How do we transmit information in ancient times, ancient times, modern times, and the present?

The story of conveying information in ancient and modern times

Beacon fire

In ancient China, in order to convey military intelligence, people set up beacon towers and used fire and smoke to convey information. The beacon tower burned wolf dung during the day and lit firewood at night. Legend has it that when wolf dung is burned, a huge plume of smoke shoots straight into the blue sky, which is easier to spot than fire in the daytime, so beacon fire is sometimes called wolf smoke. When the enemy's situation was discovered, a beacon fire was set off, and word spread from stage to stage, all the way to the military camp. More than 2,700 years ago, China's beacon fire warning system was already very complete during the Zhou Dynasty.

Marathon running is to report messages

In ancient times when transportation and communication were very underdeveloped, people could only send messages on two legs or on horseback. The marathon long-distance running event was established to commemorate a hero who died delivering good news more than 2,000 years ago. In 490 BC, the Greek army repelled the invasion of the Persian King Darius I's army in the Marathon Plain. The messenger Pheidippides ran from the town of Marathon to the capital Athens to report the good news. When he finished running 42.195 kilometers and rushed to the Athens Square to tell the good news, he was exhausted and fell to the ground and died. In order to commemorate the heroic deeds of this warrior, in 1896, at the world's first Olympic Games, the distance he ran was included as a long-distance running event in the Games.

Use stations to transmit information

The invention of writing promoted people's communication, and communication began from then on. As far back as the Zhou Dynasty, China established post stations dedicated to delivering official documents. Documents were passed from one post station to another on horseback. At the same time, a relatively complete post mail system was established to achieve fast and accurate communication. After the Qin Dynasty unified the six countries, the post information transmission system was established as the country's administrative agency. Postal mail transmits information at the speed of a horse running about 15 kilometers per hour to achieve long-distance communication. That was pretty quick at the time.

Host pigeons and homing monkeys

In order to transmit messages, people in ancient times also came up with many strange methods, such as drift bottles, signal trees, homing pigeons, homing monkeys, etc.

In the Bekasa region of Nigeria, monkeys are used to deliver messages. People keep the mother monkey and her cubs in two separate places, and often take the mother monkey to look for her cubs so that the mother monkey can recognize the route. When people need to communicate, they put the letter in a bamboo tube and tie it to the mother monkey, and let it go out to find its offspring. The mother monkey can always deliver the letter to its destination.

Homing pigeons have been an effective tool for transmitting information since ancient times. Today, with highly developed communication technology, homing pigeons still have their place. In war, communications are crucial. However, once a nuclear war breaks out, the strong electromagnetic radiation produced by the nuclear explosion will paralyze various existing electronic communication systems, but homing pigeons can still fly freely. The Swiss Army trained and bred homing pigeons that could deliver letters in both directions. These carrier pigeons no longer carry traditional written letters, but carry computer chips contained in capsules. The coded information inside can only be read on specialized devices, and is extremely confidential. Homing pigeons may even become special messengers.

The emergence of the post office

It is generally believed that the post office was founded by the Persian king Cyrus the Great. Cyrus ruled a vast empire, and messengers could no longer meet the needs of the empire by delivering letters and information. To this end, he established a postal administration department composed of many stations, which was the earliest post office. These stations were spaced at a certain distance and were responsible for taking care of the stage horses that completed one stop every day.

China had a postal system a long time ago, and it was basically complete by the Tang Dynasty. The Yuan Dynasty also rectified the post delivery system connecting the East and the West.

In 31 BC, during the reign of Augustus, the Romans imitated such an institution and established a public inn. The station is equipped with stagecoaches with plenty of fodder and guest rooms for passing officials to stay.

In the Middle Ages, Roman post offices had disappeared and monasteries were spread across Europe. Correspondence between monasteries took place through the use of parchment rolls called parchments. The first monastery wrote their rumors on the scroll, and each monastery that arrived added their rumors, making the scroll longer and longer. For example, the scroll conveying the news of the death of the Abbot of Saint-Veillaur was 9.5 meters long and 0.25 meters wide. It was called the Friars Post Office.

The Qing Post Office was built during the Tongzhi period of the Qing Dynasty (1862-1875). It was one of the thirteen major postal stations in Shanghai during the Qing Dynasty.

