The story begins with an experiment 5 years ago.
In 2017, foreign journalists walked into a laboratory that simulates earthquakes.
There is an ancient Chinese building on the seismic platform.
The reporter took the advice of foreign experts, who believed that this thin ancient building was unlikely to resist an earthquake of magnitude 6 or above.
But just in front of the reporter's eyes, the intensity of the earthquake began at level 4, exceeded level 6, and then increased to level 7 and 8, although the shaking became more and more intense, but the ancient buildings always collapsed...
The intensity of the experiment is still increasing, where is its seismic limit?
The whole building, without iron nails and steel bars, all connected by wooden tenons, only by a few pillars on the ground, how can it withstand such a strong earthquake?
Layer by layer of in-depth research, it turns out that the wisdom of ancient Chinese architecture comes from natural bionics 7,000 years ago, which can also be regarded as a kind of ancient Taoist black technology.
Today, we're going to talk about the story behind this.
Beijing, 1979
Fast forward to 1979, when a batch of heavy equipment needed to cross the Yongding River outside Beijing.
However, due to the large tonnage, several new bridges on the Yongding River seem to be unable to carry it.
Experts calculated overnight, but the next day, the transportation department waited for a seemingly unreliable proposal.
Experts say that this impossible task will be handed over to the ancient bridge on the Yongding River, without reinforcement, it is no problem.
This ancient bridge was built more than 800 years ago, is it really no problem?
The experts issued a military order on the spot.
Then, 429 tons of heavy equipment was opened on the bridge, and monitoring instruments showed that the bridge arch was sinking.
Everyone pinched a handful of sweat, the value was still rising, and slowly, the maximum sinking reached 0.52 mm, some people closed their eyes, but the experts looked relaxed.
After 20 minutes, the equipment passed smoothly, the ancient bridge was safe and sound, and everyone was cheering, and this ancient bridge was the famous Lugou Bridge.
So, why is the Lugou Bridge so powerful?
It is said that more than 800 years ago, such a story happened here.
1189 Lugou Bridge
In this year, the city of Beijing under the Emperor of the Jin Dynasty had begun to take shape.
At that time, Beijing was called Zhongdu, which was the eastern starting point of the Universal Silk Road, and the Emperor of the Jin Dynasty wanted to build Zhongdu according to the standards of the center of the universe.
Therefore, the Lugou Bridge, as the façade of Zhongdu, must be repaired with great pride.
But the structure lasted for months, and even the design scheme could not be come up with.
Because the Yongding River was still a very violent river at that time, it would wash away the entire southern suburbs of Beijing at any moment.
It was already difficult to use a stone bridge across the Yongding River.
In addition, the Emperor of the Jin Dynasty demanded that the Lugou Bridge should not be too arched, and it must be convenient for caravans to pass, and the bridge deck should be widened so that four carriages can be parallel.
Walking on it, we must use the momentum of the flood under the bridge and the people on the bridge, and then decorate hundreds of lions with different forms, so that the friends of Fanbang can experience the solemnity of my golden country.
In the end, the chief engineer of the year designed the Lugou Bridge as we are now, although we cannot find any information about him today.
But by the Yongding River, there are still stories about him.
The old man who sells bamboo shoots
On this day, the chief engineer heard an old man outside the house shouting, buy some bamboo shoots, buy some bamboo shoots.
After shouting for almost an hour, the chief engineer was a little annoyed, and asked people to go out and ask the vendor to make a little noise.
Sure enough, the shouting stopped, and the chief engineer continued to work on the design plan.
Unconsciously, another whole day had passed, and the servant brought in the meal, and the chief engineer had no appetite at all, and he looked at the whole room of drawings and patterns in a daze.
How exactly do you cross the Yongding River?
Thinking about it, the cry of selling in the afternoon actually echoed in my mind again, buy some bamboo shoots, buy some bamboo shoots.
The more the chief engineer thought about it, the more annoyed he became, but suddenly he stood up and looked straight ahead.
