In China, I have never seen a box-spring on a bed. I’ve stayed in 5-star hotels in Shanghai, Xi-An, Beijing, and many other cities, and I’ve never seen one. I’ve even stayed at American hotels like the Sheraton and Rennasaince and there are no box springs.
Having said that, I also never had box-springs in my pre-furnished apartment in China.
Guess what? It made no difference. Sure, I couldn’t bounce up and down and hear springy noises, but the beds were equally comfortable.
Now most beds in China don’t have frames like ours, they tend to be solid wood/immitation wood that the mattress lies directly on. It feels weird when you first lay down(no bounce), but it is equally comfortable to sleep on.
I think he means “Why do we have them in America.”
We have them because most beds (until the past few years) were not platform beds. They were made with a frame that was empty in the middle. The box spring sits on the frame and provides a support for the mattress to sit on. Other countries have a different style of bed that is the most popular and that style doesn’t require a box spring.
Here in Colombia, the beds have a layer of boards under the mattress. Don’t know why they use box springs except to earn a little more cash. My mattress is as comfortable as any.
I sleep in a thin sleeping bag on a persian rug on the carpet in my room. My back feels MUCH better after I started sleeping on the floor instead of on my bed (It’s a loft bed with a matress sitting ontop of plywood platform, no box spring, which is fortunate, because with a box spring I’d not have room for me between the matress and the cieling )