It has gone through different stages such as private letter bureau - foreign post office - cultural and newspaper bureau - customs and post office - Qing post office. It is the only remaining Qing Dynasty post office site in East China and is also a microcosm of China's postal history in modern times.

In 1878 (the fourth year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty), the Yantai "Huayang Letters Library" established a branch in Zhoucun, which was the predecessor of the Qing postal institution in the Zibo area. At the end of 1900, Zhoucun Daqing Post Office was opened. In 1902, the second-class post office of the Qing Dynasty was established in Boshan, with 2 agencies at Badou and Xiye Street, 5 letter boxes, 2 village messengers, and 2 messengers from Tongyishui and Wangzhuang. There are 4 messengers from Laiwu and Tai'an. In 1904, postal agencies were established at Guangshun Road and Health Hall Pharmacy in Xiguan, Linzi. The following year, a third-class post office was set up in Huantai, and branch offices were set up in Zhangdian and Suo Town. The Zhangdian Daqing Post Office is located on the former East 4th Street of Zhangdian Street. It handles letters and remittance services for merchants. At that time, Zhoucun, Zichuan, Xincheng (Huantai) Suozhen, Zhangdian and other bureaus were subordinate to the Jinan General Administration, while Boshan, Linzi, Jinling, Zihe and other bureaus were subordinate to the Qingzhou General Administration.

After the Revolution of 1911, the "Qing Post Office" was renamed the "China Post Office". The post office has four levels: postal clerk, postal assistant, postman, and bureau clerk. The original Zhangdian Daqing Post Office was moved to North and South Street.

In January 1919, Linzi Zhonghua Post Office was established in Linzi City. It was initially a third-class post office and was upgraded to a second-class post office in October of the following year. Xindian, Zihe Store, Sunlou Store and Xigucheng were established in the countryside 4 disposal cabinets. In August 1920, Huantai County Post Office (third-class bureau), Zhangdian Post Office (third-class bureau, later upgraded to second-class bureau), Zhoucun Post Office (second-class bureau), and Boshan Post Office (second-class bureau) were established. The Huantai County Post Office has letter lockers in Beishiqiao and Patou Bridge in Caocun, which are operated by merchants.

In 1921, Boshan Post Office added 2 village and town patrol postmen, divided into 2 north and south routes, and patrolled for a week on 3 days. There are letter lockers in Xihe, Yuanquan, Badou, Xiazhuang and Xingjiazhuang.

In 1924, Zhangdian Zhonghua Post Office was changed to a second-class second-class bureau, renting 3 private houses and operating money orders, insured letters, and ordinary mail. There is also a post office in Nam Dinh.

In 1926, the Zhangdian Post Office moved to the original Zhangdian Second Road (now West 1st Road), and added parcel mailing and other services. At the same time, mailboxes were set up in Fushengli and Weigu, and mailing agencies were set up in Ma Shang and Weigu respectively to handle small-amount exchange services.

In 1931, Xindian Branch was upgraded to Xindian Post Office.

In 1943, postal agencies were set up in Tieshan, Weigu and Shiqiao, which were later changed to post offices to handle small-amount remittance business.

In 1945, Zhangdian and Nanding were both second-class and second-class post offices. The Zhangdian Post Office is equipped with a director, two postal officers, three couriers and four coolies. There are also postal agencies in Changcheng and Mashang.

In March 1948, the entire territory of Zibo was liberated, and the "China Post Office" was taken over by the wartime post office. To this day the internet communication, email.

The earliest envelope

Before the birth of the envelope, people struggled to keep letters secret. In order to send letters, the ancient Greeks first shaved the slaves' hair, wrote letters on their scalps, and then sent the letters after the hair had grown back. The recipient could read the letter by shaving the slave's head. In the 10th century BC, the Assyrians in Mesopotamia used clay tablets as letter paper, engraved the content of the letter, and then put it into pottery and burned it. The recipient had to break the pottery to learn the content of the letter.