Buy some bamboo shoots?
This is the north, where are the bamboo shoots?
As if he had discovered some secret, the chief engineer hurried out and asked the doorman to find the old man who sold bamboo shoots.
On this side, I began to frantically calculate something on the drawings.
After a while, the doorman returned, and they said that the old man was gone, but found his basket, and the bamboo shoots in the basket were strange, it was really difficult to say, you go and see for yourself.
The chief engineer ran to the basket with the doorman, unveiled it, and sure enough, he thought the same, where is the sale of bamboo shoots, it is clear that it is selling mortise.
Originally, there was a basket full of silver ingots iron mortise, which was a cast iron structure that was wide at both ends and narrow in the middle, and looked like silver ingots, so it was called silver ingot iron mortise.
Similar tenons are often used to connect wood, while this tenon is used to connect stone.
Apparently, the old man was prompting the chief engineer to connect the stone with an iron mortise and let the bridge naturally buffer, so that it could deal with the flood.
What the chief engineer has just calculated is also the parameters of these iron mortise, and at this time, he will measure it with a ruler and calculate the bead in his palm.
Sure enough, the iron mortise in front of you is the size that meets the conditions.
Where could there be such a coincidence?
Where is the old man who can carry this basket of tenons?
It must have been Grandmaster Lu Ban who appeared and helped him get through the difficulties.
The next day, the chief engineer brought all the craftsmen and miscellaneous servants to worship the grandfather, and three years later, the Lugou Bridge was successfully completed.
To this day, more than 800 years later, it still stands on the Yongding River and can still carry 429 tons of heavy equipment.
This is not because it is strong, but because it is flexible, because behind these iron mortise, it is the most intuitive Taoist black technology - mortise and mortise.
It gives the boulders elasticity, and also makes the whole bridge soft and rigid, which is very in line with Taoist philosophy.
Later, this inspiration was used once by Boeing engineers.
Why does the engine of the aircraft clang?
When you were flying, did you ever think about how this engine turned and clanged?
I'm afraid there are some loose parts inside, right?
In fact, you are not mistaken, there are really parts that are loose, and it is the most critical part - the propeller blade - that is loose.
Did you really let them fly up like this?
In fact, this is deliberately done by the engineers.
When the engine was still a propeller, the engineers did put a lot of thought into fixing the propeller and making every paddle surface absolutely balanced.
Because, even a little bit of imbalance, in the high-speed rotation, will be magnified, and if it is not good, the propeller will be broken.
But then the plane flew farther and farther, the engines spun faster and faster, and the engineers began to grow their heads.
Because every flight will definitely bring damage to the propeller, and if you have to repair these damages to 100% complete every time, then you don't have to fly, you have to repair the propeller every day.
But unless the propeller can repair itself, engineers you have to adjust it to 100% complete every time.
So the engineers began to wonder if there was any way to make the propeller self-healing.
It is said that the chief engineer of the first generation of Boeing is called Wang Zhu.
He lightly took out a mortise and tenon, and then calmly told his colleagues a Taoist story about Yi Rou Ke Gang...
So you see the jingling aircraft engines that are now there.
Yes, these loose blades are artificially designed mortise and tenons.
Because, at high speed rotation, since we can't balance each blade, we simply follow it and use a loose mortise to make the blade repair itself.
For example, the left blade is hit by a small stone, losing 1 gram of weight, it does not matter, when rotating at high speed, the right blade will use the space in the mortise to make up for the weight of 1 gram.
When the entire impeller is rotated, the center of gravity is exchanged for space, and then each blade can repair itself, and finally turn into a standard perfect circle.
The mortise of these airplane blades, like Christmas trees, are inserted into the roulette wheel one by one, does it suddenly feel magical?
In fact, tenon and tenon is only the entry-level technology of Taoist black technology, and on top of tenon and tenon, the ancients have more advanced core technologies.
But before introducing this core technology, let's first add a little about the right and wrong of mortise and mortise.
