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In the era when there were no clocks and mobile phones, how did the ancients look at the time?

author：The annals of bamboo cultivation
In the era when there were no clocks and mobile phones, how did the ancients look at the time?

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Preface

Nowadays, with the rapid development of technology, if you want to know the current time, you only need to look at your watch or turn on your mobile phone to know accurately

So in ancient times, people did not have high-tech devices such as watches and mobile phones, so how did they record time?

In the era when there were no clocks and mobile phones, how did the ancients look at the time?

Let's take a look today to see how the wisdom of the ancients understood time!

Sunrise and sunset

In the very beginning, the ancients lived as they pleased, without any stress, and they didn't need to know the time every day.

In the era when there were no clocks and mobile phones, how did the ancients look at the time?

When the sun rises, they have to go out to farm or hunt, and when the sun sets, it is night, and they need to sleep and rest, and they judge the time by the sun.

In the era when there were no clocks and mobile phones, how did the ancients look at the time?

At that time, time was basically divided into two types, day and night.

Kei Table

Gui watch is composed of two parts, "gui" and "table", is the oldest tool in China to measure time, this tool, in the Western Zhou Dynasty appeared somewhat.

In the era when there were no clocks and mobile phones, how did the ancients look at the time?

It has two measurement methods, one is called high-gauge shadow measurement, which is simply a rod perpendicular to the ground and records time by looking at its shadow.

In the era when there were no clocks and mobile phones, how did the ancients look at the time?

There is also a measurement method called the "Pingqi method", in the Han Dynasty, some people used the Gui table to measure the winter solstice and the 24 solar terms.

In the era when there were no clocks and mobile phones, how did the ancients look at the time?

In this way, with the advent of Guibiao, people slowly began to have the concept of time, but Guibiao also has great shortcomings.

In the era when there were no clocks and mobile phones, how did the ancients look at the time?

Once the watch is knocked down, the shadow changes, making it impossible to judge time.

sundial

The sundial itself means the shadow of the sun, the sundial is composed of a sundial needle and a sundial, the principle is to judge the time through the projection of the shadow projected by the sun onto the sundial, and the appearance of the sundial has great significance in history.

In the era when there were no clocks and mobile phones, how did the ancients look at the time?

The surface of the sundial is engraved with the twelve hours of Shangzi, Chou, Yin, Mao, Chen, Si, Wu, Wei, Shen, You, Xu, Hai, etc., and where the shadow of the sun falls, it corresponds to different times.

In the era when there were no clocks and mobile phones, how did the ancients look at the time?

An hour is two hours, which is also the current 24-hour day, and the sundial is similar to today's clocks.

In the era when there were no clocks and mobile phones, how did the ancients look at the time?

The sundial was first recorded in the historical book "Hanshu Art and Literature Chronicles", and this invention has been used by mankind for thousands of years.

In the era when there were no clocks and mobile phones, how did the ancients look at the time?

The sundial of the sundial, its position, angle, and the area where it is used are different, and it is divided into various ways of use, such as the horizon and the meridian.

In the era when there were no clocks and mobile phones, how did the ancients look at the time?

Whether it is a watch or a sundial, there is a great disadvantage, that is, if there is no sun on a rainy day, it is impossible to judge the time, so the leakage appears.

Leakage

The leak, also known as the water clock, records the time according to the way of water droplets, and there are two ways to record it.

In the era when there were no clocks and mobile phones, how did the ancients look at the time?

One is to use a special container to record when all the droplets are drained, and the other is to use the droplets to record how long it takes to fill them.

In the era when there were no clocks and mobile phones, how did the ancients look at the time?

This kind of inscription was first introduced to China in the 6th century B.C., and before it was introduced to China, ancient Egypt, ancient Babylon, Athens and other cities were already in use.

In the era when there were no clocks and mobile phones, how did the ancients look at the time?

Although such a water clock is not limited by various reasons such as weather, it requires people to constantly add water to it in order to ensure the leakage operation and ensure the accuracy of the time.

