In ancient China, people did not live long.
Average life expectancy for men in China
The biggest reasons for the low life expectancy are almost the following
War: In ancient times, wars were all cold weapons. Human flesh charges, knives and knives see blood. The proportion of casualties each time is very large, and the medical level cannot keep up, and once injured, most people are waiting to die.
Disasters: In ancient times, when there was a major earthquake or flood, etc., there was no scientific early warning and emergency plan, which would lead to large-scale deaths.
Medical: The development of medicine is the formation of a scientific system in modern times, many of the ancient mortality rates are also caused by low medical level, such as various problems that occur when pregnant women give birth can not be dealt with in time to cause dystocia, even after the birth of the baby, a little bit of small disease, will lead to premature death. Due to the lack of vaccines and antibiotics, a large number of small diseases that now seem to be completely inadequate can be fatal in ancient times.
Even the royal nobles who enjoyed the most superior quality of life and conditions did not live on average. The historical data of the mainland show that since there are written records, the average life expectancy of the emperors of the mainland is 39 years old.
Ming Emperor Life Ranking List
In terms of longevity, God is fair, at least the average life expectancy of the emperor is almost close to that of commoners. They are all around 40 years old, and the "emperor's short life" advocated by many people on the Internet is actually untenable. Because in ancient China, whether it was the emperor or others, the life expectancy was not high.
Of course, the average life expectancy is about 40 years, which is not to say that there are no people who live a very long life. "Over seventy years old" is also a statement for the life expectancy of ancient people, in modern society, seventy or eighty years old people have been very common.
The phenomenon of short life continued until the Republic of China period, when the average life expectancy of residents in Nanjing in 1935 was 39.8 years for men and 38.22 years for women.
Not only did the ancient Chinese have a short lifespan, but so did the Europeans. Even before the Industrial Revolution, their average life expectancy was much lower than in China, not to mention the great Chinese medicine handed down from their ancestors.
The following statistical chart is a statistical table of life expectancy in European history:
Let's look at another statistical table: life expectancy in Florence, Italy, between the 13th and 15th centuries:
It's easy to spot a pattern in the charts that their average lifespan values began to spike in straight lines after 1850.
Why was the inflection point in 1850? According to the relevant information, 1850 coincided with the end of the first industrial revolution in Europe. The first modern industrial technologies, represented by the steam engine, were widely used in Europe.
The technology brought about by the first industrial revolution was applied to production, transportation and other aspects. The direct impact of the dramatic increase in agricultural productivity is rapid population growth and improvements in living standards.
But compared with the industrial revolution, the "qualitative change" of medical level is the most critical reason. The Industrial Revolution brought not only technology, but also scientific thinking about various fields, including medicine.
In the late 18th century, European medical scientists first proposed the concept of "lesions" through the dissection of corpses, and the introduction of this idea had a great impact on the subsequent development of medicine.
In the mid-19th century, the creation of classical immunology made the "vaccine" known and accepted by the public, that is, from then on, life expectancy in Europe soared in the following time. In stark contrast to China in 1850, the Daoguang Emperor was still struggling over opium.
Chinese's inflection point in life expectancy was pushed back to the mid-20th century, 100 years later than in Europe.
However, Today's China is trying to seize the opportunities of the "Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0)". I believe that in the future historical development process, we can achieve cornering overtaking!