Before papermaking was invented, what did the ancients use to wipe their bottoms?

The story of the toilet: a dirty but pleasant journey

Abstract: This paper traces the changing process of toilet cleaning methods in China from the Three Kingdoms to the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Toilets and toilets were introduced to China from India with Buddhism during the Three Kingdoms period, and the official record of using toilet paper was created by Mongols in the Yuan Dynasty. Both of them are important turning points in the evolution of the ancient custom of wiping soil in China, thus confirming the open characteristics of Chinese civilization.

Keywords: toilet preparation; toilet paper

What did the ancients use to wipe filth after defecation? The Hong Kong drama "Searching for Qin" raised this question. There is such a plot in the play: Xiang Shaolong, a Hong Kong special police officer, was sent to Zhao State in the Warring States Period by time machine and spent the night in a resident's house. He was in a hurry to go to the toilet, and Xiang Shaolong asked the old man for "toilet paper". The old man was puzzled and asked, "How to wipe your ass"? The old man picked up a bamboo from the toilet and said, "This is it! Please feel free to use it. " Seeing this, I can't help but make people laugh. Yes, what did the ancients use to wipe their ass?

This paper traces the history of the ancient custom of wiping the floor from near to far against the river flow of time. It should be noted that it is not excluded that some people in some areas still use a variety of other things, but the mainstream is that people generally use toilet paper. Therefore, our textual research on history can only represent the mainstream of civilization in an era.

Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties-Coarse Paper Age

People in the Qing dynasty used paper to wipe filth, and there are many documents that can be verified. This is just an example. In the forty-first episode of A Dream of Red Mansions, there was a passage about Granny Liu having loose bowels: Granny Liu felt a noise in her stomach, so she took a little girl and asked for two pieces of paper to undress. Everyone laughed and drank him. "Not here!" Busy life A woman brought it to the northeast. This description shows that when Cao Xueqin was alive, people in the Grand View Garden and the countryside used toilet paper to wipe dirty.

The organization in charge of logistics in the imperial palace of the Ming Dynasty was called "SiSi". According to "Fifty Officials of Ming History", "I am reluctant to manage the firewood used by our company; The bell and drum department is in charge of the bell and drum of the dynasty, as well as various zaju such as inner music, legend, brocade and rice beating; Baochao Zhang Si made thick and thin toilet paper; The matter of bathing in the mixed hall. " Among them, the Treasure Department is the competent department of toilet paper.

So, what paper did people use at that time? Therefore, we need to know the types of ancient paper in China.

During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Song wrote in the "Heavenly Creations": "All the skins of Broussonetia papyrifera (a kind of catalpa bungeana), mulberries, hibiscus membranes and other things are made of paper. Bamboo paper is for people who use bamboo hemp. The essence is extremely white, used for writing, printing, Cambodia and opening. Thick is fire paper and wrapping paper. " It is also recorded that "this paper (fire paper) is burned 17, and daily 13". It can be seen that paper is divided into "leather paper" and "bamboo paper" because of different raw materials, but no matter which kind of paper is "thin" or "thick", the thin paper is used for writing, 70% of the thick paper is used for offering sacrifices to ghosts and gods, and 30% is used for daily necessities.

Distinguishing the types of paper, we also know that respecting and cherishing Chinese character paper has a long tradition in China. According to folklore, there is a reward for wiping dirt with printed paper. In the Qing Dynasty, a large number of precious characters were circulated in the society as sacred laws formulated by Emperor Wenchang. Today, we can also see Xi Zi Fa, Xi Zi Xin Bian, Xi Zi Ji Jian, Wen Chang Di Xi Zi Fa and Wen Chang Xi Zi Gong Fa. Officials even explicitly prohibit printing on paper that can be used to wipe dust. 1873 March 14 The newspaper Shen Bao reported that a woman wiped the dirt with writing paper, threw it into the toilet and was struck by lightning. On February 3, 65438 of the same year, Li Zongxi, the governor of Liangjiang, ordered all paper workshops to preach that it is not allowed to stamp the edges of papyrus and other articles, and it is not allowed to transform old books and accounts into paper to avoid blasphemy. ”[ 1].