During the Spring and Autumn, Warring States, and Qin and Han dynasties in China, wooden tablets were common letters. Wooden tablets are generally 1 foot long and about 0.33 meters long, so they are also called ruler tablets. The envelope is made of wooden boards, in the shape of a carp, with a bottom and a cover clamped on the outside of the ruler. Three grooves are carved on the wooden board, tied three times with a rope, and then tied through a square hole, with the thread ends or crosses The wood was inspected everywhere, sealed with clay, and stamped with a seal as a verification to prevent unauthorized demolition. This kind of wooden board can be regarded as the earliest envelope in Chinese history.

After Chinese fire paint was introduced to Europe, sealing paint became a magic weapon for keeping communications confidential. In 1820, the British bookseller Brewer discovered that many ladies and ladies were keen on writing letters while on vacation at the seaside, but they were afraid that the contents of the letters would be known, so he designed a batch of envelopes. These were the world's first paper commodity envelopes. In 1844, the first envelope-paste machine appeared in London. Since then, paper envelopes have become popular all over the world.

Postmarks on envelopes

Today, the main purpose of postmarks is to cancel stamps. However, postmarks predate stamps by more than 400 years. In the 1530s, the post office in Venice, Italy, first used postmarks.

At that time, it was just a small stamp on the mail, indicating the name of the place where the mail was sent. Postage-paid postmarks have since appeared, but none have specific dates.

In 1661, Bishop, the British Postmaster General, created the world's first postmark with a date in order to check and evaluate whether the postman delivered the mail in a timely manner. This perfected the postmark and has been in use ever since. to date. This postmark is 179 years older than the world's first postage stamp.

In 1879, the Qing government of China opened the Qing Post Office, which used the Bagua postmark. The Bagua postmark only indicates the place name, not the date. Later postmarks were gradually added with year and date marks. However, the chronology on the postmark is rather special. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the AD chronology was uniformly adopted.

After entering the 20th century, the types of postmarks have continued to increase. In addition to date stamps, there are more than 10 types of postage-paid stamps, commemorative stamps, free military postmarks, and tourist attraction commemorative stamps.

The earliest one-penny stamp

In 1365, before Bishop invented the date postmark, the Paris Post Office in France, in order to deal with the increasing backlog of letters due to refusal to pay postage, Inspired by postmarks, a special small piece of paper was printed. There is no pattern on the piece of paper, only words printed on it. This small piece of paper with a postage paid stamp was the earliest postage stamp.

Irishman James Chalmers printed the world's earliest postage stamps in 1834, which was implemented after British Postmaster General Sir Rowland Hill reformed the postal service in 1838. Hill established a national postage rate of one penny for half an ounce and issued one-penny stamps.

Punching holes in stamps

In 1847, Englishman Henry Arthur invented the first stamp cutting and cutting equipment. Initially, the machine could only cut stamps. A year later, the inventor improved the machine and created a punch that could punch a row of small holes. In 1854, the first perforated stamp punching machine was born.

Mailbox

Around 1650, Paris had a post office, which was responsible for correspondence and postal services with other provinces and foreign countries, but residents in Paris could not communicate with each other. For this reason, in 1653, the Frenchman de Villeret made up for this defect by hanging some boxes for letters on the wall at the corner of the main street for the first time as mailboxes. Residents living in the city can just put the postage-paid receipt on the envelope and put the letter into the nearest mailbox. The post office staff will open the box and collect it three times a day.

In 1692, there were 6 such mailboxes in Paris, 7 in 1723, 12 in 1740, and by 1780 the number had increased to more than 500.

Postcard

In 1861, John Charlton of the United States invented the postcard in Philadelphia. Later, a businessman named Harry Lippmann added decorations to the postcard design, issued it to the public, and applied for a patent. Prepaid postcards do not require stamps. This kind of postcard was first invented by Emanuel Hermann at the Military Academy Istarted in Vienna, Austria. On October 1, 1869, the prepaid postcard was issued for the first time in the world. It had a light yellow surface and attached a stamp with a face value of 2 Kreiser. Postcards can express greetings, congratulations, apologies, etc. to relatives and friends. They cannot be replaced by other means of communication. Therefore, they are still widely used today, with more and more types, and the decoration is becoming more and more artistic, which brings people A beautiful enjoyment. Such as birthday cards, student greeting cards, wedding cards, etc. Today, postcards have become a part of people's lives.

