Have you ever experienced a power outage?
Do you feel that life is extremely inconvenient? You are always worried about the battery of your mobile phone, let alone using household appliances.
But in the last century, living without electricity was the norm.
Children studying under a kerosene lamp
The whole family will take advantage of the daytime to do all the work they can, and gather around the same kerosene lamp at night to maximize its effectiveness.
If there is wind coming in at this time, the kerosene lamp will flicker, and the children will stop writing and block the wind with their hands, fearing that the lamp will be blown out.
At that time, let alone a light that was always on, even kerosene lamps needed to be saved.
But electricity had just been introduced to China at that time. Why did people still light kerosene lamps?
Although electricity is an indispensable necessity in our lives, it has only been widely used for 400 years.
What initially inspired people was the streaks of lightning in the sky. People couldn't help but wonder, can such powerful energy benefit mankind and promote society?
Franklin did an experiment
Regarding thunder and lightning, the American scientist Franklin conducted an experiment in 1752.
That day, there were dark clouds and thunder and lightning. Franklin and his son flew a kite with a metal pole in the air.
As the lightning flashed across the kite, he also felt a numbness in his hand on the metal pole, and felt an electric current passing through his entire body.
But what he felt at that moment was excitement. He finally verified that the electricity in lightning and the electricity produced by artificial friction have exactly the same properties, which made a good memorial for subsequent research.
As for electromagnetic phenomena, our country has already recorded them in the 4th century BC.
They discovered that magnets of the same sex repel each other and opposite sexes attract each other, so they made the natural magnet into the shape of a spoon and used it to point north and south, which was the world's earliest guide tool---- sinan.
Sinan
But just discovery is not enough. It has indeed taken another hundred years for humans to discover electricity and actually use it in life.
In 1831, the British genius physicist Faraday discovered the "electromagnetic induction phenomenon" and invented the disc generator.
This was the first generator created in human history. It also opened up modern electric civilization and marked the beginning of the era of electrical appliance application.
But at that time, China was probably only interested in eight-part essay , and was often disdainful of technological research.
has resulted in China not only having late access to electricity, but also lacking relevant technical talents, so the initiative is not in our hands.
In 1878, the British colonists in Shanghai used a small generator to welcome the American president passing by, but that was actually the first time China used electricity.
A few years later, British businessmen invested in China's first electric light factory in Shanghai.
However, as consumers, Chinese residents have no say at all, so even if businessmen set electricity bills extremely high, residents are powerless.
Such a high price is really unaffordable for an ordinary family.
Moreover, in the early days of introduction, only the nearest areas benefited, and many remote areas still had no way to get electricity.
Power Plant
Every time there is a thunderstorm or some extremely bad weather, there are still no good protective measures, so even in prosperous areas, power outages are a common occurrence.
What’s even more outrageous is that even if you can afford the high electricity bill, you will still be warned by the inspector if you turn on the lights too late.
So even though people had a strong sense of novelty about electricity at that time, when high electricity bills and unstable circuits pressed on the masses, they quickly woke up.
believes that electricity is just a dispensable existence in life, and the pressure it brings is really greater than the convenience.
Wealthy families did not dare to use it much, let alone poor families, so at this time, kerosene lamps returned to everyone's lives.
Speaking of kerosene lamps, you may think that this item is too far away from us.
In fact, this was not the case. Until the 1980s, most families in rural China still lit kerosene lamps.
Although the development of kerosene lamps is not as revolutionary as electricity, it has witnessed the development of modern China and the changes in people's traditional concepts of day and night.
Did you know that although it is called a kerosene lamp, it actually burns petroleum .
At first, people did choose to refine oil from coal, but it was not only expensive, but also produced a lot of coal ash during use, which required constant wiping to ensure it was bright enough.
Later, an American discovered an oil mine, and he felt that it was perfect as a "luminous body".
But it was not satisfactory at first. After spending a lot of manpower and material resources to extract a pile of oil, it was discovered that the blue-green viscous liquid could not be used immediately and might even cause an explosion.
