Why Chinese People Squat: The Biology Behind a Natural Resting Position

The Position That Became a Meme

Squatting — deep, flat-footed, resting squat — became an internet meme sometime around 2015, most commonly illustrated by images of Chinese and Eastern European men squatting on pavements, at bus stops, in markets, seemingly at rest in a position most Westerners find immediately uncomfortable. The "Slavic squat" got more coverage in Western media, but the squatting posture is at least as common in China and across Southeast Asia.

The meme missed what is actually interesting about this. The resting squat is not a cultural affectation or an athletic accomplishment — it is a default resting position that is biomechanically natural for humans and that has been lost in populations that spend their lives in chairs. The reason Chinese people squat, in other words, is not that they have developed some special squatting ability. It is that they have not yet lost the ability that everyone is born with.

Why the Deep Squat Is Actually Normal

Human infants squat naturally and without effort. Young children around the world, regardless of culture, rest in deep squats before they have spent years sitting in chairs. The deep squat is the evolutionarily default resting position for a species that spent most of its history without furniture.

What changes with chair-dominant culture is not human anatomy but soft tissue flexibility. The hip flexors shorten. The Achilles tendon loses elasticity. The hip external rotators tighten. The lumbar spine, accustomed to being supported by a chair back, loses the active stability needed to maintain a neutral position in a squat. Over years and decades of sitting, the deep squat becomes uncomfortable and then structurally unavailable — not because of any injury but because the tissues have adapted to the habitual position.

In cultures where squatting remains a common resting and working position — China, Japan, Korea, Southeast Asia, South Asia, much of Africa and Latin America — these adaptations do not occur to the same degree. The flexibility and stability required for a comfortable squat are maintained through regular use.

What Chinese Medicine Says About Squatting

TCM does not have a specific doctrine on squatting as an isolated practice, but it fits clearly within the broader framework of movement and qi circulation.

The deep squat compresses and then decompresses the organs of the lower abdomen and pelvis — intestines, bladder, reproductive organs — in a way that promotes circulation and qi movement through the lower burner (下焦, xià jiāo), the TCM functional region corresponding to the lower abdomen. Defecating in a squatting position, which positions the puborectalis muscle in a way that straightens the anorectal angle and makes elimination easier, has direct relevance to the TCM spleen-large intestine system's function of eliminating waste.

The traditional squat toilet — still common in China, Japan, and across Asia — requires a full deep squat for use, and there is genuine physiological research supporting easier, more complete defecation in the squatting position. The raised toilet, from this perspective, is a comfort adaptation that compromises a functional position.

The squatting position also loads the hip flexors, glutes, adductors, and the muscles of the lower leg in a way that sitting does not — providing low-intensity muscular maintenance during what would otherwise be passive rest time.

The Desk Worker's Problem

For people who sit at desks for eight or more hours a day, the loss of the resting squat is part of a broader pattern of hip flexor shortening and hip mobility reduction that has significant downstream effects:

• Tight hip flexors create anterior pelvic tilt, which compresses the lumbar spine
• Reduced hip mobility shifts load from the hips to the lower back and knees during any bending or lifting
• Loss of hip external rotation reduces the body's capacity for lateral movement and balance
• Shortened Achilles tendon reduces ankle dorsiflexion, affecting gait and the body's ability to absorb ground reaction forces

The resting squat, done regularly, is one of the most comprehensive mobility interventions available for the hip-ankle-spine complex — and one that requires no equipment, no dedicated time, and no particular skill once the initial mobility is established.

Rebuilding the Squat

For adults who have lost comfortable access to a deep squat, the restoration is a gradual process:

Start with an assisted squat. Hold a door frame or TRX strap at arm's length, lower into the deepest squat available without discomfort, and use the arms to maintain balance and relieve some load from the ankles and hips. Hold 30–60 seconds. Do this multiple times daily.

Address ankle mobility. The most common limitation for Westerners is ankle dorsiflexion — the ability of the shin to come forward over the foot while keeping the heel flat. Kneeling calf stretches (knee over toe, pressing forward while keeping heel down) address this specifically.

Add heel elevation incrementally. Placing a small wedge (a folded yoga mat or book) under the heels reduces the ankle dorsiflexion requirement and allows the squat to deepen while the ankle flexibility is being restored. Reduce the elevation over weeks as mobility improves.

Use squat-rest throughout the day. Replacing one or two sitting periods per day with a squatting rest — while reading, watching video, waiting for something — maintains the gains from the stretching work and integrates the position into normal life rather than treating it as an exercise.

The timeframe varies considerably. People with some existing hip and ankle mobility may recover a comfortable deep squat in a few weeks. People with significant restriction may take several months of consistent practice.

The Broader Context

Squatting is one expression of a general Chinese approach to movement as maintenance rather than exercise — the idea that the body requires regular, varied position-loading throughout the day rather than a single concentrated exercise session. Walking after meals reflects the same principle. Baduanjin is a formalised version of the same intuition: the body needs to move through its full range at regular intervals.

The squat is not a Chinese practice. It is a human practice that has been preserved in cultures that did not eliminate it through furniture design. The unusual thing is not that Chinese people squat — it is that Western populations have lost the ability to do something they were born able to do.