How did ancient people wipe their stools?

A long time ago, rich people had to change their clothes when they went to the toilet. The richest man in the Southern Dynasties built a magnificent toilet. Generally, a dozen maids dressed in gorgeous clothes stood at the door waiting for them with fried nail powder, agarwood juice and new clothes.

There are guests at home, and I am embarrassed to go when I see this situation. Nevertheless, General Wang took off his clothes and went to the toilet. After defecating, he came out wearing the new clothes prepared by his maid, and his expression was full of pride. From this detail, it is not difficult to see why the ancients called going to the toilet "changing clothes."

Of course, in more poor families, it is impossible to "change clothes", but no matter how you don't change clothes, people's happy feelings during defecation are irreplaceable. This dirty but enjoyable course will not be recorded in all textbooks. It seems that only Ouyang Xiu's reading method of "going to the toilet immediately" is worth popularizing, which really greatly reduces our civilization. Take a look at the following stories with a little historical flavor. Maybe you will think that this is just a good supplement to the history of "laughter".

There is no toilet in Shi Jing.

Speaking of Beijing, in the eyes of the world, there are just a few emperors and kings. Scholars in recent hundreds of years can't wait to express their gratitude and gratitude for "living in the capital" with all the good words in this city.

However, what I introduce to you today is a filthy and smelly Beijing. It is best not to read the following history after dinner. From Beijing 16 to 19, that is, in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the lack of public facilities and disorderly management were behind the commercial prosperity. In such a big city as Beijing, there are so few public toilets that the saying that "there is no toilet in the capital" has been passed down from generation to generation. In the Ming Dynasty, Wang Siren pointed out the shortcomings of essays and compared the capital to a huge toilet. Isn't this a bit sensational?

In fact, the situation is far more serious than this. Because a few public toilets are also charged, if it is not out of decency or other scruples, under normal circumstances, no one will walk in the street for a long time. "Old friends urinate in the middle of the road", not only ordinary people do this, but also some officials take the lead. Not only men are so casual, but even women pour toilets directly in the street. Naturally, feces mixed with urine, human feces mixed with cow urine, Beijing is not only a huge public toilet, but also a huge garbage station. When it is really "heavy filth, you can smell it everywhere" (according to Yanjing Miscellanies, which was anonymous in the Qing Dynasty).

It was not until the late Qing Dynasty that this situation changed. Toilets have been built in every street in Beijing, and it is not allowed to urinate anywhere. And there was a dung cart, with the bell as the number.

The stinking Beijing city is slowly cleaning up. ...

Royal meteorology

According to Zuo Zhuan, at noon in 58 1 BC, Duke Jinu of Jin Jing felt bloated after eating new wheat, so he went to the toilet to defecate and accidentally fell into the cesspit and died. Jinu is probably the first monarch who died in the toilet in written records in history, revealing the simplicity of the court toilet in the pre-Qin period. This painful price has made future generations more cautious about shit.

Liu Bang, the Emperor Gaozu of Han Dynasty, ranked first in the history of hooliganism in China, and what he did really deserved his position. He is anxious in front of ministers. In order to save the meeting time and not fall into the toilet, he asked a civilian to hand him his hat. He turned around and turned his hat upside down. After a while, half a hat was steaming in front of everyone.

Liu Che, the descendant of the rogue emperor, was even more ingenious, even meeting with senior officials when he was defecating. This is revealed in the biography of Han Ji 'an: "General (Wei) is among the young servants, looking at it from the toilet." Historians have not recorded Wei Qing's emotions, but what is certain is that Wei Qing was a first-class minister in the eyes of Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty. Perhaps it is for this reason that he got an interview when the emperor defecated.

Shi Shuo Xin Yu reveals the unusual features of the royal toilet. Wang Dun, a general in the Western Jin Dynasty, was recruited by Emperor Wu of Jin Dynasty as Princess Xu of Wuyang. On his wedding night, he used the princess's toilet for the first time. The first time I saw it, it felt magnificent, much better than the folk houses. When I went in, I found it smelled bad, and my heart was a little calmer. After a while, I saw a paint box containing dried dates in the toilet, and I thought it was "food in the pit" and ate it all; Afterwards, the maid-in-waiting brought a plate of water and a glass bowl filled with "bath beans", and Wang Dun poured these "bath beans" into the water and gulped them down, causing "the group of maids to laugh". It turns out that dried dates are used to plug the nose to prevent odor when climbing the pit, and "bath beans" are equivalent to modern soap.

