Under the curfew system of successive dynasties, what did the ancient Chinese people without electricity do at night? Is it a hard day and thinking about resting early? Or is it trying to "create man" for the sake of inheritance? Or do you disobey the orders of the imperial court and still wander the streets? Yes or no, due to the different systems, classes, and visions of the dynasties, the ancients did different things, so today let us take a closer look at what the world did under the curtain of the ancient night. Of course, when we mention this, we can't avoid a system that lasted for more than a thousand years in ancient China, that is, curfews. What is a curfew? As the name suggests, the curfew is to prohibit activities at night, is the ancient dynasty in order to prohibit the people at night entertainment, rebellion, gathering rules, this provision, in different dynasties and places, there are slight differences, but in addition to the Song Dynasty, as soon as it gets dark, there will be someone to ring the closed door drum, reminding everyone not to go out This is still the same.
First, the origin
The curfew system originated in the Zhou Dynasty, and the Zhou Li Qiu Guan Si Kou listed the position of "Si Yu Clan" responsible for "when holding the night, dividing the night with the stars, and commanding the night soldiers to ban the night, the royal morning walker, the curfew walker, and the night wanderer", and this is the earliest record of the relevant functions specifically responsible for curfew matters, however, due to the zhou dynasty, the customs, customs, customs, and control of the localities are different, so in the Zhou Dynasty, the curfew system is more like a constraint on etiquette, and it does not play a great role in vigilance. There are still many people and scholars who do not observe this ritual.
Second, mature
After experiencing the chaotic Spring and Autumn Warring States, as the Qin State unified the world, in order to govern the country, but also to suppress the counterattack of the remnants of the Six Kingdoms, the curfew system became a very strict law at this time, and extended to a long time afterwards, such as the famous Han Dynasty general Li Guang, who forgot the time of the curfew because of drinking, was blocked by a small "janitor" outside the city gate, so that he had to stay up all night in the cold wind, and only the next morning was able to return home.
Also, in the Sui and Tang dynasties, the same is true, first of all, the Sui Dynasty, during the Sui Dynasty, because the Sui Emperor Yang Guang was more violent, the rule of law under his rule was extremely strict, so the curfew system prevailed, everyone can guess, but the Li Tang Dynasty, which is extremely open-minded and has some nomadic ancestry in its bones, also strictly abided by the curfew system, which surprised many people. In the Tang Dynasty, the beginning and end of the curfew are clear signs, this sign is the famous "Mingjie Drum", with the ringing of the street drums and drums at night, both the people and the Hao clan need to go home, and with the sound of the drums in the morning, ordinary people should not only work in time, this is also the "alarm clock bell" of the civil and military officials, which can be described as quite harsh.
Third, decline
Speaking of the decline of the curfew system, the Song Dynasty is the most obvious and the only sign, but from such a strict law of the Tang Dynasty to the loose openness of the Song Dynasty, this is not achieved overnight, so what kind of changes have been experienced in the middle? It turned out that this was all related to the Anshi Rebellion that had caused the Tang Dynasty, after the Anshi Rebellion, the actual power of the Tang Dynasty's ruling groups was gradually declining, even if there were more holy kings such as Wenzong and Xuanzong, most of their time was spent fighting eunuchs, controlling the town, and guarding against foreign enemies, since they were so busy, like some of the "small actions" of the people, they naturally had no energy and no ability to manage, and this was the reason for the rise of fang city in the people.
After experiencing the chaos of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, the Song Dynasty was established, and the Zhao Family Dynasty, which attached importance to commerce, further relaxed the threshold of curfew, but although the curfew system declined in the Song Dynasty, it was not that the Song Dynasty had no curfew at all, but it was changed from the original one more curfew to three more curfews, that is, around twelve o'clock in the middle of the night, don't look at it is still very early, but compared with the original seven to nine o'clock curfew, it is too much more, and with such a long time, the entertainment life of the people is naturally enriched, such as lantern festivals and night markets In order to satisfy the appetite of diners, even late-night "takeaway" services were carried out in the Song Dynasty.
