In the foreign trade of the ancient Chinese Central Plains Dynasty, China has been able to occupy the leading position in the ancient world trade system by virtue of the absolute monopoly advantage of silk, porcelain and tea, and the export volume has always been far greater than the import amount. However, there is a commodity category that China has always needed to import heavily from foreign countries, which has continued for thousands of years. This commodity category is spices.
Spices, in ancient times, were natural substances that were able to emit a rich aroma. Spices were widely used in ancient times, and can be divided into medicinal, catering, cosmetics, and household incense. In ancient China, due to the limitations of climate and soil and water, the variety of spice crops was limited and the yield was insufficient, so it was necessary to import a large number of spices from Southeast Asia and West Africa, which were rich in spices, every year.
Ambergris among animal spices is a legendary spice in ancient times, because it is extremely rare and rare, and the name has the word "dragon", which has always been favored and sought after by ancient emperors, and it is difficult for ordinary people to have a chance to kiss Fangze. The historical record of Zheng He's western history in the Ming Dynasty, "Star Maple Victory", records that the ambergris incense goods at that time were low in price, and one or two ambergris incense was worth more than 40,000 copper coins, about 42 silver.
In the ancient Chinese history books, there is a strong sense of mystery about this ambergris from a distant and exotic country. The ancients originally believed that ambergris was condensed from the saliva of the dragon in the sea. As recorded in the Song Dynasty historical material "Lingwai Dai Answer", "Eating the West Sea and many dragons, sleeping on the pillow stone, salivating and floating water, accumulating and being strong." Fish people think it is the most precious treasure", "ambergris has a strange fragrance". The Ming Dynasty historical material "Star Maple Shengguan" also records that "every spring, the dragons gather on the top, play and salivate, fan people are canoe to climb this island, take and return", "burned, its hair is fragrant and lovely", "dragon saliva is like grease, black and yellow, quite fishy, long to achieve great mud". These historical sources believe that ambergris is the condensation of the dragon's saliva in the sea.
But the development of modern natural science and technology has long told us that the dragon is a mythical animal, there is no dragon in the world, then ambergris is naturally not the saliva of the dragon, this statement is a great misunderstanding of the ancients for ambergris, and it is not excluded that the merchants who sell ambergris are deliberately fabricated absurd and unconventional in order to raise their own value. With the in-depth development of zoological research, people have long revealed the true face of ambergris. The so-called ambergris has no half-cent relationship with the dragon. It does come from the ocean and is a dried product of secretions from the intestines of sperm whales of the sperm whale family. Sperm whales prefer to prey on squid, squid, and octopus, but these mollusks have hard jaws and teeth that are difficult to digest after entering the sperm whale.
Stimulated by the friction of these jaws and teeth, the sperm whale will secrete a waxy grease substance in the intestine, which gradually wraps up these hard objects, and after a period of fermentation, it is excreted from the body. These secretions float on the surface of the sea, and under the combined effect of repeated infiltration of seawater and sun and wind, they gradually become a gray-black waxy combustible substance. Ambergris has no fragrance at room temperature, if it encounters high temperature or combustion, it will emit a very strong and unique aroma, and it will last for a long time, which is the best product in spices. The ancient emperors who were obsessed with ambergris could not have dreamed that ambergris was not the saliva of the dragon, but the intestinal excrement of whales. However, ambergris has a high value in the application of spices and is still the darling of the world spice market. References: "Star Maple Victory", "Ridge Outside the Answer"