An old story that conveys information.

abstract

In ancient times, China used drums to transmit information, as early as the end of primitive society.

By the Western Zhou Dynasty, China had a relatively complete postal system.

During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, with the progress of politics, economy and culture, postal communication gradually became complete.

During the Three Kingdoms period, Cao Wei's greatest achievement in postal history was the formulation of the Postal Order.

One of the signs of postal development in Sui and Tang Dynasties is the increase in the number of post stations.

During the Yuan Dynasty in China, the postal service was greatly developed.

The biggest feature of the post system reform in Qing Dynasty is the combination of "post" and "post".

After the mid-Qing Dynasty, with the establishment of modern postal service, the ancient postal system was gradually eliminated.

Fire spreads military intelligence.

"Beacon" is a communication method used to transmit frontier military information in ancient China. It began in Shang and Zhou Dynasties and extended to Ming and Qing Dynasties. We have been learning from each other for thousands of years, especially in the Han Dynasty. At the height of the frontier defense military fortress or transportation hub, a high platform is built at regular intervals, commonly known as beacon tower, also known as beacon tower, trestle, smoke pier and so on. Garrison is waiting on the high platform. When the enemy invaded, they burned firewood during the day to give the alarm of "burnt smoke" and at night to give the alarm of "bonfire". When a station lights a lighthouse, neighboring stations also light their torches one after another and pass them one by one. Soon, in order to report the enemy's situation, they send troops, ask for reinforcements and defeat the enemy.

In the history of our country, there is also a story that a "bonfire-playing warlord" lit a bonfire at will to please beautiful women and eventually led to national subjugation.

Haojing, the capital of the Zhou Dynasty, was established after the demise of the Shang Dynasty, which was called the Western Zhou Dynasty in history. In the early days, in order to consolidate the state power, Zhou Wang successively enfeoffed his brothers, relatives and heroes to various places as vassals, established vassal states and established a whole set of systems. Agriculture, handicrafts and commerce have all developed to a certain extent.

Letters from Hongyan-Letters from afar

The story of The Legend of Hongyan comes from Hanshu? The story of "Su Wu herding sheep" in Biography of Su Wu. According to records, in the first year of the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty (BC 100), Su Wu, the ambassador of the Han Dynasty, was detained by Shan Yu, the messenger of the Huns. He was brave and unyielding, and Khan exiled him to the no-man's land in Beihai (now Lake Baikal) to shepherd sheep. 19 years later, Emperor Hanzhao succeeded to the throne, and the fierce Han Dynasty reconciled and became a family. The envoys of the Han Dynasty were ferocious and demanded to let Su Wu go back. Khan refused, but he couldn't say it, so he lied that Su Wu was dead. Later, Emperor Zhao of the Han Dynasty sent envoys to Xiongnu, and Chang Hui, the detained deputy envoy who sent envoys to Xiongnu with Su Wu, met with the envoys of the Han Dynasty in secret one night with the help of the jailer, told them about Su Wu, and came up with a plan for them to tell Khan: "When Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was hunting in Shanglinyuan, he killed a goose with a letter tied to his foot, which said that Su Wu. Han was very happy after hearing this, so he blamed Khan according to Chang Hui's words. Khan was greatly surprised after hearing this, but he couldn't deny it, so he had to let Su Wu go back.

Jade bird delivers books.

According to Shan Hai Jing, an ancient rare book in China, there are three kinds of bluebirds, namely Zhao Lan and Yan Zi (the author of one of them has not been found). They are the attendants and messengers of the Queen Mother of the West. They can fly over Qian Shan to deliver information and good news of good luck, happiness and happiness to the world. It is said that the Queen Mother of the West once wrote a letter to Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. The Queen Mother of the West sent a jade bird to deliver a book, and the jade bird always sent the letter from the Queen Mother of the West to the Chenghua Temple in the Han Palace. In later myths, the bluebird gradually evolved into the king of birds-Phoenix.

In the Southern Tang Dynasty, master Li Jing wrote a poem "The bluebird doesn't spread the news outside the cloud, and the lilacs are sad in the rain"; In the Tang Dynasty, Li Bai wrote a poem "I hope I can repay the three bluebirds of Sauvignon Blanc"; Li Shangyin wrote a poem "There is no road to Pengshan, Oh, Bluebird, please listen!"! -Give me what she said! “； Cui wrote a poem "When will the bluebird fly?" .

Letter forwarding from home

Pigeons pass books, and everyone is familiar with it, because there is also the Pigeons Association here, and long-distance pigeon flying competitions are often held. The homing pigeon won't get lost in a long flight, which stems from its unique function, that is, it can tell the direction by feeling the magnetic force and latitude.