Fourth, the resurrection
After experiencing the developed "commodity economy" of the Song Dynasty, the people were generally accustomed to the noisy downtown at night, but unfortunately, at the time of the Ming and Qing dynasties, the original strict curfew system returned again, from the beginning of the Ming Dynasty to the late Qing, which lasted for about five hundred years, until after the Xinhai Revolution, this system was finally completely abolished. So what is the purpose of this curfew system that has lasted for thousands of years? Is there any advantage in not letting ordinary people go out at night?
In fact, this is also a forced thing, the existence of curfews, not only in the war can play a role in maintaining law and order, like some thieves who enter the house at night, as well as spies from other countries, as well as displaced people from other places, will take advantage of the night to pour into the town, if there is no curfew system, then the public security in various places will fall into crisis, and in ancient times, the population is the first, the people will be "trapped" at home, idle, they will naturally think of "creating people", And this is the reason why a family in ancient times had at least four or five children, with children, the country's population and taxes were guaranteed, so the curfew still played a big role in ancient times.
So is there nothing else that the people of the rest of the era can do except "create people", except for the late Tang and Song dynasties? The answer is no, when the ancients were at home, due to the difference in ideals, ambitions and even gender, the things they did were very different, for example, from the ideal ambition to divide, the chest without great ambition, naturally in addition to sleeping and reproducing, can not think of other things to do, but for those who want to achieve a career, want to serve the country and be loyal to the country, reading is the best choice. In order to become talented, the children of rich and noble families and officials and eunuchs will pick up lamps to fight at night, and will use piles of candles to "pile up" into a flat career, but poor people will not be able to do it, and the children of poor families cannot afford to buy candles, nor can they afford oil lamps, so they have to rely on the moonlight to study hard, but even so, there are many talents who have achieved so hard.
For example, Kuang Heng who chiseled the wall to steal the light in the Western Han Dynasty is like this, according to the history books, Kuang Heng was born in a poor peasant family, in order to subsidize the family, he needs to engage in tiring agricultural work during the day, not to mention, he can't even eat enough on weekdays, but even if the conditions have become so difficult, he still hasn't given up reading, every night when the curfew is over, he will study hard to buy books with "heavy money", there is moonlight reflecting the moonlight, without moonlight, he chiseled open the walls of the neighbor's house, reflecting the neighbor's light candles, and later discovered by the neighbor. He was more willing to be a slave, just in exchange for a chance to study, of course, Kuang Heng also relied on such efforts, and eventually became a not small official in the Western Han Dynasty.
There is also Che Yin of the Jin Dynasty, who is similar to Kuang Heng's birth experience, both are difficult to live, but still study hard to study hard children, in order to read after curfew, he caught many fireflies, which made one bright light after another, illuminating his books, but also for him to illuminate a broad career. There are also examples like Sun Kang and Jiang Bi who are still studying hard after curfew and finally succeeding, so in order to shine the lintel, in order to become the pillar of the country, after the curfew, reading is the most reliable and more extensive activity. So apart from reading, didn't the ancients have any recreational activities?
This is naturally also there, but the same rich people and poor people are very different, if it is a bureaucratic aristocracy, or a rich merchant, although they cannot go out at night, but the nightlife is still very colorful, the more vulgar people may hold banquets at home, a group of friends drink, eat, chat, do games, enjoy and appreciate songs and dances, gentle people may chant poems in pairs, state officials will discuss some national events, and even a small number of princes and nobles will even conspire to criticize the king at night.
And the entertainment projects of the poor people are quite mediocre, most of the time it is just a few relatives and friends sitting in the courtyard "Talking about the mountains", gossiping about the past harvest, and the future prospects, or talking about the neighbors, the villagers who have anecdotes and gossip, such as whose ewe gave birth to a few lambs, whose daughter-in-law watery Yanghua red apricot out of the wall, etc., of course, the poor people are not at all serious, many times, the elders of the family tell the history for the children, explain the philosophy of life, The topic of planning the future direction for children is also common.
But this is only limited to men, because the status of women in ancient times is very low, not only at night, even during the day in addition to labor, women pay attention to "the door does not go out of the second door and do not step", so even if it is small talk, even if it is to tell history for future generations, most of them are the privileges of men, after nightfall, women with slightly better families are fine, just need to wait for their husbands and children to wash and sleep, but women who are poor and forced to make a living need to continue to weave and embroider, or undertake family labor. The above is what people of all classes in society did at night under the curfew system in ancient times, so if everyone came to ancient times, how many days could you last without mobile phones and computers?