Who is genuine licensed?
In 1973, the Chinese archaeological team excavated a mortise and tenon 7,000 years ago in Hemudu, Zhejiang, which was very mature, and the world was paying attention to this archaeological discovery at that time.
Because, it means, at least 7,000 years ago, Chinese have mastered the tenon technology.
Moreover, in the Hemudu site, a large number of beast bones have also been found, and these beast bones are believed to have traces of splicing.
Therefore, archaeologists deduce that the Hemudu people independently invented the tenon and tenon technology seven or eight thousand years ago based on the biomimicry of beast bones.
This evidence is very powerful, and all of a sudden the Egyptian pharaohs are embarrassed, and their sun boats also appear to have the same tenon of hemudu.
But apparently, their boats are only more than 4500 years old, and the mortise of Hemudu is 7000 years old...
For a while, Hemudu seemed to have become the originator of the global mortise.
But later, the Germans dug up a batch of ancient mortise and tenons, measured the age, just 7,000 years old, and chased down Hemudu.
In addition, Germany and Northern Europe also have many ancient wooden structures.
For example, the Viking Temple of Odin, according to legend, is a huge wooden building without the use of an iron nail...
Therefore, the wooden tenon is found all over the world, and it is still unclear who is the originator.
But on top of the mortise, Chinese actually has another core technology, which really hasn't been used by other ancient civilizations yet.
How to describe this core technology?
Probably seven words – build a house from top to bottom.
Build the house from top to bottom
Do you hear these seven words confusingly?
In fact, our traditional buildings are really built first, then the walls are built, and finally the windows are completed.
Contrary to foreigners, they first dug the foundation, then repaired the wall, and finally finished the cap.
Because of this difference, it is often said that the ancient Chinese did not understand architecture at all, and if you look at the great Forbidden City, there is not even a foundation.
But have you ever wondered how a house without a foundation survived an earthquake of hundreds of years?
Beijing is a city on the Yanshan earthquake belt.
So, it is precisely to explore this question that we have the opening scene of our story.
An American journalist visited architectural experts from all over the world to ask about related issues, but the experts could not tell the secret of the earthquake resistance of the Forbidden City.
So the reporter decided to investigate the field, first asking Chinese craftsmen to restore a small sample of the palace in the earthquake laboratory, and then simulating the earthquake to see how it was earthquakeproof.
At first, before the reporter entered the laboratory, he heard a black technology term for the first time - dou arch.
Chinese craftsmen patiently explained how the ancients relied on pillars to bear weight, and how they used mortise and mortise to build bucket arches on pillars, and then used bucket arches to build roofs.
All the houses were built with pillars, bucket arches, and then from the roof down, and finally the walls were built, the windows were installed, and the construction was completed.
Such a Chinese building is actually a giant hand-made building riding on the floor, with good shockproof effect, and so on.
These Chinese architectural theories really stunned foreign experts.
But in short, the house was set up, and before the experiment, they thought that level 6 was almost the limit of earthquake resistance.
Then, the experiment begins, the seismic magnitude, each step up, equivalent to a 10-fold increase in seismic energy.
Each level is tested for 30 seconds, and if the house collapses within these 30 seconds, it is even its seismic limit.
Then, level 4, level 4.5, level 5, the test was strengthened step by step, and by the time level 5.5 was reached, the wall had fallen, but the ancient building was safe and sound.
Continuing to rise to level 7.5, the whole house began to shake violently, but there was still no sign of collapse.
The lab directly increased the intensity to 9.5, the strongest earthquake scale ever recorded, equivalent to the equivalent of a 2 billion-ton TNT explosion, but after 30 seconds, not a single tile fell.
Level 10.1, which was already the strength of the laboratory's explosion, and after 30 seconds, the earth and the house calmed down together.
It's too exaggerated, how did this ancient building without even a foundation do it?
At the scene, a Chinese expert pointed to the red line on the foundation of the house and told the foreigners, you see, the first pillar was pressed on the red line, and now the pillar has shifted.
It turns out that this is what riding on the floor means.
If, Chinese really buried the pillar in the foundation, the great earthquake would have broken the pillar long ago.
But the ancients used the gravity of the roof to let the pillar ride on the floor, and through displacement, the impact of the broken pillar was removed.
The bucket arches on the roof are all mortise and tenon structures, which have a good cushioning and shock absorption effect, plus the top is light.
As a result, you can see the writhing magic in this kind of earthquake, really like an old way that is dialing four or two pounds.
In fact, continue to dig deep into the Forbidden City, they are not without foundations, but there are as many as 18 layers, a layer of rubble and a layer of rammed earth, this kind of platform-like foundation, just like the train pillow track is a principle, rubble cushioning, rammed earth shaping, a soft and rigid, can also unload a lot of seismic impact.
Finally, let dozens of pillars ride on this floor, a rigid and soft ancient building will be built, careful observation of these pillars, this is the soul of ancient Chinese architecture, and each of them is a giant nan wood that has grown for at least hundreds of years in the mountains...
This wisdom and technology of being close to nature and imitating nature is really not a mystery that can be fully explained in terms of physics and mathematics alone.
Perhaps, this is the depth of the ancient Taoists.
Later, the Japanese also imitated our ancient buildings in large quantities, but when you cut through its wooden structure, you will find that the core technology of the bucket arch is lost, and they have only learned a skin full of mortise and mortise...
Now is it suddenly understood that Liang Sicheng painted these wooden structures, why did they all paint and cry.
Obviously, this is all ancient black technology that cannot be copied.
Cannot be copied one: Jixian Guanyin Hall
There is a Guanyin Hall in Jixian County, Tianjin, and there is a 16.08-meter Guanyin statue in the main hall.
The ancients decided to use the structure of the three-story pavilion to let you feel the dignity of this Guanyin statue at close range and from multiple angles.
Therefore, they first built a layer of bucket arch on the floor, and the second floor of the floor was laid on the bucket arch, and then on the second floor of the floor, they built a pillar and arranged the bucket arch to build a third floor.
Finally, another layer of pillars is erected, the bucket arches are arranged, and the roof is built.
The entire Guanyin Hall is 20 meters high, has no foundation, and like the palace in front of it, it is ridden on the floor, and it rides three floors.
It is said that the original craftsmen who designed it were Tang Dynasty people, and later, when they were in the Liao Dynasty, they were readjusted again, probably in 984 AD, more than 1,000 years ago.
In the past 1,000 years, Jixian has experienced at least 7 major earthquakes of magnitude 7.5 or above, and this giant hand office that has ridden three floors has not collapsed so far.
How did the ancients calculate the mechanical principles in this?
We can't replicate anymore.
But we know that this kind of three-story building is far from the ceiling.
For example, there is also a wooden pagoda in Ying County, Shanxi, which rides nine stories.
Unable to copy two: Ying County Wooden Tower
Yingxian Wooden Tower and Pisa Leaning Tower, Eiffel Tower and called the world's three major chi towers.
All-wood structure, 67 meters high, without a single steel bar, the total amount of wood used is 3000 cubic meters, weighing more than 2600 tons.
You think it's a building, but in fact, it's a handmade, and if a giant can pick it up and ride it in another place, it's exactly the same.
Although the exterior is five stories, if you go inside, you will find that it has nine floors.
In order to build it, the ancients designed four knot layers, which are the bionic of natural bamboo knots, one layer of space, one layer of bamboo knots, imitating bamboo.
This bamboo structure enhances stability and subtly supports this 67-meter-high, 2,600-ton giant handmade.
The wooden pagoda was built in 1056, 966 years ago.
In the 1920s, the then county magistrate of Ying County had a strange dream, and after waking up, he thought that Ying County did not understand feng shui and had to do something.
Therefore, the county magistrate ordered people to dismantle some of the large pillars in the YingXian wooden pagoda and replace them with grid screens, so that the wooden pagoda became a Linglong pagoda, and the feng shui would not be passed?
After the transformation of the wooden tower, the county magistrate was still complacent, believing that he had been entrusted by the gods to dream and correct a design error that lasted for 1,000 years.
As a result, 100 years have passed, and the place where the pillar was demolished by the county magistrate today has been seriously deformed and visible to the naked eye, but the 966-year-old wooden tower is still hard and there is no sign of collapse for the time being.
Maybe you have to ask, why don't you go and repair it quickly, do you want to watch it fall?
It is not that it does not want to be repaired, it is true that it will not be repaired, the ancient black technology has long been lost, and the repair plan has been discussed from the 90s, discussed for more than 30 years, and there is no conclusion to this day.
Really, in the end, if we have high-tech descendants in the 21st century, we can only go to reinforced concrete to repair this beautiful ancient hand...
It's a bit of a shame.
Can't copy three: Hanging Temple
The Hanging Temple in Datong, Shanxi, is also an architectural marvel that foreign experts are keen to study.
How did those three-story pavilions rely on a few columns to support them?
The most amazing thing is that you go to the pillar and push it with your fingers, and it is still shaking.
It's really too hanging.
Many foreign netizens have listed the Hanging Temple and the Hanging Ladder in the United States as similar urban legends, and put them together.
The American legend says that more than 100 years ago, New Mexico built a church (Loretto Chapel).
After the completion of the main building, I remembered that after I finished, between the first and second floors, I forgot to reserve the space for the stairs, what can I do?
The craftsmen could not think of a plan, if it was an ordinary staircase, there would certainly not be enough space, and even if the spiral staircase was used, there was no suitable angle up and down.
So the monks began to pray, and on the ninth day of prayer, an old man came, and the old man said that he could build a spiral staircase.
But when it was requested to be built, no one was allowed to peek.
There was no way, the chief engineer agreed, and then everyone found that this old man slept during the day and worked at night, and no one knew how he built and how he designed.
But a few months later, the curtain was lifted and the stairs were actually repaired.
The old man didn't say much, and he resigned after receiving the money.
But later, everyone always felt that this staircase was strange, and at first they did not pay attention to it, but suddenly someone found that this staircase did not have columns.
Obviously, all the spiral staircases must have a column in the middle, so as to withstand the power of each step, but this staircase has no columns, but it can still go up and down freely.
So, is this hanging ladder very similar to the hanging temple?
Later experts cracked that the suspended ladder was because the inner ring arc was very small, equivalent to playing the role of the central column, coupled with the spiral tension, equivalent to making a spring with the stairs, so as to balance the pedaling force on the steps.
Are these dangling pillars of the Hanging Temple also some kind of spring?
Later, experts also cracked the secrets of the Hanging Temple.
The pillar is indeed a spring, and it is not forced, and the main force point is pinned to several beams inside the mountain.
The fulcrum of the beam is very cleverly designed, equivalent to the use of the mountain to build a tabletop, the hanging temple is again mounted on this tabletop, and the pillars below only play a spring shock absorption effect.
Below the Hanging Temple is a grumpy river, from the bottom to the valley, 90 meters, which can contain an entire statue of Liberty.
Originally, there was a flood rolling under the Hanging Temple, but now the river has been tamed, so we have this feeling of suspension in front of our eyes.
In fact, when we open the perspective, you will find that the dam above the temple is also spectacular.
The Hanging Temple is also rainproof and windproof, and the design is very clever.
It is said that the temple was originally called Xuankong Temple, which is the work of Lu Dongbin, a real person of Chunyang.
Later, it became a temple where the three religions of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism were united.
Solving the mystery of the Hanging Temple, let's look at a legendary temple work of Lü Dongbin, this time it is really an unsolved mystery.
The unexplained mystery: Twin Towers Mountain
There is a twin-pagoda mountain in Chengde, Hebei Province, and there is a temple in the air on the mountain, one east and one west.