At present, there is no clear statement about the exact start time of carrier pigeon book transmission, but as early as the Tang Dynasty, carrier pigeon book transmission was very common. There is a record of "Pigeons Pass Books" in Wang Renyu's "The Legacy of Kaiyuan Tianbao" in the Five Dynasties: "When Zhang Jiuling was a teenager, he raised a group of pigeons at home. Every time I correspond with my relatives and friends, I only go to the pigeon's foot book department, follow the instructions and fly to it. When I was nine years old, I was a flying slave and everyone liked to be stunned. " Zhang Jiuling was a statesman and poet in the Tang Dynasty. He not only used carrier pigeons to deliver letters, but also gave carrier pigeons a beautiful name-"flying slaves". Since then, carrier pigeons have been playing an important role in people's communication life during the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties.

Kite communication

The kite we use for entertainment today played an important role as an emergency communication tool in ancient times.

According to legend, as early as the end of the Spring and Autumn Period, Lu's skillful craftsman lost the game (that is, Lu Ban) and imitated the bird shape. "Cutting bamboo and wood thought it was a magpie and flew three days later." This flying "wooden magpie" made of bamboo and wood is the predecessor of kite. During the Eastern Han Dynasty, Cai Lun invented papermaking. People used bamboo sticks to make a frame, and then pasted it with paper, which became a "paper kite". In the Five Dynasties, when people made paper kites, they would tie a bamboo whistle to the kite. The wind blows the bamboo whistle, which sounds like a kite, hence the word "kite".

The original kites were made for military needs, and their main purpose was to be used for military reconnaissance or to transmit information and military intelligence. It was not until the Tang Dynasty that kites gradually became an entertainment toy and spread among the people.

lighthouse

Lighthouses originated from the bonfires in ancient Egypt. The earliest lighthouse in the world was built in the 7th century BC, located at Baba Point in the Daniil Strait, standing like a huge bell tower. At that time, people burned firewood in the lighthouse and used its fire to guide the course.

In 280 BC, the ancient Egyptians were ordered by King Ptolemy II Filadelf to build a lighthouse on Faross Island opposite Alexandria, Egypt, which was 85 meters high and burned wood, flames and smoke columns day and night as navigation signs. Known as one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, the Faros Lighthouse was destroyed by the earthquake in 1302. At the beginning of the 9th century, the French lighthouse was built on Douang Reef, a surgical site at the mouth of the Gironde River, and has been rebuilt twice so far. The existing lighthouse was built in 16 1 1 year.

Among the ancient lighthouses, Livorno Lighthouse in Italy is still in use today. This lighthouse was built in 1304, made of stone and 50 meters high. The first lighthouse in America was the Boston lighthouse built in 17 16. Since then, the lens lighthouse was built in 1823, the electric lighthouse was built in 1858, the lighthouse was first built on soft foundation in 1885, and the first gas flash tower was built in 1906. 1850, there were only 1570 lighthouses in the world, and the number of 1900 increased to 9400. By the beginning of 1984, including other luminous beacons, the total number of lighthouses had exceeded 55,000.

Communication tower

In the18th century, French engineer Claude Chapp successfully developed a practical communication system to speed up information transmission. The system consists of several communication towers located 230 kilometers between Paris and Lille. A wooden pole is erected at the top of these towers, and a horizontal crossbar is installed on the wooden pole. People can rotate and swing the wooden pole under the operation of ropes to form various angles. Two vertical arms are installed at both ends of the horizontal cross bar and can also rotate. In this way, each tower can form 192 different configurations through wooden poles, and the nearby towers can see the information representing 192 through telescopes. In this way, information can be transmitted to a distance of 230 kilometers in two minutes. This system made great contributions to the French revolutionary war in the18th century.

signal flag

Signal flags have been used for communication on ships for more than 400 years. The advantage of banner communication is that it is very simple. Therefore, even though modern communication technology is quite developed today, this simple communication method is still preserved and has become an important way of short-distance communication. In sign communication, signal signs can be used alone or in combination to express different meanings. Usually hanging a flag indicates the most urgent, important or commonly used content. For example, the A-letter flag is hoisted, which means "There are divers under my boat, please stay away from my boat slowly"; Hang the O-letter flag, which means "someone falls into the water"; Hanging the W flag means "my ship needs medical assistance" and so on.

flag signal

During the 200 years of15-16th century, the fleet commander commanded his ships by firing guns or sailing. 1777, Admiral Howe, commander of the British and American fleets, printed a signal manual, becoming the first person to write a signal book. Later, Admiral Sir Pophan used some flags as shorthand letters and created a complete set of semaphore letters. 1805, when Lord Nelson commanded the Battle of Trafalgar, the last signal he sent before his death was 16 Popham semaphore: "Get close to the enemy and fight at close range."

18 17, British navy colonel Mariette compiled the first internationally recognized alphanumeric code. There are also 40 signal flags, including 26 letter flags, 10 number flags, 3 substitute flags and 1 answer flags. Flags have different shapes: dovetail, rectangle, trapezoid, triangle and so on. The colors and patterns of flags are also different.