culture though, which is examined many times in this book. A lot I hadn’t heard of, like pre-Cultural Revolution cannibalism as reported by Taiwan’s first American Consul in 1903, James Davidson. Pre-Cultural Revolution as in, it was not purely for sustenance. That’s a very dramatic (horror movie-esque) example, but all of us have had probably had Chinese people tell us about how eating pigs brain makes you smarter, testicles impart virility in men, etc.