Special postal colors

Special postal colors in various countries around the world are set according to the traditions and habits of the country. For example, the United Kingdom uses red, the United States uses gray, and China uses green.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, at the first national postal conference held in December 1949, the issue of special postal colors was discussed, and green symbolized peace, youth and prosperity. Therefore, a resolution was made to stipulate that the People's Postal Service adopts green as its special color.

How international mail is delivered?

There are approximately 654,000 post offices of various sizes around the world, and international mail reaches 1 billion pieces every day. Millions of postal workers in the 169 member countries of the World Postal Union serve in the delivery of letters.

So how is international mail delivered? For example, a man who works in Peace River, Alberta, Canada, wrote to a friend who lives near Nice in the south of France on Monday. The postman collected the mail and delivered it to the post office in the town that afternoon. Postal service personnel separate local mail from mail destined for other parts of Canada, and divide international mail into two categories: those west of the Pacific and those east of the Pacific. In the evening, the mail was loaded onto trucks and shipped to Grande Prairie, 160 kilometers away. The next morning, the two types of international mail were loaded on trucks and transported to the provincial capital Edmonton, 480 kilometers away, from the Edmonton Post Office to the airport. At the airport, westbound mail is flown to Vancouver and eastbound mail is flown to Toronto. Once the mail arrives in Toronto, it is sorted by country of destination, a process that was not completed until Thursday. An international flight departed Toronto for Paris on Thursday night, arriving on Friday morning.

In Paris, mail is handled by a mechanized system. The encoding machine adds a barcode based on the postal code, indicating where the letter will be ultimately delivered. Another machine sorts the letters one by one by administrative district. Letters are sent along conveyor belts to mail bags, which are then sent to Marseille and Nice by trucks, trains and planes. The postal staff in Nice sorted the letters and took them to the post office on Saturday morning, where the postman delivered them to his friend's house.

Global Express Service

Ordinary postal service is not fast enough because postal workers have to handle hundreds of millions of mails and the delivery speed is slow. It takes days or even weeks for mails to reach their destination. land. In the late 1960s, companies all over the world encountered major problems in delivering mail quickly, and international express delivery companies came into being. Commercial organizations send flights to various parts of the world, most arriving within 24 hours. Air express delivery companies use the latest technology to book cargo flights and passenger aircraft slots so that they can take the fastest route at any time. Large-scale express delivery companies use computers to store flight schedules around the world. Many companies also own their own aircraft and helicopters. All express delivery companies have dedicated fleets of small trucks and motorcycles to collect and deliver mail door to door.

The largest express delivery company in the United States owned 418 aircraft in 1989 and processed an average of 140,000 pieces of mail every day. European express companies can deliver mail to other parts of Europe the next day, and outside Europe within two days. American express companies can deliver mail to domestic destinations on the same day or the next day.

Most of the express mail is letters or small parcels, and the number of manufacturers using express delivery services to transport finished products is also increasing. In the 1970s, the total turnover of the express delivery industry doubled every two or three years, reaching an annual value of approximately US$4 billion in 1990.

Use rockets to express mail

A company in the United States has created an ingenious device. It has simple equipment and is much cheaper than a space rocket. It uses the rocket's warhead cabin to deliver mail, with a load capacity of 10 kilograms. After the rocket reaches the destination, the rocket hatch automatically opens, the mail is ejected with a parachute, and then the local post office is notified by radio to receive the mail. The rocket travels through the atmosphere very quickly, taking only 50 minutes from New York to London. The company now officially accepts postal services.

Electronic Messenger

An electronic messenger is a letter with specific specifications. After being put into the electronic mailbox, the letter is automatically opened and scanned word by word through photoelectric devices, turning the light signal into electric signal. In this way, text and image information are transmitted to distant places through the fax machine, and the original letter can be automatically destroyed. At the same time, the receiving fax machine restores the received electrical signal into an optical signal, uses photography to record the sender's handwriting on the standard letter, automatically seals it, and then outputs an address, name, letter content, and the sent letter. Exactly the same letter. No matter how far apart they are, it only takes tens of seconds for the electronic messenger to complete the entire delivery process.

On June 7, 1980, the first letter traveled via satellite from London, crossed the Atlantic Ocean and arrived in Toronto, Canada in just one minute. After receiving the electronic letter, the local post office delivered it to the recipient by express delivery.