What are the BRIC countries like?

Brick and tile, also known as imperial kiln brick, is a treasure in the traditional kiln brick firing industry of Han nationality. It is a high-quality adobe specially used in important buildings such as palaces in ancient times. Because of its solid and delicate texture, the percussion is as loud as metal, hence the name BRIC. Describing a person with BRIC means that that person is rich. Since the Ming and Qing Dynasties, it has been favored by emperors of past dynasties and has become a specialty of court architecture. During the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty, Judy, the founder of the Ming Dynasty, moved the capital to Beijing to build the Forbidden City. Recommended by the craftsmen of Xiangshan School in Suzhou, the brick kiln of Lu Tomb was selected by the Ministry of Industry, and it was decided that "the brick originated in Suzhou and was served by 63 kiln households in Changzhou". Because of its excellent quality, it won the praise of Yongle Emperor, and named the kiln the Imperial Kiln.

The so-called "brick" is actually a square brick with specifications of 2 feet 2, 2 feet, 1 foot 7 and 1 foot 4, and there are five or six specifications. The ruler mentioned here is the ruler in ancient units, which is equivalent to 32 cm in modern times. At present, the Hall of Supreme Harmony, the Hall of Zhonghe, the Hall of Baohe and Dingling, one of the Ming Tombs in the Forbidden City in Beijing, are all paved with this kind of brick. On the brick surface, there are the titles of Yongle, Zhengde and Qingganlong in Ming Dynasty, and the words "Made by the Governor of Suzhou" are written.

The area of the Golden Brick in the Forbidden City is also very limited, and it is concentrated on the east, middle and west routes. On the middle road where the core buildings of the Forbidden City are the Hall of Supreme Harmony, the Hall of Zhonghe and the Hall of Baohe, the gold bricks used are the largest two feet. The bricks on the outside of the middle road are slightly smaller, some are 1.7 feet, and some are 1.4 feet.