Uncool, or simply warm?

Wei Xiaohao / China Daily

Thermal underwear has long been part of Chinese society and medicine. But a growing number of style-conscious youth are shedding this layer and freezing for fashion. Liu Zhihua and Erik Nilsson report.

Peking University graduate Wu Qi's friends told him to bring several pair of qiuku, or thermal underwear, when he was preparing to study in Stockholm in 2009.

That's because many Chinese erroneously believe foreigners don't wear thermals in their homelands. That said, a growing number of youth are shedding qiuku - a longstanding cultural institution - preferring to look cool rather than stay warm.

One reason thermals are so culturally entrenched in China's colder climates is that traditional Chinese medicine claims they offer health benefits.

Related: Cheap, but with a padded posterior

TCM contends cold causes illness - a belief shared by Western medicine. But TCM specifically recommends keeping the lower limbs warm, which is important to combat such ailments as arthritis.

But that belief is changing - or, at least, the recommendation is increasingly ignored - even as China faces the coldest winter in 28 years.

Beijing resident Song Meifeng says she wouldn't even know where to buy a pair - even though they're found in virtually every department store.

That's not to say the 30-year-old has never worn qiuku. Rather, she purged them from her wardrobe when she moved to Beijing to study in 2002.

Song comes from North China's frigid Inner Mongolia autonomous region, where temperatures have this year plummeted to around -40 C.

The region's cold snap has affected 770,000 people. Its icy weather has killed two people and 180,000 heads of livestock. About 260,000 people have required emergency aid, and more than 3,700 have been evacuated, Xinhua News Agency reports.

Most Inner Mongolia residents agree long underwear are necessary, no matter how unsightly it might be.

"I had to wear layers upon layers when I was a kid," Song says.

"You can imagine how ugly it was."

Chilly feelings toward thermals are thawing

Song doesn't even wear trousers or jeans in Beijing's winter, even though temperatures in the region this season have plummeted to a 42-year-low average of -7.4 C.

Instead, Song wears skirts with leggings. She doesn't see a need to wear qiuku in the city, she says. The international media outlet executive lives near a subway stop, and her well-heated office is in Beijing's central business district.

Song says she can endure a few minutes outside, clad in two layers of leggings, tall boots, sweaters and a long down coat.

She wears this same set when she returns to her frosty hometown, she says.

"Every place I go there has good heating," she says.

"Leggings have similar warming abilities. So, why would I wear qiuku?"