10 Interesting Historical Facts
1. The characters printed on the 4 K’s in the playing cards all have great backgrounds. The K of hearts is Charlemagne, the K of spades is King David, the K of clubs is Alexander the Great, and the flying diamond is Caesar. Among them, Charlemagne is a figure that Chinese people are not very familiar with but are familiar with in the West. He was crowned by the Pope as the "Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire" in 800 AD (during the Tang Dynasty of China) and passed more than fifty times. The war turned the Frankish Kingdom into a large empire that controlled most of Western Europe: the Atlantic Ocean in the west, the Doma River in the east, and the North Sea in the north.
As far south as central Italy, it encompasses almost all the countries of the former Western Roman Empire. Since the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, there has never been such a huge country in Western Europe! He has great roles in administration, justice, economy, and culture. He has made outstanding contributions in education and other aspects, and has played a leading role in the development of medieval civilization. He is known as the "Father of Europe." In 843 AD, shortly after the death of Charles, his three grandsons divided up the country in the Treaty of Vers. The empire was divided into three, becoming the prototype of three European countries in the future - France, Germany, and Italy.
2. The white officials in the United States were painted white because they were burned. After the United States gained independence through the Revolutionary War, it got rid of British colonial rule and continued to expand its strength. However, the United Kingdom did not want to see the United States grow in strength and impose original controls on the United States in trade, politics, and military aspects. As a result, the "Second American-British War" broke out in June 1812, and the British army captured Washington in August 1814. The White House was burned down by the British army (half of which were Canadian militia, and Canada had not yet obtained autonomy at that time). After the war (1817) the walls had to be painted with white paint, hence the name.
3. Many of the names of European countries seen on the map today were created after the end of World War I. After the "World War I" in 1919, the world's structure changed dramatically. Britain, France and the United States organized the Paris Peace Conference after the war. In addition to discussing how to punish the defeated countries such as the German Oho Empire, the remaining issues were all It focused on how to redivide Europe. Under the leadership of the three countries, Germany's borders were compressed, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire was disintegrated into Austria, Hogwarts, and others.
Poland was restored, and Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania became nation-states in accordance with the principle of national self-determination. The newly emerged countries were mainly established on the ruins of the Austrian Empire and Tsarist Russia, and basically laid the foundation for today's European countries. prototype.
4. America is actually a person’s name. Columbus was the first European navigator to reach the American continent, but he always thought he was going to India, so he called the local indigenous people Indians. Until Columbus died, he thought he was going to India.
Later, the Italian navigator Amerigo sailed to the coast of South America several times between 1499 and 1504 for field investigations. After he returned to Europe, he drew a new map and fully confirmed that the area he had visited was not "India" as Columbus meant, but the "New World". Since 1507, people have called the "New World" "America" ??after him.
5. Warfare in the early Spring and Autumn Period was very "elegant". At that time, some war rules were circulated among various countries, such as "no drums, no lines". This was just like a football match. Everyone stood in position and signaled the referee to take their positions before the fight could begin. Another example is "No serious injury, no failure", that is, when fighting, the same person cannot be injured repeatedly. If the opponent is already injured, you cannot hit him a second time. If you defeat someone, you should let it go and you cannot hold on to him. .
6. The term "dressed beast" originated from the clothing of officials in the Ming Dynasty. It was originally a compliment. The clothing regulations for officials in the Ming Dynasty were as follows: civilian officials' uniforms should be embroidered with birds, and military generals' official uniforms should be painted with animals. For civil servants, the first-grade Fei robe is embroidered with cranes; the second-grade Fei robe is embroidered with golden pheasants; the third-grade Fei robe is embroidered with peacocks; the fourth-grade Fei robe is embroidered with clouds and wild geese; the fifth-grade Qing robe is embroidered with white rocs; the sixth-grade Qing robe is embroidered with egrets. The seventh-grade green robe is embroidered with Xijiu; the eighth-grade green robe is embroidered with Huang Peng; the ninth-grade green robe is embroidered with cranes and ospreys. The first-grade military generals are painted with unicorns, and the second-grade military commanders are painted with scarlet robes and lions.
Third-grade scarlet robes are painted with tigers; fourth-rank scarlet robes are painted with leopards; fifth-level green robes are painted with bears; sixth- and seventh-level green robes are painted with tigers; eighth-level green robes are painted with rhinos; ninth-level green robes are painted with rhinoceros; Wear green robe, painted with seahorse. Therefore, people called civil and military officials "dressed beasts". Later, it became a derogatory term because some officials in the middle and late Ming Dynasty were corrupt, perverted the law, oppressed the people, and committed evil acts.
7. Starting from the Song Dynasty, only Chinese people had three meals a day. Before that, it was common to only eat two meals. Because the industry and commerce in the Song Dynasty was developed and there was no curfew, one dinner was added.
8. The person who wrote the most poems in Chinese history was Emperor Qianlong. In 2014, the staff of the late emperor discovered two boxes with the words "Qianlong's poem manuscripts" written on them while clearing cultural relics. There are more than 28,000 Qianlong poems, plus more than 17,000 poems that have been deposited before, totaling more than 45,000 poems.
You must know that there were two poems in the Tang Dynasty that lasted 289 years. The poems written by more than a thousand poets are collected in the "Complete Poems of the Tang Dynasty", which adds up to more than 48,000 poems. The poems written by Qianlong alone are almost close to the entire "Complete Poems of the Tang Dynasty". However, Qianlong wrote so many poems. There are very few that can be passed down to the world. It can only be said that there is quantity but not quality.
9. He Kun, Ji Xiaolan, and Emperor Qianlong are not the same age. According to the official history, He Kun was born in 1750. He is 26 years younger than Ji Xiaofeng and 39 years younger than Emperor Qianlong. They are several generations behind, far from each other. The feeling of peers in TV series. On the contrary, Liu Bang and Qin Shihuang seem to be from two eras, but they are actually the same age only 3 years apart. Qin Shihuang was born in 259 BC and Liu Bang was born in 256 BC.
10. Today’s China, as a “big foodie country”, was developed step by step and bit by bit. In ancient times, the Chinese people's food was quite monotonous. In addition to grains, they also had wild vegetables. For example, the tangerine in the "Book of Songs" is a kind of aquatic plant. If you want to eat it, you have to fish it out, and you have to choose it. Kung Fu; Before the Qin Dynasty, there was no lotus root in China, which is a crop native to India: before the Han Dynasty, there were no grapes, cinnamon, coriander, broad beans, cucumbers, garlic, etc. Later, Zhang Qian went to the Western Regions and brought back these fruits and vegetables, which were almost enough to fight. A game of "Plants vs. Zombies" Before the Northern and Southern Dynasties, there were no eggplants in China.
Before the Sui and Tang Dynasties, there were no rui ying and spinach in China. These were introduced from Persia and the Mediterranean area: before the Song Dynasty, there was no watermelon in China: before the Yuan Dynasty, there were no carrots in China: before the Ming Dynasty, there were no carrots in China. Potatoes, corn, peppers, tomatoes, etc. are all originated from the Americas; before the Qing Dynasty, there were no onions, cabbage, etc. in China.