In today's 21st century, science and technology are changing with each passing day. In the face of different seasonal temperatures, technology allows people to enjoy the temperatures of different seasons. For example, if it is too hot in summer, it can be cooled by air conditioning, so that you can enjoy the autumn temperature; if it is too cold in winter, Through the cooling function of heating equipment or air conditioner, is not afraid of the severe cold of the outside world in the room!
But in ancient times, there were no air conditioners, no refrigerators, and no fans. They survived the hot summer like this. In fact, this problem was solved to a certain extent in ancient times. Especially the ancient royal family could enjoy a very cool feeling because in ancient times Through wisdom, people can save ice cubes and use ice cubes for refrigeration! Today we will explore the issues of ice storage and use during the Tang and Song Dynasties.
Ice hiding technology in the Tang and Song Dynasties
1, Ice hiding technology in the Tang Dynasty
In the Tang Dynasty, there was no high technology, but the wisdom of the ancients was infinite. They could not make ice cubes, but they could find them according to the actual situation. How to store ice cubes; however, ice storage is mainly for the royal family. Basically all ice storage in serves the Li family.
The method is that every winter, the rivers outside the capital of the Tang Dynasty will freeze, and it will be a thick layer. Then the Tang Dynasty government will arrange special people to collect ice, cut the ice into pieces by cutting. Square shape, and then move it to a place where it can be stored.
The method of storage is to first find a piece of land, then dig a large cellar, then lay a very thick layer of grass and wood on the bottom of the cellar, then put in ice cubes, and when the cellar is full, continue to use a thick layer of Use wood and straw to cover the opening of the cellar, and finally seal the opening with soil. The sealing must be ensured. In this way, the storage of ice cubes is completed!
You only need to wait until the summer to use it before opening the ice cellar. The middle cannot be opened, and it cannot be opened if there is a gap, which is also ineffective; Therefore, when you decide to open an ice cellar, the ice in this ice cellar must wait until it is used up. Open a new ice cellar;
Therefore, when storing ice cubes, we try our best to hide them. Basically, all the ice cubes on the river will be collected. Only in this way, if there is a problem with some ice cellars, there will still be enough ice cubes! The above are the main ways of hiding ice in the Tang Dynasty.
2, Ice storage and ice making during the Song Dynasty period
New technologies began to appear during the Northern Song Dynasty period. In fact, this technology had been discovered and used in the late Tang Dynasty, but it was not fully promoted and applied. was not widely used until the establishment of the Song Dynasty. sexual applications.
This ice-hiding technology is that people use saltpeter (calcium nitrate) to mine ores. After using saltpeter frequently, they discovered that saltpeter can absorb a lot of heat after melting in water;
So people took advantage of this principle of saltpeter and the specific operation method. Just use two containers of different sizes that can hold water, then fill the small container with water (just fill the large container with a little water), then put the small container into the large container, and put the saltpeter in the big one. In the water in the container, finally uses the principle of saltpeter to gradually freeze the water in the small container.
At this time, people could make ice cubes in the summer, but because saltpeter required a sufficient amount to make ice, in the Song Dynasty when saltpeter was scarce, widespread ice making became impossible, so ice making in the Song Dynasty was just a way. And they are all used by dignitaries, but still cannot meet their needs for ice cubes!
Therefore, the large demand for ice still relies on ice storage in cellars. However, for their own convenience, the royal family of the Song Dynasty established many water systems in the palace. When the cold winter comes, can directly obtain and store ice.
Later developed into the Southern Song Dynasty period, because the ice formed by the winter temperature in Lin'an (today's Hangzhou) city from north to south could not achieve the storage effect at all, so special ice transport teams could only be arranged to collect ice from the north. Stock up!
The system of using ice in the Tang and Song Dynasties
In the Tang and Song Dynasties, although ice was only a natural thing of heaven and earth, and if the people had the ability to store it, it didn't matter if they kept it for their own use. However, it was not directly used by the royal family and the court. , but has a special set of etiquette procedures and usage systems.
