How did the ancients spend the intense heat? How precious are Yongzheng’s mats?

Nowadays, when it’s hot, we turn on air conditioners and fans to enjoy the coolness brought by summer. But in ancient times, there was no such thing, so our ancestors had to think of other ways to cool down.

So they built special buildings to escape the heat. They used fans when it was hot, bamboo mats and mats when sleeping. When they were thirsty, they ate ice cubes, watermelon and other good summer products. Anyway, in one sentence The ancients still had a good way of escaping from the summer heat.

As the lord of the world, the emperor enjoys various summer facilities that are unimaginable to ordinary people. For example, Yongzheng during the Qing Dynasty had an ivory mat that was paid tribute by Guangdong.

Like modern people, in the summer, wealthy people will bring a group of friends to their summer homes or mountain villas that they have prepared in advance. In addition to escaping the heat, you can also eat, drink, have fun, and connect with friends here.

When this kind of house is built, it is usually built near mountains and rivers, so that the scenery is good and there is a breeze, making people feel cool. Therefore, this kind of house is called "cool house" ".

In addition to a good environment, many people will also set up rockeries, ponds, and various vegetation surrounded by flowing water in the "cool house" to surround the house where they live, and at the same time hang curtains around the house. , various flowers and beads made of various spices will also be placed in the house. These facilities allow the owner of the house to feel enough coolness in the hot summer.

In addition to the "cool house", there are other tools for cooling off. Some people say that fans are good, but they need external stimulation to move. In ancient times, there was no electricity to provide enough energy, so smart ancients thought of using the impact of water or using human power to give the machine enough power. This situation is generally suitable. Rich people. Of course, there are some tools that are suitable for everyone, such as fans, which are not only suitable for civilians, but also for dignitaries.

In addition to fans, you can also find deep wells to store air conditioning. Therefore, many rich people will dig deep wells in the center of the house. This way, the coolness in the well can continue to spread into the house, thus ensuring the temperature of the house. Make people feel comfortable. Therefore, many wealthy people will dig more deep wells in their houses in order to make themselves look different from outsiders.

There are also some really wealthy families who have a special place to store ice cubes. In summer, they will take the ice cubes out of the storage room and put them under the bed and everywhere in the house. First, the cooling effect is very good.

In addition to the common tools for relieving the heat, there is also a very famous tool, that is, the "Mrs. Bamboo", which is named after "Mrs." mainly because this object is used on the bed and can be used by oneself while sleeping. She always accompanies her, hence the term "Mrs."

The Bamboo Lady is made of bamboo or bamboo strips. There are usually two ways to make it. One is to cut a whole piece of bamboo, no more than 1 meter long, hollow, and surrounded by mesh for ventilation and heat dissipation. Placed on the sleeping bed, because there are many Confucius on the bamboo lady, you can hold it while sleeping, which makes many people feel a different coolness in the hot summer. Su Dongpo's poem "Two Poems with Ci Rhymes of Liu Ziyu" says: If I ask about the bamboo table beside the bed, my wife should be confused about Qing Qing. Also, "Sending a Bamboo Table to Xie Xiucai" says: Leave me to accompany you on the wooden seat, and I will give it to you, the Silent Bamboo Lady.

After talking about the various summer artifacts of the ancients, let’s talk about the exquisite ivory mat. Now there are three pieces of this treasure, one of which is stored in the Palace Museum and is now a first-class cultural relic.

This ivory mat is 216 cm long and 139 cm wide. It was made during the Yongzheng and Qianlong years. It is woven from many ivory sheets less than 0.3 cm wide. The texture is in the shape of a "herringbone" and is surrounded by Three laces are woven from ivory sheets dyed black. It is not only a luxurious daily necessities for emperors and empresses, but also an exquisite ancient handicraft.

Ivory sheets are inherently fragile and should not be left to dry during production. place, otherwise it will easily break. Therefore, when making ivory mats, you can only choose to place them in a warm and humid place, otherwise they will easily break. And when making ivory mats, you must use special chemicals to soften them, otherwise they will easily break.

So, making an ivory mat not only takes a long time, but also requires a large amount of ivory, so making an ivory mat is not easy. Emperor Yongzheng was already thrifty, so when he learned about the cost of the ivory mat, he directly ordered that no more ivory mats be made in the future.

The ivory mat currently in the Forbidden City was in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China. A man who was doing business in Beijing and Tianjin in the east accidentally bought a modified treasure. Later, he took it back to his hometown in Shandong and gave it to a county magistrate. After growing up, it was later given to a landowner and donated to the state after the founding of the People's Republic of China.

In addition to the modified ivory mats, there are two other pieces whose whereabouts are unknown. However, we can understand how the ivory mats were made based on relevant documents: "Xijing Miscellaneous Notes" states that Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty "used ivory to symbolize the gift of Li." Mrs.'s record. Ivory mat is ivory mat. The mats woven with ivory silk have a fine and even texture, a flat and smooth surface, soft and comfortable, and can be rolled up easily. They are cooler and more pleasant than straw mats and bamboo mats in summer, and they were important tributes at that time.

It can be seen from this incident that there were ivory mats during the Han Dynasty, and there were also many craftsmen who were proficient in making ivory mats and specialized in this work. So how were the ivory mats made? "Gezhi Jingyuan" ” records: “Annan Deng Shangshe said that his ancestors first paid tribute to the ivory mat. All the elephant teeth were stored in the ivory mat one by one, boiled until soft, and the tooth strips were pulled out one by one and were as soft as threads to weave. For a feast.”