Why is the summer of Qianlong eight years "the hottest summer in the history of China", and how high was the temperature at that time?

The summer of 1743 came a little earlier than usual. For ordinary people in ancient times, summer was far better than winter. When the weather is hot, we can try to cool down, but the clothes that keep out the cold are not enough to keep out the cold, as the ancient poem says: the wine and meat in Zhumen stink, and the road has frozen bones.

As a famous emperor in history, he exempted money and grain from the world five times and reduced grain by eight times three times, which was really for the sake of the people. Of course, the people are well-known for this emperor. 1743 is the eighth year after Qianlong succeeded to the throne. Like ordinary people, he is not worried about the arrival of this summer.

Dry land in hot weather

But as time goes by, everyone feels that this summer is a bit unusual, because the weather is too hot. By July this year, the temperature has exceeded the hottest summer in previous years.

In our impression, when the temperature reaches 37 or 8 degrees, it is already terrible. Even if you lay an egg on the road, you don't bring yellow drops. In this weather, few people are willing to go out, because they want to enter the big steamer when they go out, and they are walking streaky pork, enjoying the cool in the air-conditioned room is also a kind of enjoyment.

The temperature in the summer of Qianlong eight years.

The summer of Qianlong for eight years is called the highest temperature in the history of China. How high was the temperature then? According to historical records, in July this year, the afternoon temperature in North China was generally higher than 40? C, and the temperature was as high as 44.4 on July 25th? C.

What is this concept? At this temperature, it will die of heat. According to historical records, more than 10,000 people died of heatstroke near the capital at the foot of the Emperor. This figure comes from French missionaries, and the statistical time is July 14 to 25.

Qianlong

It is conceivable that many people died of heatstroke in other areas because of the hot weather, but there is no exact figure now. Speaking of this man who died of heat, many people don't understand that although the ancients didn't have air conditioning, they could take refuge in places such as shade trees to avoid death.

Actually, it is not. Because it is so hot, the water in the well will evaporate. Moreover, in such hot weather, people's bodies will die of thirst if they are not replenished with water. There were few wells in ancient times, and water was not available everywhere as it is now. When a well dries up, hundreds of people will be left without water to drink.

Speaking of this, many people will say, why not just drill wells? In fact, when the weather is hot, the water level will be far away from the surface, and even the wells drilled in weekdays will dry up. Because of various constraints, it was not easy for ancient people to drill ultra-deep wells.

icehouse

In order to describe the heat of that summer, let's talk about the specific performance. According to historical records, the city wall is inflamed by the lunar shadow, and the lead and tin in Japan and China are all sold out. What does this mean? It means that everything made of tin in the house has been sunburned. It is conceivable that this kind of weather has actually become a natural disaster.