"Spring snow is full of air, and the touch is like a flower." When we finally ushered in the winter on the tail of the four seasons, the first snow in Beijing also arrived as promised, the Forbidden City wrapped in silver was quiet and open, and countless tourists rushed thousands of miles just to see this white snow and red wall...
In the ancient concept of "the unity of heaven and man", the basic planning of the capital city corresponded to the stars in the sky to confirm the legitimacy of the feudal monarchy. Because the residence of the Emperor of Heaven was named Ziwei Palace, the palace where the emperor who called himself the "Son of Heaven" lived was called "Ziwei, Purple Palace" and so on. Imperial power is supreme, ordinary people can not enter the imperial palace, so the Forbidden City, as the imperial palace of the Ming and Qing dynasties in China, is also known as the "Forbidden City".
Founded in 1406 (the fourth year of Ming Chengzu Yongle), the Forbidden City has a history of nearly 600 years, and is the largest and well-preserved wooden ancient building in the world today, with a large number of precious cultural relics and high ornamental value. On October 10, 1925, the Palace Museum was established, laying a good foundation for the development of China's museum industry. This means that the Forbidden City, as a symbol of the feudal imperial power of the past, has gradually completed the transformation into a historical museum culture and leisure wonder, and began to serve the public.
For the purpose of protecting cultural relics, the Forbidden City has strict restrictions on the number of tourists and the time to visit, so tickets to the Forbidden City have always been sought-after, but even so, the Forbidden City is still crowded, especially in heavy snow weather. Whenever this happens, queuing up to go to the toilet will make tourists complain, one of the reasons is that there are too many tourists, and another reason is probably that there are certain problems in the toilet planning of the Palace Museum.
Speaking of this, perhaps some friends will remember that when visiting the Forbidden City, there seems to be no trace of the "ancient toilet", and this huge Forbidden City does not even have a toilet. Why? Could it be that the people in the palace have really become gods?
As the most honorable person, the emperor almost all the people in the palace had to circle around this "son of heaven", and several eunuchs or palace women served him in his diet and living. Counting the concubines and maids of the palaces, the ministers of the Interior, etc., the permanent population of the Forbidden City is thousands or even tens of thousands, so there should be a large-scale toilet in the palace.
Affected by science and technology and other reasons, the Ming and Qing dynasties naturally did not have the toilets in modern society that have been upgraded to automatically flush, heat up and clean, nor did they have a huge and perfect urban sewer treatment system. The toilets of the ancients were dug into pits in the ground, followed by stones or planks for users to step on, while shelters were built on the periphery.
This kind of simple toilet still exists in many backward areas, if the use of few people is fine, there are only a few people who suffer, but if it is a huge crowd like the Forbidden City, this stinking "simple toilet" is another disaster for the environment, the scenery in the Forbidden City is beautiful, people will not have the heart to appreciate.
When the noble concubines and the emperor walk around the palace, if they smell a "toilet" from time to time, they may be psychologically and physically unbearable, and with the original intention of serving the members of the royal family, the Forbidden City will not appear such a toilet without a sense of beauty and elegance.
In addition, in the eyes of the ancients, the "toilets" filled with excrement were filthy and unclean, and these accumulated excessive gases would destroy the feng shui of the palace and even affect the fate of the dynasty, so the Forbidden City did not set up simple toilets like folk.
The ancient Forbidden City did not have modern toilets, nor did it have the kind of toilets of ancient folk, and the imperial palace ladies living in the Forbidden City were not true gods who did not eat or drink, so they had to find a way to solve the important physiological need of "going to the toilet" to maintain basic decency. Let's talk about how the tens of thousands of people in the palace used their wisdom to solve this problem in the ancient Forbidden City, where there was no "toilet".
In the Qing Palace drama "Yanxi Raiders" starring Wu Jinyan, Wei Yongluo faced a disaster of blood and light after the death of Princess Yu with lightning and lightning, and in order to save her life, the empress punished Wei Yongluo to go to Xinzhiku to brush the Gong barrel before the emperor ordered it. The Gong bucket here is the meaning of "toilet", because the toilet in ancient times was called "Out Gong", so the utensils used to hold excrement were called Gong buckets.
Although there are no toilets in the Forbidden City, there is a "clean room", a place dedicated to storing potty, buckets and other toilets. According to research, the former is mostly used to install stool, the latter is used to install urine, in addition, there are ash troughs, thatched stools and other auxiliary objects in the clean room.
Because of the large number of people, these toilets are all public, and the caretaker and cleaning of the clean room are all responsible. Of course, the people assigned to such positions are usually the lowest-ranking or punished people in the palace, such as Wei Yongluo in "Yanxi Raiders", or Concubine Rong who was stripped of her identity in "Kangxi Dynasty", who washed the Gong bucket day and night, and finally unfortunately was smashed to death by the Gong bucket.
Most of the people who use toilet toilets such as buckets to solve the problem of going to the toilet are palace women or eunuchs, because their status is low, so there is not so much attention. But if it is suitable for the emperor or concubines, because the status is more noble, the toilet used is also more advanced, called "official room".
The "official room" is used as a toilet for the members of the royal family, as well as porcelain, wood and other materials, and square or oval shapes. The "official room" and the modern toilet shape is relatively close, the sitting place is paved with soft cushions, the backrest is also very soft, in order to cover up the smell, the "official room" will also put some incense wood fines.
After the empress dowager passed on the "official room", the palace ladies would begin to prepare hand paper, yellow cloth covers, soft cushions and other objects, and when the eunuch in charge of the "official room" sent a toilet wrapped in yellow cloth embroidered with a dragon, Empress Dowager Cixi would begin to "go out of the court". After the completion of the ceremony, the "official room" will be sent to be cleaned immediately, filled with spices and waited for the next use.
These excrement in the bucket or "palace room" will eventually be wrapped in grass and charcoal ash and poured into the free carriage, which will leave the palace through a special passage and be collected by special personnel. Don't get me wrong, in ancient agricultural societies without chemical fertilizers, manure was the fertilizer needed for the best agricultural production. In this way, the large amount of excrement in the Forbidden City is not useless garbage.
The Forbidden City's treatment of people going to the toilet in the palace not only guarantees people's physiological needs, solves the environmental problems that may cause them, but also allows these excreta to be effectively used in agricultural production.
Although the ancients were full of wisdom, this way of solving the problem of going to the toilet has long been out of touch with modern society, and the rule of feudal imperial power has been overthrown for a long time, and modern people have paid more attention to environmental, health, agriculture and other issues. Therefore, we must also keep pace with the times in the design and planning of toilets.
It is understood that in order to solve the problem of tourists queuing up to go to the toilet, the Palace Museum in Beijing has carried out a "toilet revolution" and upgraded 14 public toilets in the open area, so friends who plan to witness the scenery of the Forbidden City do not have to worry about it.