This winter can be said to be very difficult. You can't wear the 0 key at any time, and you can't wear thick winter clothes. When it was cold that day, my hands and feet were cold and uncomfortable. But the conditions now are certainly much better than in ancient times. How did the ancients keep warm? We often see charcoal fire in ancient palaces or Mrs. Tang warming up in TV dramas, but these things are only for the rich, so what can the poor do in winter?

How did the rich in ancient times spend the winter?

In ancient times, brazier or stove was the most commonly used heating method, and it was also the most economical and direct heating method. From the royal family to the ordinary people, they all like it. In the Ming and Qing dynasties, this heating method was very common, especially for the royal family in the deep palace.

Everyone knows that the buildings in the Forbidden City are very tall. Those tall buildings can make people feel very cold in winter, especially the Hall of Supreme Harmony. In winter, the house is colder than outside. At this time, the brazier played a role. Because the Hall of Supreme Harmony is very big, there is no need to worry about fire, so the brazier can be used for heating. Besides, this is the most economical and effective method. So buildings like the Hall of Supreme Harmony often use braziers to keep warm.

In fact, there is a building in the palace called Nuange, which is the special residence of the emperor in winter. There is a special heating tube under the heater, in which some red-hot charcoal can be put to let the heating enter.

The ancient imperial palace also had a special charcoal supply organization called Xifu Division, which was responsible for the supply and use of charcoal in the palace. A lot of charcoal is consumed in winter. According to the Records of Wan Fu, during the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, a palace inspection consumed about 1 10,000 kg of charcoal. This shows how much charcoal is burned in the palace at ordinary times.

Another way of heating is the favorite of the Qing royal family, and that is fur heating. Because the Qing royal family belonged to Liaodong Manchu, it was very cold in winter. Fur has become the royal family's favorite because of its warm-keeping function. Fur products were very popular among the royal family in Qing Dynasty, and the royal family spent a lot of money on fur products every year.

These are simple heating methods. The most shameless way of heating is the "hand warming" invented by the royal family in the Tang Dynasty. The so-called hand warming is to put a cold hand on a girl to keep warm. Not only that, they also invented a more advanced additional heating method called "surrounding prostitutes". Surrounding prostitutes is to let a group of girls surround themselves and let them use their bodies to keep warm. This warmth shows how luxurious the royal family was at that time

In fact, the ancient people's pursuit of warmth is not worse than that of modern people, or even worse. Of course, the most comfortable thing is the adjustment of our vacant room.

How did the poor in ancient times spend the winter?

Coal entered daily life and was first discovered in Tokyo, the capital of the Song Dynasty. It was called "Carboniferous Period" at that time. But people at the bottom can't afford it.

The government of the Northern Song Dynasty preferred the policy of "coal monopoly", that is, controlling coal resources and selling them uniformly by the government. For example, when Song Huizong was in power, "the imperial court sold more than 20 Carboniferous arrangements", from which the imperial court benefited a lot. This monopoly policy often leads to high coal prices, and people cannot buy coal for heating.

Charcoal is expensive and coal is controlled by the government. So for ordinary people, Kaifeng in the Northern Song Dynasty was always very cold in winter.

In the five-year winter of Song Zhenzong Dazhong Xiangfu, Kaifeng House was "the people have no charcoal, and the price is very high". Each scale can reach 200 tragic events in China. During the four winters in Jiayou, Song Renzong, the price of firewood and grain doubled. According to Ouyang Xiu's memorial, the "frozen man" in Kaifeng lost many lives at that time. Ordinary families who can't afford charcoal and coal have to take risks to keep out the cold, cut down mulberry trees in violation of the ban, and even steal trees around the imperial tomb.

During the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, the people who used coal for heating were mainly the imperial court, government agencies and officials' families. It was not until the middle and late Qing Dynasty that ordinary citizens in Beijing had the opportunity to burn coal to keep warm in winter because of the introduction of western coal mining machinery. According to the notes of the Qing Dynasty, the capital "added coal on October 1st and put out the fire on February 1st". There are coal cakes and briquettes in the market, and "a small home warms the kang".

Unfortunately, due to the Qing government's repeated restrictions on private coal mining, this phenomenon of "small homes warming kang" was not common even in the capital of the late Qing Dynasty.

In ancient times, the poor could not afford firewood.

Ordinary people can't afford charcoal or coal. In the cold winter, only firewood, straw and weeds are left to keep warm.

Unfortunately, although firewood is a very low-end heating fuel, the lack of firewood is the normal life of the ancients. For example, during the period of Tang Wuzong, Japanese monk Renyuan came to China. Because there was no fuel, he met ordinary people in Shandong. "He never cooks soup, but only eats cold dishes for many years." A distinguished guest came and treated him with "empty cakes and cold dishes". In daily life, even the fuel for cooking soup is in short supply, so it is unnatural to burn wood to keep warm in winter.

This is why paying less firewood has become an important theme for ordinary scholars in past dynasties to mourn. Meng Jiao, a poet in the Tang Dynasty, lamented in Bitter Cold that "knocking on a stone does not make a fire, but the yin will seize the yang"; Zhao Enlai, a poet in the Northern Song Dynasty, couldn't afford firewood, so he had to "burn the car and pay for it", tear down the family car and make a fire to keep warm. Han Gan, a poet in the Southern Song Dynasty, said, "Poor families have no firewood to collect." In the cold winter, he had to grit his teeth and tremble. In Qu Yuan's King and Guest, the poor family didn't have enough firewood and had to be driven away by the cold wind and rain.

In fact, until 1980s, many villages in northern China still didn't have enough firewood to keep warm. A survey report of 198 1 reveals that Heilongjiang Province is rich in forest resources, and "two thirds of farmers in this province lack living energy". Helen county in this province is a typical example:

"From the end of 1960 s to the present, there is a shortage of firewood in rural areas. The energy of rural life in county towns is getting less and less, and more and more families are short of firewood. These families who lack firewood have one hot meal and two cold meals in summer and autumn. In winter, the water tank freezes and the walls of the house frost. Because there is not enough wood to burn, we must hold leaves, dig roots and peel bark. "

Of course, freezing people to death is very inappropriate to stand by and watch, so there were some "heating and relief policies" in ancient China. For example, as mentioned earlier, when the price of Kaifeng charcoal soared, Song Zhenzong sold the citizens "400,000 yuan charcoal" at half price. Song Renzong also ordered the sale of rice and firewood at reduced prices during the heavy snow season. Su Shi was ordered to know Yingzhou and caught up with the snowstorm. Among the relief materials he distributed, there were "thousands of charcoal" and "thousands of firewood".

Another example is Ming Shenzong, who also understands the shortcoming that government-run commercial organizations will raise coal prices. He personally instructed that the government was not allowed to run the coal industry: "Coal is the daily needs of the people. If it is taken over by a government-run commercial office, its value will double. How can we make every household in Beijing live a stable life? " During Yongzheng and Qianlong years, the government once relaxed the mining ban. Yongzheng once instructed that "coal is easy to pay, and it is needed for daily use, so it is not necessary to ban it"; Gan Long also issued a decree to "listen to private mining"

Unfortunately, these instructions often stay at the propaganda level. Ming Shenzong, Yongzheng and Gan Long, including the corresponding institutions below, have no motivation to strictly implement them. In addition, these temporary orders are often restricted by the long-term coal ban policy, which contradicts them. During the Yongzheng period, Gan Long imposed heavy taxes on coal miners, which led to the destruction of many merchant families. This is a common phenomenon.

Therefore, it has become a normal state for the ancients in China not to burn charcoal, coal or firewood in winter.