The earliest record of using toilet paper was found in Yuan Dynasty. Before the Tang and Song Dynasties, people used a kind of wood or bamboo piece called "toilet piece", probably because the rulers of the Yuan Dynasty were backward in culture and didn't have the consciousness of "respecting and cherishing word paper" of the Han nationality. According to "Two Records of Three Empresses in Yuan History", Bolan, the empress of Huisheng in Yuzong, was also very filial to her mother-in-law when she was a crown princess. She wants to test the softness of toilet paper with her face before her mother-in-law wipes dirty things: "After filial piety, good deeds are in the palace, and the ancestors are called good wives." Stone listens to the words of the holy king, never leaving his feet, uses paper to go to the toilet, and rubs his face to make it soft. "

To sum up, people began to wipe the filth with toilet paper during the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties. Most of this paper is "rough" paper without words. As for whether the toilet paper used in the palace is coarse paper or fine paper, it is impossible to make a detailed textual research. I don't think the princess will rub her delicate face with thick paper.

Tang and Song Dynasties —— The Times of Using Toilet Pieces and Coarse Paper

The toilet seat is also called toilet poop. Simply put, it is a wooden stick or bamboo pole used to wipe dirty after defecation. This kind of toilet was still used in parts of China and Japan in the last century.

Recently, many ancient toilets have been discovered in Japanese archaeology. During the excavation of Fujiwara-Kyo site in Gaodiancho, Nara Prefecture on 1992, the remains known as "the oldest toilet in Japan" were discovered. The toilet remains were found on the outside of Fujiwara-Jingqitiao building site at the end of the 7th century, and "more than 50 pieces of wood/kloc-0 were unearthed in the toilet pit". Similar toilet fragments were also found in the ruins of the split-house toilet excavated in Fukuoka City from about 720 to 730 AD. 11-12nd century, a large number of toilets were also unearthed at the site of Liuzhiyusuo in Pingquan Town, Iwate Prefecture, with the specification of "average length of 24, width of 0.5-0.8 and thickness of 0.5 cm" [2]. During the Tang and Song Dynasties, China had close contacts with China, and the Japanese lifestyle had a great influence on Japan. Therefore, these archaeological discoveries in Japan have important reference value for inferring the tools used by the Japanese in the Tang and Song Dynasties.

In addition to archaeological evidence, the record of using toilets in Tang and Song Dynasties can also be found in the historical book Song Maling's Book of Southern Tang Dynasty. Biography of the Fautu: "The Queen and Zhou Zhou wear monk's hats and robes, recite Buddhist scriptures and bow down as tumors. Cut off the monk's toilet strip by hand, try it on the cheek, and make it up when the thorn is less. " According to Ji Tang's Forty-Seven Notes of Zi Tong Zhi Jian, Han Kun was appointed as our ambassador to Zhenhai, and delivered a lot of materials to Guanzhong, including a toilet fund: "Then put the equipment on the boat, go down to the toilet fund, write all the notes and everything is ready."

Article 14 of the Toilet-going Law of the Tang Dynasty's Law on Protecting Monks with New Learning records the daily norms of monks, in which the Toilet-going Law requires monks to "always keep a toilet and not lose anything" and expressly stipulates that "words and old paper are not allowed". This record proves that the monks in the Tang Dynasty used toilets to clean filth. At the same time, it is forbidden to use "writing old paper" to wipe dirty things, which is very interesting. Since it is banned, someone must do it in real life, otherwise how can it be banned?