Perhaps inspired by Emperor Gaozu wearing a minister's hat to pee, later emperors mostly used urinals to solve problems instead of going to the toilet in person. "Miscellanies of Xijing" said that the court in Han Dynasty used jade as "nothing", which was held by the emperor's attendants for the convenience of the emperor at any time. This kind of "nothing" is a special sanitary ware called toilet and urinal by later generations-it is known that the emperor will not have to deal with the toilet at the latest. "Wu" was later renamed "toilet", which is said to be related to the emperor. According to legend, in the Western Han Dynasty, Li Guang, a flying general, shot and killed a crouching tiger, making people cast a copper drowning device in the shape of a tiger and put it in urine to show their contempt for the tiger. This is the origin of the name "tiger". However, when the emperors of the Tang Dynasty sat in Long Ting, because one of their ancestors was called Li Hu, they changed this disrespectful name to "son of an animal" or "Ma Zi", which was later commonly known as "toilet" and "urinal".

Song Taizu Zhao Kuangyin pacified Sichuan and transported all the objects in Houshu Palace back to Bianjing. It was found that one of them was a basin inlaid with agate and jade, which was almost used to hold wine. Later, she was called Lady Huarui, the favorite princess of Shu Lord Meng Changjun. Mrs. Hua Rui saw that this thing was offered several times by the Emperor of Song Dynasty, and quickly said, This is the urinal of my late king! Surprised, Zhao Kuangyin made a strange call: "How can there be a reason not to die with this urinal?" Immediately smashed the basin.

It is difficult to distinguish urinals from wine containers, which is probably a joke caused by different aesthetic tastes of the ancients. Toilets developed to the Qing Dynasty, which has shown a very strong feature of humanistic care. The toilets used by emperors and empresses in the Qing Dynasty were called "official rooms", which were kept by special eunuchs and passed to the "official rooms" when necessary. The "official residence" used by emperors and concubines is very particular. It is divided into rectangular and oval forms, and is made of wood, tin or porcelain. The wooden official residence is rectangular, with a wooden frame outside, an oval opening on the frame, cushions around it and a cover at the opening. The bedpan can be drawn like a drawer. Generally, wooden bedpans are equipped with iron lining to prevent leakage. The tin official residence is oval, with a wooden cover on the basin and a button in the middle; This kind of bedpan should be used with a stool, which is short and has an oval opening at the front end. The bedpan should be placed under it to align with the circular opening. Stools have backrests and soft linings, just like sofas without handrails now. Sitting on it is not worse than the current toilet, but it can't flush.

The convenience of Empress Dowager Cixi is recorded sporadically in some historical materials. The queen mother said that she would send an official, and several ladies-in-waiting went to prepare separately. One went to call the eunuch in charge of the official residence, one went to get the bedding, and the other went to write a paper. The official residence of Empress Dowager Cixi is made of sandalwood, and its appearance is carved into a giant gecko. Gecko's four legs are the four legs of the official residence. Gecko's bulging belly is a cabinet drawer, its tail is the back handle and its chin is the front handle. Mouth slightly open, toilet paper in it. Gecko has a cover in the middle of its back. After opening it, you can sit on the "convenience". There is dried rosin wood powder in the official residence. The eunuch will wrap the official crown in embroidered Yunlong yellow cloth and send it to the door of the queen mother's bedroom. After paying homage, he will open the yellow cloth cover, take out the official residence and send it to the clean room (the clean room is usually located on the right side of the bedroom bed, and there are one or two small doors installed on the tooling, which are less than one meter wide and convenient for defecation). The maid-in-waiting will spread the tarpaulin on the floor of the clean room and put the official residence on the tarpaulin. When Empress Dowager Cixi finished speaking, the maid-in-waiting carried it out and gave it to the eunuch. The eunuch still wrapped it in cloth, held it to his head and went out. After cleaning up the dirt, he scrubbed it clean and put in new dry rosin wood powder for later use.

Although this can be done in the palace, the journey naturally cannot be so complicated, and it is not convenient to travel all the way. We don't have to worry about that. Someone has already thought it over for the Queen Mother Lafayette. 1903 In March, Cixi wanted to shake her prestige by train in the name of paying tribute to Xiling (west of Yixian County, Hebei Province). In the bedroom, there is a special iron bed facing the window. There are all kinds of bedding and pillows on the bed, and there are curtains around. There is a door on one side of the bed, which opens into a wishful bucket for defecation. The bottom of the bucket is covered with yellow sand and then filled with mercury, and the feces fall into invisible traces. The barrel is covered with brocade and looks like an embroidered pier.