1, in the Tang Dynasty, there were regulations on the use of ice.
First, before hiding the ice, the Sihan Festival was held, which refers to the ceremony of worshiping the God of Sihan Xuanming. This was the ancient palace sacrificial ceremony. , in fact, it is used to express respect to heaven and the God of Sihan before hiding, opening, and using ice. It can be officially used after the sacrifice;
However, the Sihan Festival in the entire Tang Dynasty also changed. Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty had always stored ice first, then opened the cellar to get the ice, and then offered sacrifices to the God of Sihan. Finally, ice cubes were officially used; , then hide the ice, open the ice, and use the ice. The so-called Mengdong is the ancient people’s elegant name for the first month of winter!
During the Tang Dynasty, the royal family had strict requirements on the quality of ice cubes. Not all ice cubes were used. During the Tang Dynasty, the ice cubes with the highest quality were produced in Lantian, Shaanxi.
Therefore, in Lantian, Shaanxi, there is a task and ice household dedicated to paying tribute to the royal family. The so-called ice household refers to the people in Lantian area who have mined ice cubes for the royal family for generations and paid tribute, and then formed a common people family that specializes in paying ice tribute to the Li family. Families like theirs had a special household registration name in the Tang Dynasty, Ice House;
and had strict size requirements for the ice cubes offered as tribute, that is, each piece of ice must be three feet in length and one foot and five inches in thickness. Some ice households did not mine ice in accordance with this requirement, and they would eventually be punished by the court. This was clearly recorded in " full Tangwen ".
In addition to offering sacrifices to the God of Sihan, the Tang Dynasty also had an ice recommendation ceremony in terms of sacrifices. It refers to the opening of ice in mid-spring every year, but the ice cubes must be sacrificed to the ancestors first, so every year in the lunar calendar Go to the Ancestral Temple to perform sacrifices in February!
2, the Song Dynasty’s regulations and practices on the use of ice
First, Starting from Song Taizu Zhao Kuangyin, the imperial court specially set up an organization called "Ice Well Affairs" to be responsible for ice administration. This organization has a supervisor and more than 80 people working on specific tasks. The main job responsibilities are to collect ice, store ice, distribute ice, and clean the ice room.
This is mainly because the Song Dynasty court consumed about 5.36 million kilograms of ice every year, so Zhao Kuangyin set up a special official department to manage the use of ice.
As mentioned earlier, the royal family of the Song Dynasty all mined ice in Da Nei. This is because the royal family of the Song Dynasty built many artificial pools in the royal gardens of the capital, such as Jinming Pool, Yichun Garden, Yujin Garden, etc. in Kaifeng City at that time. This is true for gardens such as Ruisheng Garden;
Every time ice is mined in these royal gardens, it must be approved by the emperor, and the requirements for ice mining in the Song Dynasty are also very strict, with size requirements similar to those in the Tang Dynasty, and in Before mining, it is also necessary to determine whether the thickness of the large ice cubes in the water system meets the requirements for mining. Otherwise, it is too thin and is not suitable for storage.
The mining and use of ice in the Song Dynasty also continued the sacrificial ritual system of the Tang Dynasty. However, after the restructuring in the fourth year of Song ShenzongYuanfeng, the Mengdong sacrifice was abolished, and only the ice-hiding and ice-opening sacrifices were retained; however, Wang Anshi In the end, the reform was not really successful due to its own limitations. In the end, the etiquette system that had continued the Tang Dynasty was restored.
Later, due to the Jingkang crisis , the Song Dynasty became peaceful and was known as the Southern Song Dynasty. During the Southern Song Dynasty, there was no sacrificial ritual system for a period of time. It was not until the Shaoxing period of Song Gaozong that the Southern Song Dynasty basically became stable, and then the sacrificial ritual system was restored. .
