![The practice of hugging a winter melon to beat the summer heat is spreading across China. [Yonhap]](https://wimg.heraldcorp.com/news/cms/2026/08/11/news-p.v1.20260811.22c84929ac1148dcab50f84dad45f46a_P1.jpg)
A traditional Chinese cooling practice — hugging a winter melon while sleeping, much like a body pillow — has gone viral this summer. But the trend has a messy downside: the gourds are bursting in the night, drenching beds and floors in foul-smelling liquid.
The South China Morning Post reported Monday that videos and photos of people clutching large winter melons in bed have been circulating widely on Chinese social media in recent weeks.
The images show babies dozing while embracing green melons larger than their own bodies. Some photos also feature pets leaning against the vegetables to cool down.
The fun, however, has not always lasted. After several nights of use, some melons have exploded, coating beds and floors in putrid, rotting liquid.
A woman in Hubei Province said the decayed flesh and liquid ruined her bed sheets. "It was so disgusting I had to throw out both the sheets and the melon," she said.
Another user wrote that the smell after their melon burst was unbearable. "It was like a sewage pipe had exploded," the person said.
Sleeping with a winter melon is a cooling method that dates to ancient China. The practice is recorded in a late Ming dynasty encyclopedia and a Qing dynasty health manual, both of which describe hugging the gourd as a way to beat summer heat.
Winter melons are about 95 percent water, which allows them to absorb body heat on contact — an effect similar to holding a cold water bottle. The practice has gained renewed popularity recently as a cheap alternative to air conditioning.
The problem is that sleeping with a melon for several nights creates conditions for microbial growth inside the gourd. As bacteria break down the flesh, gas builds up and pressure rises until the melon bursts, releasing rotting juice and a sewer-like stench.
Ao Qingyan, a senior agricultural expert at the Chengdu Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, explained that keeping a melon under a blanket overnight creates a warm, humid environment ideal for fermentation. "Once the waxy outer layer of the melon is damaged, microorganisms can penetrate and break down the sugars and organic matter inside," Ao said. "Carbon dioxide is produced in the process, and if internal pressure builds high enough, the melon will burst."
Ao added that hugging a winter melon is only a temporary, low-cost way to cool down and is not an ideal solution. "There is a real risk of it bursting or developing mold," Ao said. "Air conditioning, cooling mats or cooling pillows are safer and better alternatives."
bbo@heraldcorp.com