During the Tang and Song Dynasties, paper was not only used for writing, but also for daily life and offering sacrifices to ghosts and gods. The Song Dynasty's Mourning for the Sun and Zhai Congchao recorded that "the Southern Qi Dynasty abolished the emperor and loved ghosts and gods, and often cut paper into money instead of silk, but there was paper money"; "Book of the Tang Dynasty" Wang Yuchuan: "Since the Han Dynasty, every burial has money, so praying for God, using paper money began with Wang Yu"; Records of burning paper money began to appear frequently in historical materials after the Tang Dynasty. There is also a record in "Heavenly Creations": "In the prosperous Tang Dynasty, ghosts and gods were numerous, and paper money was changed to silk. In the north, it is called cardboard cutting. That's why the person who does this is called fire paper. This paper 17 is burned, 13 is for daily use. The thickest paper is called wrapping paper, which is what Ma Zhu and Sutian did in their late rice manuscripts. Since the emergence of household paper, it is logical for people to use it to wipe dirt.

Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties-the era of toilet preparation

Before the Tang Dynasty, there was a record of using a toilet, but there was no evidence of wiping it with paper.

Liang Ji (Volume 22) records that Gao Yang, the emperor of the Northern Qi Dynasty, "took Yang Kui as the prime minister, raised money in the toilet, whipped his back, and bled with his robe."

Yu Lin, a series of ancient novels by Lu Xun and Pei Qi's lost books in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, records that "Liu Ao went to Shi Chong to go to the toilet and saw a big bed with a crimson gauze curtain, which was very beautiful. Two handmaids were holding sachets, calling it Chongyue: I strayed into your room, and Chongyue: It was a toilet.

In the 13th "Induction Record" of Fa Yuan written by Taoist priests in the Tang Dynasty, it was recorded: "When Wu was built, the garden was razed to the ground. Get a golden statue. Discuss its origin. It is said that it was made by Wang Yu in the early Zhou Dynasty. This town is in Fu Jiang. How did you know? Since the Qin, Han and Wei Dynasties, there has been no Buddhism and Buddhism in Nantah. There is no such thing as being buried underground. Sun Hao got it. Never believed it. Not very respectful. Put it in the toilet to make a screen. " If this is true, it is obvious evidence of the use of toilet funds during the Three Kingdoms period.

The suspicion of using toilets to raise funds was introduced into China with Buddhism. In the early Buddhist laws, it was recorded that Sakyamuni instructed many monks to use the toilet. For example, in the sixth volume of Bodhi Mother's Book, when the Buddha was in King Snake City, there was a monk of Brahman caste. Clean and dirty, scrape the grass under the road when you go to the toilet. Scratching will hurt and the color will not look good. The monks asked, "Why do you look haggard and miserable?" ? That is to say, "I hate it when I go to the toilet." If I scratch it with a spoon, I will hurt myself, so I am not happy. " In response to this situation, Sakyamuni Buddha said: "The whole story is finished, and the net is scraped clean. Without preparation, the wall surface is not cleaned, the toilet plate beam is not cleaned, stones are not used, grass is not used, and clods of cork and soft leaves are not used; Application, wood, bamboo and reed as preparation.

Measurement method, the longest is one finger and the shortest is four fingers. Used doesn't necessarily make it dirty, and used doesn't necessarily keep it in the net. This is a way to improve the toilet. "

Buddha Sakyamuni lived in the 6th and 7th centuries BC, and these commandments were written more than 100 years after his death. So according to the current literature, the history of using toilets in India is much earlier than that in China. During the Eastern Han Dynasty, Buddhism began to be introduced into China. At first, only some classics were introduced, but the "laws" that explicitly required believers to live in daily life began in the Three Kingdoms, and the earliest record of China people using toilets to manage their finances began in the Three Kingdoms. Therefore, the theory of toilet financing introduced from India is still valid at present. However, it is not excluded that China people have used the toilet before, but there is no evidence at present. The final answer may be given by future archaeological discoveries.

The use of toilet cleaner was introduced from India with Buddhism. Later, it was the Mongolian royal family in Yuan Dynasty that changed toilet cleaner to paper. From the evolution of China's ancient custom of wiping dirt, we can see the openness of China culture, from small to large, and from then on, we can also see the fine tradition of the Chinese nation absorbing all the outstanding achievements of human civilization.