If you’ve ever considered going to China to learn wushu at a school like Song Jiang, you’ve probably already worried about doing your laundry. That’s a reasonable concern, because you will sweat a lot and the climate is quite sandy. Unfortunately, most wushu schools and universities in China don’t offer a proper laundry service. Most students wash their clothes by hand.
This can be very annoying, especially if you bring your favorite T-shirts and then hang them outside to dry in the sun—only to see them mysteriously disappear. The ideal solution would be a coin laundry, but unless you’re training in a big city, you won’t find one. Song Jiang is located in a relatively small city (about 1.2 million inhabitants), and doing laundry there can actually become a real stress factor. For more articles about wushu training in China, click here.
More: Laundry at a Chinese Wushu School
How comfortable your laundry situation will be really depends on your budget. If you have a high budget, you could buy a washing machine and a dryer and ask someone to install them in your bathroom. But that would cost at least 300 USD, and if you’re not staying long, it’s basically wasted money.
If you want someone else to do your laundry, you can either ask a private person outside the school or go to a laundry service in Yun Cheng. A private person is usually cheaper, but it will still cost you a few hundred yuan per month (around 20 to 50 USD), and your clothes might never be washed properly. Normally, there is no official laundry service at the school, but if you ask Li Chen once you’re there, I’m sure he can organize something for you. Laundry, however, is not included in the school fee, so you’ll have to pay extra.
Most foreigners at Song Jiang simply buy a plastic tub, just like the Chinese students, and wash their clothes by hand.
How often you have to wash your clothes:
You will sweat two or three times per day. It’s usually fine to wash your pants every second day, but you should always have a clean and dry shirt before each workout. During the winter months, you can train the whole day (two or three sessions) in the same shirt. In summer, however, it’s extremely hot and the humidity can reach 90 percent. After a short run, your shirt will feel like a wet rag. On top of that, Yun Cheng is quite sandy, so if you train outside, you should do laundry every day, or even after each training session. Washing the shirt you just used only takes a few minutes.
Advice: Laundry at a Chinese Wushu School
Always wash two or three shirts at once. When it rains, you’ll still need something clean and dry.
Sun-dry your clothes on a line by the window or in the hotel’s inner courtyard. If you dry your clothes outside, someone might steal your favorite T-shirts.
If you do your laundry yourself, it will cost you about 2 USD per month. If you pay a private person, expect to pay around 20 to 50 USD per month. You can also ask a larger laundry service in Yun Cheng to pick up your clothes at the school once or twice a week. That usually costs between 30 and 60 USD per month. A washing machine and dryer cost around 300 to 400 USD, but you’ll need to ask the school if they allow you to install them in your bathroom. If you’re not staying long enough, they might say no.
Even if you plan to pay someone to do your laundry, you’ll still need to wash your socks and underwear yourself. I honestly don’t know how much extra you’d have to pay for someone to wash dirty socks—I never tried to find out. Some laundries won’t even wash socks in their machines.
If you’re really attached to a shirt, don’t bring it to China. You’ll wash it to death, and the risk of it getting stolen is quite high.
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