So it's apparently 3degrees outside today, yet my colleagues still insist on having all the office windows wide open. What is with this obsession with (no so) fresh air, even when it means unbearably cold working temperatures inside？I've never had a job where I've needed to wear coat, gloves, scarf etc. all day, not an indoors job anyway.

Well, traditional Chinese medicinal theory places a great emphasis on fresh air, which is the origin of it. It also teaches that it is unhealthy to keep and hold things in your body that need to get out (which is true), which is why Chinese people spit alot and children pee on the street. Many of these practices which seem odd to us Westerners, are rooted in ancient medicinal theory, and are actually quite logical, according to that theory.

and surely there's a reason that 'chinese medicine' hasn't simply become medicine？maybe because what westerners know as medicine is more sucessful？
working all day in temperatures close to freezing, as they are today, is surely worse for health than closing the windows？

Amylaura, Chinese and Western medicinal theory, and heck, even entire worldviews, are different, as you know. While Western medicine can be empirically tested of course, Chinese medicine focuses on overall balance and health. So I am not sure what to say. In all fairness, Western empirical studies have found no connection between the temperature of the air, and becoming sick. There are theories as to why people tend to become sick in the Winter, but none are based on the mere temperature of the air.

@Amylaura
See if you can sneak in an electric under the desk heater...if your legs and feet are warm(er) (extremities), that should help you warm back up to reasonably comfortable temperatures inside your wrappings.

This is one of those times when it's best to adapt. As a foreigner - you actually might be able to "get away with it"...since you're not used to this aspect of Chinese culture/behavior.

dear ladies and germs,

if you're indoors with people who are sick, the virus can spread to you more easily.

contrarily...

...cold weather can constrict blood vessels, slowing down white blood cells and keeping them from doing their job at blocking potential threats to our health.

so windows open or closed both pose a risk. not sure which is worse though. if the risk is about the same, then at least with windows closed it's more comfortable.

Yes, an electric heater is perfectly acceptable. They are not actually going for cold air, they are going for fresh air. So if windows are open, you can use a heater with no problem.

or convince them that it's equally unhealthy to be in the cold all day, get them to close the windows, and if someone is sick, tell them to stay home until they get better.

Cold per se doesn't make you sick, but with THIS weather and lack of central heating systems in KM, I'd say I have been almost suffering of hypothermia after over a month of bearing low temperatures when away from two heaters I bought (which I still try to use them only when it is really cold, like today).

I think the idea of having a constant fresh airflow is plain stupid these days, more so due to the pollution levels we have been reaching in December and end of November. Alas, in autumn and winter we have higher pollution levels everywhere because of low-pressure conditions. Last Monday I stayed at home, not just refusing to chill my bones in my shared office (with open windows I keep on closing), but mainly because of the AQI that from red levels skied up into purple for 2 or 3 hours.

All in all, windows closed allow for better health conditions, especially to foreigners less used to Chinese cold and flu strains.

I also try to wear PM 2.5 masks on public transports (when I seldom used them, outside my cycling routine), in which the dry air allows for the spreading of viruses at a longer distance. And we know Chinese do not cover their mouths when sneezing, coughing, etc...

Why do more people get a COLD in the winter then they do in the summer? Why is this illness called a COLD and not called something else. Why do people get more sore throats in the winter (cold) then they do in the summer? With the exception of allergy season, why do people sneeze more often when it is cold then when it is hot?