How can ancient people live without air conditioning in hot weather?

In fact, although the ancients did not have modern high-tech products, they also created many summer facilities and summer products with wisdom and labor. To sum up, there are three ways for the ancients to escape the summer: cool houses, restaurants and resorts.

First of all, the summer house

The ancients called a room that can escape the summer heat a summer room. Later, it generally refers to all rooms used for cooling, and the effect is similar to that of modern air-conditioned rooms, such as "cave rooms" in the pre-Qin period, "cool rooms" in the Qin and Han dynasties, and later "ice rooms". However, due to the high manufacturing cost, only emperors and nobles could own them at first.

The popular summer houses among aristocrats in the pre-Qin period were called cave houses, which were similar to modern basements. Because the grottoes are built underground, avoiding sunlight and keeping the room cool, some important catering banquets will be held in the grottoes in summer. Once upon a time, Liang Xiao, the doctor of Zheng State, used to drink and have fun in his cave all night.

Compared with the Central Plains, today's Chu and Wu nobles in Hubei and Jiangsu can't live in summer without caves. Childe light sent Zhuan Xu to assassinate Wu Wangliao at the banquet, that is, in midsummer, he took advantage of Wu Wangliao's summer vacation in his cave. Later, the son became the prince He Lv.

The caves in the pre-Qin period not only used natural conditions to cool down, but also used ice cubes to cool down. From the Zhou Dynasty, there was an official who collected ice cubes for the royal family-Lingren. From1February every year, ice cubes are collected and stored in the ice room for the royal family to use in the following summer. This ice harvesting system was used until the Qing Dynasty.

In the Han dynasty, the emperor and nobles no longer used the basement, but built a special air-conditioned room-Liangqing Hall, with summer facilities, stone beds and ice cubes. The stone bed is not easy to conduct heat, and it is cool in summer; The four corners of the hall and around the emperor were filled with ice cubes to cool down, and the maid fanned beside them. This cool hall is very luxurious.

In the Tang Dynasty, a pavilion was built in the palace by water. The water next to the hall was lifted to a high place by mechanical devices, and then the water fell from a high place to push the blades of the fan car, thus spreading cool air into the hall. At the same time, there is a water curtain formed by cold water flowing down the hall, which further ensures the coolness of the hall.

In addition to the above facilities, the Ming and Qing Summer Resort also made great efforts in the architectural design of eaves. For example, the building regulations after the Ming Dynasty are: "Five steps on the eaves and three or five steps on the rafters; The post is ten feet high and three feet out of the eaves, plus a shelf. "This building specification is designed according to the difference of the sun's shadow angle between winter and summer (that is, the sun's altitude angle today, and the sun's altitude angle in Beijing is 27 from winter to noon, and 76 from summer to noon). With the eaves at this angle, the north house in the palace can shade from summer to the front and back; On the solstice of winter, the sunshine fills the room, making it feel warm in winter and cool in summer.

Ancient emperors and nobles could build summer houses for free, while ordinary people could only do what they could. People with more money will dig a deep well in the hall or room at home, cover the wellhead, drill a hole in the cover, and cold air will come out of the hole in summer. Moreover, in addition to the cool effect in summer, the air-conditioned well can also store food and extend the storage period. There is such a plot in the old version of Romance of the Three Kingdoms: In midsummer, Zhang Fei stored the pork in his butcher shop in a well and covered the manhole cover with a millstone. Zhang Fei said, "Whoever can push this millstone away can take out the meat from the well." Since The Romance of the Three Kingdoms was written in the Ming Dynasty, it can be seen that digging deep wells to store meat existed at least in the Ming Dynasty. Among the Ming and Qing dwellings preserved today, there are indeed many rich people who have air-conditioned wells at home.

During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, a kind of adobe building similar to the cave dwelling in the pre-Qin period was popular among the people. It's a bit like a cave or a tunnel. The earthen houses of each family are connected by a tunnel, which is a bit like the scene in the movie Tunnel Warfare. In addition to enjoying the cool, adobe houses can also prevent bandits and store items.

Second, the summer diet

If the "summer resort" is a way for the rich and nobles to escape the summer, then it is a way that can be adopted by all walks of life through diet.

Eating and drinking can be traced back to the cold drinks of Shang Dynasty. The wine was cooled with ice cubes, and drinking was to escape the heat. 1977 The bronze ice inscriptions of the Warring States period unearthed from the tomb of Zeng Houyi in Suixian County, Hubei Province are used to cool wine. The ice guide consists of a bronze guide and a bronze jacket, and the jacket is placed in the guide. Its working principle is to use the ice around the altar inside the sword to cool the wine in the altar inside the sword.

In the Tang dynasty, there appeared an "ice merchant" who specialized in selling ice cubes, that is, commercial ice collectors. Store ice cubes in winter and sell them in summer. People can buy ice cubes from ice merchants and make their own cold drinks. There were many summer soups and cold drinks on the streets of Hangzhou in the Southern Song Dynasty: sweet bean soup, bucket water, Xiangzi drink, coconut wine, fermented pear pulp, stewed plum water, ginger honey water, papaya juice, heavy fragrance, litchi paste water and so on. In the Yuan Dynasty, ice cream made of fruit juice, milk and ice cubes appeared in the court. When Kyle Poirot came to China, he was rewarded by Yuan Shizu and tasted the royal "ice cheese" at that time. Later, Kyle Poirot brought the production technology of "frozen cheese" back to Italy. Later, through step-by-step technology, it became an ice cream that swept the world.

In addition to cold drinks, eating melons and fruits is also an important way for the ancients to cool off. As the saying goes, "floating melons sink plums", plums are sweet, sour and delicious, and are most loved by women and children; Melon mainly refers to cantaloupe and melon. Watermelon, which modern people like to eat, comes from the western regions. It was first planted in northwest China in Qin and Han Dynasties, and was introduced to the Central Plains in the Five Dynasties.

Third, the summer resort.

When it comes to summer resorts, it is always associated with the royal family. Chengde mountain resort, for example, is the most famous summer resort in Qing Dynasty.

In fact, besides the royal gardens, there are many summer resorts open to the public, such as Lushan, Beidaihe, Jigong Mountain and Moganshan, among which Lushan and Beidaihe are the most famous. Lushan Mountain has high altitude, abundant rainfall and quiet environment. The great poet Li Bai's two poems "Looking at Lushan Waterfall" were written during the summer vacation in Lushan. In modern times, Lushan Mountain has become a summer resort for politicians. Beidaihe, which faces the sea and has a humid climate, is a favorite summer resort for wealthy businessmen and Chinese and foreign people. But on the whole, the summer resort is only open to the rich. After all, in ancient times, most people might never go out of the range of Fiona Fang 100 mile.