The content of this article comes from the Internet, if it is inconsistent with the actual situation or there is infringement, please contact to delete. This article is only published in today's headlines, please do not move.
In ancient texts, we can often see this word - "eight feet long". Regardless of the dynasty, men with eight-foot tall bodies are recognized as tall and burly, but it should be noted that each dynasty has different measurement scales, so there is no clear answer to how tall "eight feet" means.
However, even in ancient times, height had its limits. In "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", Luo Guanzhong once described Guan Yu as "nine feet long", he is a good fighter, known as a fierce general in the entire Three Kingdoms era, and this nine-foot height is even more enviable. However, the issue of Guan Yu's height has always been controversial.
During the Han Dynasty, different historical periods used different measurement scales. Some people say that Guan Yu's actual height is not that tall, only about one meter seven to one meter eight, while some people firmly believe that Guan Yu is more than two meters tall. Readers had different opinions about this, and it wasn't until the advent of the Han ruler of that era that people really understood how tall Guan Yu was at that time.
Whether in the canon history or in the novel, Guan Yu's image is positive and radiant. Luo Guanzhong was particularly fond of him, and in "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", he spent a lot of ink to describe Guan Yu's appearance: "The length of the body is nine feet, and the length of the hair is two feet; The face is like a heavy date, and the lips are like grease; Danfeng eyes, lying silkworm eyebrows, dignified appearance, majestic..." Such a description is breathtaking, Guan Yu can be called a real hero.
But when readers read this description of Guan Yu, they couldn't help but be surprised. Ancient men who were eight feet long were already quite tall, and Guan Yu was nine feet long, wouldn't he surpass ordinary people and reach a height of nearly three meters? This may seem like an exaggeration.
Thousands of years ago, the unit of length used in China was the ruler, which still exists today. By today's standards, one foot is about 0.333 meters, which means that Guan Yu's height is close to three meters, and his beard is even more than half a meter! This is no longer the height of a normal person, it is completely a sign of a giant.
However, the level of production in ancient times was low, and various reasons such as genetic factors led to the generally low average height of ancient people. In that era, if Guan Yu was really three meters tall, he would simply be a monster! More importantly, as a warrior general who fights on horseback, exaggerated height will hinder his activities on war horses, which is not in line with his image of being a fierce general.
To sum up, although Guan Yu is nine feet long, the ancient ruler is not the same thing as today's ruler, so Guan Yu's height is actually more normal, about two meters. But this issue has been controversial because rulers were used in different historical periods with different lengths.
The ruler has been used in China for thousands of years, but until the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, the length of the ruler varied from place to place. It was not until Qin Shi Huang unified weights and measures, eliminated the six kingdoms, and established the Qin Dynasty that the ruler had a fixed length. The earliest recorded ruler length was about 16 centimeters during the Shang Dynasty, while the ruler in the Zhou Dynasty grew to 23.1 cm, and after Qin Shi Huang unified weights and measures, the Han Dynasty continued to use this standard. Therefore, according to this standard, Guan Yu's height is about 207 cm, that is, two meters and seven.
However, all along, the length of the ruler of the era in which Luo Guanzhong lived may be different from that of the Han Dynasty, as he lived in the late Yuan and early Ming periods, and the length of his ruler may be different. In the Yuan Dynasty, the length of one foot was about 31.68 cm, while in the Ming Dynasty, it was slightly reduced, and one foot was about 31.1 cm. If calculated according to this standard, Guan Yu's height is close to three meters, which is obviously far from the height of a normal person.
However, Guan Yu lived during the Three Kingdoms period, when the titular emperor was still Emperor Xian of Han, and the length of the ruler would not change much. Therefore, Guan Yu's height is likely to be around two meters, and he is still a fairly tall general. This also explains why history books always emphasize his tall stature and heroism on the battlefield.
In short, the mystery of Guan Yu's height was finally revealed with the efforts of archaeologists. By excavating rulers from several Han Dynasty tombs, we were able to determine that Guan Yu was about two meters tall. This question has been bothering readers
For years, but archaeological intervention has brought the mystery to an answer.
In 1976, during the archaeological excavation of the Han tomb in Guixian, a Han ruler was unearthed, which should be a precious burial product in the noble tomb due to its excellent production, and its authenticity was confirmed. Through this ruler, we can know that the length of one foot is about 23 centimeters, so calculated, Guan Yu's height is about 207 centimeters, that is, two meters and seven.
In addition, archaeological work in the Han tomb of Mancheng also unearthed a metal Han ruler, and although it has passed over the years, the ruler still maintains a clear appearance. In this ruler, the length of one foot is 23.2 cm, so calculated, Guan Yu's height is about 208.8 cm, which is similar to the previous estimate.
Guan Yu lived during the Three Kingdoms period, when the length of the ruler should be similar to that of the Han Dynasty, so Guan Yu's height is likely to be around two meters, which coincides with the aforementioned archaeological finds. This also explains why history books always emphasize his tall stature and heroism on the battlefield.
Therefore, through the work of archaeologists, we finally found conclusive evidence of Guan Yu's height. Although the length of rulers varied in ancient times, Guan Yu was about two meters tall and was a rather tall general rather than an exaggerated giant. The intervention of archaeology has solved this long-plagued mystery and proved the importance of the ancient ruler system, and only through the ancient ruler can the ancient mystery be solved.
The above content and materials are derived from the Internet, and the author of this article does not intend to target or allude to any real country, political system, organization, race, individual. The above does not mean that the author of this article endorses the laws, rules, opinions, behaviors in the article and is responsible for the authenticity of the relevant information. The author of this article is not responsible for any issues arising above or related to any of the above, nor does it assume any direct or indirect legal liability.