Meng Sen, a historian of the Qing Dynasty, described it as: "... there are iron beds, mattresses, pillows and quilts in the car, but there is nothing wrong with smoking opium without using the original couch of the float. The bed is placed horizontally, facing the window, surrounded by curtains, and the bed body is purchased from all sides. Because the column is slightly higher, the feet are cut off and the bed surface is moved higher. There is a door beside the bed, which is a wishful bucket. If you are satisfied with the bucket, you will also have a urinal. There must be yellow sand in the bottom and silver in the water. Feces will fall into the water without trace, covered with brocade, forming embroidered piers. He is still covered with yellow velvet and satin. " This kind of wishful bucket can be regarded as the highest advanced sanitary equipment at that time.

Wipe your ass with what?

Papermaking was a great invention of China as early as the Han Dynasty, but it was not until the Yuan Dynasty that the product of this technology was applied to people's most practical life: going to the toilet. It is speculated by later generations that the Yuan Dynasty was founded by Mongols, and the culture was relatively backward. The Han people did not have the consciousness of "respecting and cherishing word paper", which made toilet paper enter people's lives. For a long time before, everyone used bamboo pieces as toilet hygiene products, even the emperor was no exception. Before the Tang and Song Dynasties, people used a piece of wood or bamboo called "toilet piece". It is recorded in yuan dynasty history that Bolan, the Saint Queen of Yu Zong, was also very filial to her mother-in-law Zhao Ruishun when she was a crown princess. She wanted to test the softness of toilet paper with her face before her mother-in-law wiped it: "Filial piety is the second, good deeds are the palace, and the world is the world." Stone listened to the words of the holy queen, never leaving her side, and went to the toilet. "

Even the paper to wipe your ass should first try hard and soft with your face. This filial piety is really remarkable. So, what about bamboo chips? Soft and hard estimates are no longer a problem. The problem with bamboo is that it has many burrs. In case the bamboo piece is not smooth enough to hurt the user's ass, it's really a wet blanket.

According to the Biography of Southern Tang Dynasty, Li Yu, the queen of Southern Tang Dynasty, personally cut bamboo pieces for monks to use when they went to the toilet, and checked the quality with her cheeks to see if they were smooth and flat. This is the most valuable among the emperors who worship Buddha.

Dig a new hole and become a rich man.

The job of a toilet manager is also 360 lines away. This is definitely a unique road, which is worth learning by businesses and playing by the whole people.

There was a man named Mu Taigong in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties. Of course, no one will carry such high qualifications in his name. The surname Mu is certain, and "Taigong" is probably everyone's respect for him. How did this old gentleman named Mu win the respect of the masses?

Mu Taigong is a countryman. One day, when he entered the city, he found that there were "cesspits" on both sides of the roads in the city, and they were charged. The old gentleman had a good time after he went in and didn't go away. He stood outside this simple toilet for a long time and found that many people came to relieve themselves. So, with his unique business sensitivity, he established his rice bowl for the rest of his life-"It's better to be a different business!"

After returning home, Mr. Mu asked the craftsman to "dig the three houses in front of the door into three big pits, each of which was separated by a small wall, and the wall was powdered again. When he went to his relatives' house in the city, he asked countless poems and paintings to be posted on the wall of this dung house, and asked a scholar to write a unique name for the toilet: "Tooth Hall". In order to attract passengers, I also asked my teacher to write hundreds of "newspapers" and post them in all directions, which read:

The Mu family heard the fragrance of the new cellar, and the gentleman from far and near looked down. This house is willing to stick toilet paper.

This skill is very attractive. Farmers are used to straw bricks and now have ready-made toilet paper. Besides, the toilet environment is really elegant. "The walls are colorful and the most attractive. Going to a new pit is like watching a play. " Attract women to the cesspit, Mu Taigong built another women's toilet.

It is worth noting that Mu Taigong's toilet is free. Then how can his old man's house reflect his economic interests after so much effort? It turned out that as early as when he went to the toilet in the city, he had realized that in rural areas, toilet charging was not feasible. However, feces can be sold. He collected the excrement and sold it to farmers' homes, or replaced it with other people's daily necessities. Once and for all, over time, I have gained a lot of benefits. It is really "better than doing another business"! (Based on "Dig a New Pit and Turn a Ghost into a Rich Man" by an anonymous person in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties)