In the center of Beijing's central axis, there is a golden and magnificent mysterious "courtyard", which is the imperial palace of the Ming and Qing dynasties, the Forbidden City, now known as the Forbidden City.
The Forbidden City was completed in the eighteenth year of the Ming Dynasty Emperor Yongle (1420), and is the most complete and largest royal palace in the world today: covering an area of more than 720,000 square meters, with more than 70 large and small palaces and more than 9,000 rooms.
What is puzzling is that this grand ancient palace, which has a history of nearly 500 years in the Ming and Qing dynasties, did not have a single toilet built.
When we visited the Forbidden City, we also found this interesting phenomenon: there are only newly built toilets for visitors in the Forbidden City, and there are no toilets built in the Ming and Qing Dynasties.
This is strange: how convenient are the emperors, concubines and other royal family members of the Ming and Qing dynasties, as well as countless eunuchs and palace maidens?
Let's uncover the truth of the "toilet" of the Ming and Qing Imperial Palace.
One: Why didn't the Forbidden City build a toilet?
But all the world's food and drink men and women have three hurries, and the royal family members in the golden Forbidden City, as well as the eunuchs and palace maids who serve them, are no exception.
And why didn't the Forbidden City build toilets?
I believe that the most correct answer should be the emperor who advocated the construction of the Forbidden City, Zhu Di, the ancestor of Ming Cheng. Sister Yu analyzed the following two reasons.
First, security considerations.
Let's start with the origin of ancient toilets. From ancient times to the present, the three hurries of mankind have been a big problem that cannot be ignored. In general, to solve the problem of "exit", one is a cesspit and the other is a toilet.
Before the Han Dynasty, toilets were specially built in ancient imperial palaces, commonly known as "dung pits". But ancient productivity was backward, and toilets were poorly built.
In particular, the stability and safety are poor, and the risk factor is very large: first, the manure is easy to rebound, which makes convenient people suffer; Second, it is easy to fall into the dung pit, and in severe cases, it will be choked to death and drowned.
It is said that during the Spring and Autumn Warring States period, there was an emperor named Jinggong of Jin, who once suddenly felt unbearable abdominal pain while eating, so he quickly ran to the toilet, but accidentally stepped into the dung pit, and finally drowned, becoming the most tragic emperor in history.
A toilet can kill people, which shows how big the hidden dangers of ancient toilets are. It was not until after the Han Dynasty that safer toilets gradually appeared in the palace, which were actually toilets.
The second is hygiene considerations.
It is said that when the Forbidden City was built, it had an advanced underground drainage system, but it was advanced and modern, and it could only be used as a drainage facility, not for sewage discharge.
Besides, tens of thousands of people live in the Forbidden City, and if you build a toilet, I am afraid that the excrement in the ditch will smell and fill the entire palace in a few days, which is intolerable by the heavenly family.
You know, the Forbidden City of the Ming and Qing dynasties is a royal important place, the home of the Son of Heaven, and it is the office and residence of the royal family, especially the Supreme Emperor of the Ninth Five, if the environment is polluted, then where is the royal majesty and image?
The Forbidden City is a magnificent building in the history of China and even the world, the people in the palace eat and drink Lasa, and they will take into account all aspects when building the palace, and after the Han Dynasty, toilets appeared in the court, which must have been considered by Ming Chengzu.
Two: How do nearly 10,000 people enter the Qing Palace?
Since the Han Dynasty, toilets began to appear in the court.
The toilets used in the imperial palace of the Qing Dynasty were potties and gong barrels. Since the Yuan Dynasty, the ancients went to the toilet called "out of court".
The Qing palace was filled with charcoal ash with a large solution bedpan, which was covered with charcoal ash after the big solution, and then covered with a lid and poured into the manure truck. Of course, Xiaojie does not use charcoal ash, and is directly poured into the gong barrel to be processed.
The toilets used by the emperor and concubines have a nice name, called "official room". It is actually a mobile toilet, which is specially kept by eunuchs, and is not placed in the palace, but in a room with special toilets.
If the emperor and the concubines go out, the official room needs to be with them all the time, and the eunuchs accompanying them must bring the official room with them in case the masters are in urgent need.
Of course, the toilets used by eunuchs, palace maids and other subordinates are directly called "potty".
Not only that, the official rooms used by the emperors and concubines are also very exquisite, and they are different in shape and material, unlike the toilets we use now.
One is a rectangular wooden official room. Perimeter wooden frame, with an oval opening on the frame, cushioned around it, a lid on the mouth, and a tin bedpan inside that can be pulled like a drawer, which not only prevents leakage, but also facilitates the removal of excrement. It feels like the toilet we use now.