How did this ancient man move the bricks up?
I searched the historical data and found no information.
We don't know who built it, when it was built, or how.
Chengde was originally a desolate countryside ridge, but it was later the Emperor of the Qing Dynasty who built a summer resort here, and then slowly formed a city and village.
In ancient times, which old way was it that caught the treasure land of feng shui here and built a temple in the air?
Originally, it was said that at the end of the Tang Dynasty, the Khitan invaded the Central Plains, at this time, the pure Yang Zhenren Lü Dongbin calculated that behind the Khitan was a red and yellow dragon, the red dragon lurking in the Luan River, and the yellow dragon lurking in the Liao River.
The two rivers lead directly to the Bohai Sea, and the two dragons have great powers.
Pure Yang Zhenren decided to slay the dragon to eliminate the harm, but after a fierce battle, Zhenren also found that the second dragon seemed to have a destiny, and he could not eradicate it.
Watching the Yellow Dragon escape, Lü Dongbin still caught up with the Red Dragon, and the double sword flew out, nailed to death at once, pierced through the red dragon's eyes, and nailed it dead to the bank of the Luan River.
Later, these two flying nails became the Twin Towers Mountain.
Then, Lü Dongbin personally built a monastery on the Twin Pagodas Mountain and practiced in seclusion, which held down the Red Dragon.
The Red Dragon was the Khitan Liao State, and although they occupied the north, they never conquered the south.
And the yellow dragon that escaped was the later Jurchen Golden Kingdom, including the later Mongolian Golden Family and the Later Jin Ai Xinjue luo, they were also yellow dragons, and then continued to kill back, Lü Dongbin could only sigh, Providence was difficult to violate, and then withdrew from the Twin Pagoda Mountain, leaving this temple in the air.
Although the story is magical, has anyone in history really gone up to see the situation in the temple?
When I opened the ancient books, I really found such a person, who turned out to be the Qianlong Emperor.
Ji Xiaolan said in his "Notes on Reading Wei Caotang" that the Qianlong Emperor was in Chengde for a summer vacation, found the Twin Pagoda Mountains, found it interesting, and asked people to build wooden ladders, and he had to go up to see it himself.
Disappointed to go up, to the west were two rows of leeks and a house with a broken incense burner and a pair of broken straw shoes under the incense burner.
To the east, there is an ancient pagoda with a sign with the words Wang (Xiansheng) written on it, and a broken book next to the sign.
Qianlong opened it and looked at it, all of them were strange Chinese characters like Xiansheng, and he didn't know a word.
Inevitably a little disappointed, Qianlong went down the mountain after reading it.
However, on the same night, the Qianlong Emperor had a dream, in the dream was a red-haired Taoist monk, the Taoist said with a smile, leeks are Ganoderma lucidum grass, incense burners are shengyun altars, straw shoes are Dengyun boots, broken books are Yandi books, the emperor you really have no eyes and no pearls, and you have not seen anything.
The next day, Qianlong hurried to let people re-build the ladder, but they couldn't build it, so they shook their heads, drew a picture, and then went back.
We can still see this painting today.
Later, in modern times, scientists wanted to solve the mystery of the Twin Towers Mountain.
They found a chiseled hole between the two mountains and speculated that this should be the scaffolding remains left when the tower was built.
The construction team went up by such a ladder.
However, we have no way of knowing whether these chiseled holes were dug by the builders or by Qianlong.
It's a real pity.
Ancient architecture vs black technology
Back to reality, this is the ancient architecture and black technology in front of us.
Perhaps, our culture has been in the same vein, starting from the hemudu era 7,000 years ago, imitating nature and following nature.
Later, the natural ways that could not be verified by science were abandoned by us.
At present, these ancient buildings are also getting farther and farther away from us.
It seems that the wisdom of the ancients will eventually be lost, and the technology in front of it is a blessing or a curse?
Well, today's story is shared here, thank you.
Finally, Madame said that living in a giant hand office is really something that I have never thought about.
(End)
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