Fourth, the use of ice cubes must first meet the needs of the royal family. In addition to royal expenses, wealthy ice cubes became an important item that could be rewarded in the hands of the Song Dynasty royal family. According to the actual situation of rewarding good and punishing evil, the Song Dynasty The royal family would reward officials with ice cubes.
The efficient use and development of ice during the Tang and Song Dynasties
1, the development performance during the Tang Dynasty
During the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, Li Longji ordered people to build a summer cooling tower in the palace in order to spend the hot summer. After the news was learned by the minister, one of the admonishers at the time was called Chen Zhijie. He believed that Li Longji's move by Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty was a major construction project and should not be done.
So he directly sent a memorial to Li Longji to advise him, but Li Longji did not listen. Instead, he invited him to enjoy it in Liangdian, and also invited him to drink a cold drink called ice chip Majie drink.
Another example is in 1987 AD. At that time, an archaeological team discovered a mural unearthed in a Tang tomb in Nanliwang Village, Chang'an County, Xi'an, Shaanxi Province. The painting was a scene of a banquet. There was a plate containing a delicacy. The shape was steep and straight, which made people completely watch. I don’t know what ingredients it is made of, but archaeological experts finally conducted research and confirmed that it was a very popular cold snack in the Tang Dynasty. is equivalent to the current "ice cream" because it was found in the ancient tomb of Prince Huai in the Tang Dynasty. I also found out about this iced cold food. According to research, the cake is heated until it melts, then topped with honey and other sweets, then shaped into a mountain-like shape, and finally frozen into shape, so is called " crisp mountain ". For example, according to historical records, in 709 AD, Wei Juyuan, who had just been promoted to Shangshu Zuopushe (i.e. prime minister), followed the practice of the Tang Dynasty at that time to entertain His Majesty the Emperor at home. One of the dishes was a red crispy cold dish called "Guifeihong" .
and the Tang Dynasty poet Liu Yuxi left a poem "Liu Prince Consort Retreats from the Summer in the Water Pavilion". This poem is about Liu Yuxi once taking a summer vacation in the water pavilion of Liu Prince Consort's mansion, and everything he ate and drank was royal tribute. It was made of ice cubes, so Liu Yuxi felt very comfortable at the time, so he became very popular and wrote a poem. It can be seen that the use of ice cubes in the Tang Dynasty was not limited to simple cooling and summer vacation, would also use it. Make delicious food.
2, The application of ice cubes in society in the Song Dynasty
By the Song Dynasty, the use of ice cubes had reached a very high level. At that time, something similar to today's refrigerator appeared - Bingjian. The so-called Bingjian was It refers to making a box-like item out of copper material or wood. It needs to be made into two layers, inside and outside. That is, a large box wraps a small box, and then the food to be eaten is placed in the small box, and ice cubes are placed in the outer large box. This was the "refrigerator" of the Song Dynasty.
At the same time, the application of ice cubes was also very efficient and common in civil society. In the commercial cities at that time, ordinary people could buy many kinds of cold drinks. was also used in the Song Dynasty. A new industry, the cold drink industry, was born.
Therefore, every summer, the commercial cities of the Song Dynasty were very prosperous at night, and children looked forward to buying cold drinks in the market in the summer, just like children today look forward to eating ice cream. According to records in "Tokyo Menghua Lu" by Meng Yuanlao of the Song Dynasty, in the summer night market in Kaifeng, the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty, you can buy lychee paste water, Jiangcha water, bayberry water, gum water, and papaya water. , five-flavor thirsty water and dozens of cold drinks. also said that the businessmen doing this business have to stay open until early in the morning every day before going home.
Based on the above, the development of ice storage and use during the Tang and Song Dynasties should be divided into two stages. The first was during the Tang Dynasty. Due to limited technology, only a few people enjoyed ice, basically the royal family and dignitaries. The nobles are enjoying;
The second stage was during the Song Dynasty. Due to technological breakthroughs and the further development of the commodity economy, allowed ordinary people to enjoy the fun of cold drinks.