The second is an oval-shaped tin official room. The basin is covered with a wooden lid, and there is a button in the middle of the lid, which can be used with a low potty stool, which also has a backrest and a soft lining, and is very comfortable to sit on. This kind of use feels like the potty chair commonly used by the elderly today.
Of course, there are other shapes of official rooms, such as the one used by Empress Dowager Cixi, which is a unique gecko-shaped. In addition, in addition to wood and tin, some official rooms are also made of porcelain.
From some texts recorded in Empress Dowager Cixi's "courtesy", we can roughly understand how the members of the Ming and Qing imperial families solved the problem of internal emergency.
Every time Cixi wanted to "pass on the official room", the palace maids around her were in a hurry...
One is to be ready.
For example, the palace ladies each perform their duties, some go to call the eunuchs in the official room, some go to get the bedding, some go to get the paper, some spread the tarpaulin paper in the clean room, etc... Because the official room is not in the Cixi Palace, after all, it has some peculiar smell.
The second is to send the official room.
The eunuch in charge of the official room wrapped the official room with a yellow cloth sleeve embroidered with a cloud dragon, put it on his head and sent it to the Cixi Palace, after asking for peace, he opened the yellow cloth cover and took out the official room, and then the palace maid held the official room and sent it to the clean room on the right side of the bedroom bed, and the clean room floor should first be laid with oilcloth, the official room should be placed on the oilcloth, and then put the paper in the mouth of the "gecko".
"Gecko" is actually an official room made in the shape of a gecko, but the appearance is carved into a large gecko, the material is sandalwood, the four legs are the four feet of the official room, the belly is the basin drawer of the official room, the tail is the handle, the mouth is slightly open, and the paper is put in the mouth.
It can be seen that Cixi's official office can be called a national treasure.
Open one of the lids in the middle of the gecko's back and sit on it. Of course, in order to prevent peculiar smells, rosin powder will be sprinkled in the official room to deodorize.
The third is to withdraw official offices.
After using up the official room, it is necessary to remove it immediately, otherwise the clean room will have a peculiar smell. After Cixi finished his affairs, the palace maid took the official room out and handed it over to the eunuch, who wrapped it in the same yellow cloth and lifted it on his head, removed the excrement, wiped the official room, and sprinkled it with new dried pine wood powder for Cixi to use next time.
From this point of view, Cixi is indeed troublesome enough.
There are no relevant pictures, so I will replace it for the time being
But the concubines were not so particular about their courtesy, of course, they had to have maids to serve, and then the eunuchs carried the toilet away.
The eunuchs and palace maids went to the toilet, and each palace courtyard was equipped with a special clean room, which was equipped with gong buckets, potties, thatched stools, ash troughs, etc. After they use it, they also have to clean and scrub themselves for later use.
Before entering the palace in the Great Qing Dynasty, he used potties and gong barrels in the Shenyang Imperial Palace, and did not find toilets.
Of course, it does not mean that the Qing Palace has not used the toilet. Archaeological findings have found that a complete clean house site was also found in the Shenyang Emperor's Taiji Mausoleum, which is the "imperial toilet" when the Qing Dynasty emperor visited the tomb. There are few ancient toilet sites, so it is a site of great archaeological value.
Three: Where does the excrement of the Qing Palace go?
The Forbidden City has a large population, and the entire Qing Palace uses potties, so how to deal with the large amount of excrement produced, and where did it end up?
From some Qing palace dramas, we can see that most of the potty and gong barrels in the palace are cleaned up by the lowly palace maids and eunuchs of Xinjikuli, who are veritable "shovel officials".
According to historical records, on the fourth, fourteenth and twenty-fourth days of the first month of each month, eunuchs and palace maids loaded the excrement and transported them out of the palace, and then a new batch of empty cars entered the palace and placed them in designated places, and then transported out of the palace after the next 10 days.
And these excrements were immediately robbed after being transported out, after all, the people in the palace eat high-quality food, and the things discharged are much better than ordinary people, but nourishing crops has a good effect on fertilization, and it is a good farm fertilizer!
Some can even be used in medicine.
In ancient times, there was also the profession of "pouring night incense", although it was difficult to accept for a while, but this profession could earn huge profits. In Beijing during the Ming and Qing dynasties and the Republic of China, the dung man profession was still very hot.
However, it is also a little sad to think about.
What do you think? Welcome to leave a message.
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(The pictures in the article come from the Internet, if invaded, they will be deleted)