In recent days, the weather has been surprisingly cold.
In the cold winter, what a blessing it would be to be able to build a fire and share happiness while warming up around the brazier.
Fire is of great importance to human beings. So how did the ancients make fire?—— drill wood to make fire, and hit stones to make fire! These methods are both time-consuming and laborious. Is there a good way to make a fire?
In fact, as early as the Western Zhou Dynasty, our ancestors had already used portable "lighters". Unlike today's lighter principle, it does not need flint, as long as there is sunlight, it is called.
In ancient times, people called the tool for making fire "flint". Depending on the material, there are wooden flints and golden flints. The wood flint is made of wood, and the golden flint made of metal is made of fire to the sun, which is what we call "yang flint".
Shen Kuo, a scientist in the Song Dynasty, recorded in the book "Mengxi Writings": "The yang flint surface is concave, and the light that shines towards the sun is all inward, one or two inches away from the mirror, gathered into a point, as big as a hemp, and the object is fire." It means that when using the sunny, you should choose a sunny place, use the reflection and refraction principle of the concave mirror, aim the sun, adjust the angle, and put the flammable material at the reflection focus of the concave surface, so that the sunlight is focused on one point, and after a few seconds or ten seconds, the flammable material is ignited.
In the Qiuguo Museum in Sanmenxia City, Henan Province, there are 30,000 cultural relics unearthed from the Qiuguo cemetery, and along with these cultural relics, there is also a bronze Yangsui object dating back 2,800 years.
It is 7.5 centimeters in diameter, with a silvery-white concave mirror on the front and a nose-shaped button on the back, and two colorful tigers cast next to the button, as well as a pattern of a two-headed dragon and an ostrich. On the whole, its unique shape resembles a teacup lid, which also makes it more convenient in the process of taking fire from the sun.
It is more convenient to make fire, and it is also inseparable from the complex production process of bronze yangsui. In order to effectively reflect sunlight, it is necessary to choose a high-quality bronze material, which has been sanded and polished many times to make its surface smooth as a mirror.
There is also an accurate record of the material formula for the production of Yangsui in the "Zhouli Examination Record": "There are six Qi of gold, half of gold and tin, which is called the Qi of Jiansui." Among them, "gold" refers to pure copper, and "tin" refers to lead-tin alloy, that is, the ratio of copper to tin to make yang sui is 2 to 1. The information contained in these cultural relics not only reflects the experience, thinking and wisdom of the makers, but also reflects the profound scientific understanding of ancient China.
With the popularity of more advanced fire-making tools, impotence gradually withdrew from people's daily life. However, in the Olympic Games, Asian Games and other important sports events of the flame lighting ceremony, we can still see the figure of the fire artifact - "Yang Sui......
From the primitive society of drilling wood to make fire, the Bronze Age of Yang Sui to make fire, the Iron Age of fire sickle to make fire, the Ming and Qing Dynasties to take lamps to start fire, to the whole process of the invention of matches in modern society, the history of human fire is also the history of the development of social civilization that human beings are gradually moving towards scientific progress, and every change and leap of human fire has become a milestone in social development.
This is one of the oldest civilizations in China.
Curator: Wei Jian, Li Zheng
Co-ordinator: Li Jingxin, Zhang Peijun
Execution: Lou Heng, Xu Huizeng, Fan Zhao
Copywriter: Mo Shaohua Li Dongbao
Video/Production: Ma Shaokun
Poster: Hu Hanze
Special thanks to: Sanmenxia City Yuguo Museum