So they had to continue to purify the oil so that the gasoline could be filtered out. Through this method, large quantities of oil were produced, and it soon became popular in the market.
Most of this oil is used for kerosene lamps, but they are not satisfied yet and have turned their attention to the Chinese market.
After the Sino-Japanese War , port trade was opened, and China's kerosene lamp market was gradually occupied by them.
Children studying under kerosene lamps
Since 1860, many foreign companies in Shanghai have begun to advertise a lot of kerosene lamps. However, since incidents of kerosene lamp fires occurred frequently at the beginning, the import of kerosene was still slightly controlled.
Only later did people discover that these imported kerosene lamps from abroad were not only novel in style, but also had superior lighting efficiency.
In fact, China used rapeseed oil for lighting at the beginning, but kerosene was brighter and cheaper in comparison, so the import of kerosene was liberalized after 1865, which also provided the necessary guarantee for production and living conditions at night.
When the dark night is lit up, people gradually discover that there are not "demons" in the darkness, and "staying up all night" is no longer a derogatory term.
When people gradually realize this, many intellectuals will also gather in their free time after get off work, which just promotes the modernization of life.
Since modern times, our country has been in the midst of wars. Even though territorial sovereignty was later restored and people were able to live peacefully, "tightening their belts" has become the norm in life.
In the 1960s and 1970s, most kerosene lamps were made by the male owner of the family himself.
Kerosene lamps
usually use discarded ink bottles as the base. In order to increase the stability of the kerosene lamp, fine sand is added to it, and the discarded iron sheets are often made into wick molds.
Because the wick is made of cotton sliver, the flame is very weak, so people pay special attention to the lampshade. In order to maximize the brightness of the kerosene lamp, if the lampshade becomes black, it will be wiped immediately.
If someone wants to go to the kitchen or other places, they will also bring a kerosene lamp with them. Not all places in the house can be lit.
"But why can't we light a few more lights?"
Children will ask their parents this question when they look at the weak lights at home. At this time, adults have no choice but to tell them that they must live frugally and frugally so that they can have a steady stream of water.
But the happiness at that time was often very simple. When night fell, the family gathered together to share what they had seen and gained during the day, which enhanced the cohesion of the family.
The children also like to play "shadow games" very much, making various shapes under the light, which makes the adults laugh nearby, and the whole family is filled with a happy atmosphere.
Such days lasted until the mid-1980s. Before and after the reform and opening up, the country became more prosperous, people's lives became more stable and prosperous, and many rural areas began to receive electricity.
According to the memories of the older generation, telephone poles were buried in front of every house in the village and connected with wires. If this was not possible, trees would be used instead of telephone poles, just to provide every household with access to electricity.
At that time, the main electricity used by rural people was lighting, and children also preferred to read and study under light bulbs.
But because electricity still costs money, the wattage of light bulbs is generally not very high. At this time, children will use white paper to cover the light bulbs to focus the light, which is really brighter than usual.
This small light bulb will bring a happy experience to a child and a family. After
was connected to electricity, people's entertainment activities began to increase, and people in the village began to buy TV sets.
But after all, because TVs are expensive, only a few people buy them. Whenever night comes, you will see that the family with a TV is crowded with neighbors inside and outside, and they are lively.
However, in the beginning, voltage instability was often encountered, and the general public even made up a jingle.
"As soon as it gets dark, the power goes out, and when the light comes on, people fall asleep."
If it's just lighting, it's fine, but if you happen to encounter a TV series placed in an exciting place, wouldn't it be a pity to miss it?
However, with the continuous progress and development of society, people's electricity consumption issues have been paid more attention to.
In particular, we are promoting the construction of new rural areas of socialist , carrying out power grid transformation, and constantly improving rural power supply facilities.
Telephone poles are getting taller and taller, and wires are getting thicker and thicker. Power outages will almost never happen again, and people's lives have become more convenient and secure.
Now that the country has truly become prosperous and powerful, every household has a must-have electric light. Perhaps the kerosene lamp has long been forgotten, but it has also personally experienced and witnessed that distant history.
The small kerosene lamp carries the sad past, and the bright electric light will continue to illuminate every corner.