Water transport instrument elephant platform

The water transport instrument elephant platform was created by the astronomer Su Song in the Northern Song Dynasty, this instrument can not only measure time, but also measure the weather, demonstrate the weather, etc., more like a small observatory.

In the era when there were no clocks and mobile phones, how did the ancients look at the time?

With a height of about 12 meters and a width of 7 meters, this instrument belongs to a behemoth, and the appearance looks like a square building, this instrument enjoyed a high reputation in the world at that time, and is known as the world's first astronomical clock.

In the era when there were no clocks and mobile phones, how did the ancients look at the time?

The five-tiered instrument has a complex mechanical mechanism that automatically rings and strikes the bell every fifteen minutes and two hours.

In the era when there were no clocks and mobile phones, how did the ancients look at the time?

The appearance of this instrument marked the peak of the history of ancient astronomy, and also reflected the extreme application of knowledge by the ancients at that time.

Daming Hall light leakage

As a famous timekeeping instrument in the history of the mainland, the working principle of Daming Hall lamp leak is to leak water to time, through the drive of water, the internal work of the instrument to provide timing.

In the era when there were no clocks and mobile phones, how did the ancients look at the time?

The instrument is divided into 4 layers, each layer has a different role, when reaching each hour, there will be a wooden person with a hand to hold the bell, drum, cymbal, cymbal and other equipment, one moment is to ring the bell, two quarters is to beat the drum, three quarters is to hit the cymbal, four quarters is to hit the cymbal.

In the era when there were no clocks and mobile phones, how did the ancients look at the time?

Such an instrument was created by Guo Shoujing, a scientist in the Yuan Dynasty, and the lamp leak in the Daming Hall is very close to the modern clock.

Burning incense and beating shifts

I believe many friends have heard such a sentence: give you a stick of incense time.

Burning incense is also a kind of timekeeping method of ancient people, and the incense material is different, the length is different, the measured time is also different, some incense is one hour, some incense is thirty minutes, the error of burning incense is very large.

In the era when there were no clocks and mobile phones, how did the ancients look at the time?

Since the error is so large, where does the method of burning incense come from?

In the period of the Six Dynasties, there was a timing method for burning incense, and it was recorded in the "Fenghe Spring Night Order": "Burning incense knows that the night leaks, and the candle is more expensive." ”

In the era when there were no clocks and mobile phones, how did the ancients look at the time?

During the prosperous period of incense burning cultureIn the Tang Dynasty, there were many cultural things that "timed with incense".

In the era when there were no clocks and mobile phones, how did the ancients look at the time?

People who often watch TV dramas should have seen that every night, there will be one or two people carrying lanterns and beating gongs to play the watch, so how do they judge the time?

In the era when there were no clocks and mobile phones, how did the ancients look at the time?

The ancients believed that there were five watches in one night, starting from 7 p.m. to 5 p.m. the next morning.

In the era when there were no clocks and mobile phones, how did the ancients look at the time?

This is to be watched every two hours, from seven o'clock to nine o'clock, and so on, which is also the judgment of ordinary people at that time for night time.

epilogue

In ancient times, when there was no high technology, the ancients used their own wisdom to judge time, although it was not as accurate as it is now.

But whether it is a tool for recording time or a method for recording time, it fully expresses the wisdom of the ancients.

I don't know if you have any different views after reading this article, welcome to discuss!

Bibliography:

  1. Ancient Chinese Gui Table and the Division of the 24 Solar Terms[J]. Astronomy enthusiasts, 2002
  2. Why is fifteen minutes also called a quarter of an hour? [J]. Chinese Self-study, 1998
  3. How Time is Measured[J]. Jin Zhonghui, Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry for Middle School Students (Grade 8 Physics) (with the textbook of the People's Education Society), 2017
  4. How Time is Measured[J]. Jin Zhonghui, Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry for Middle School Students (Grade 8 Physics) (with the textbook of the People's Education Society), 2017
  5. One billionth of a second: Measuring time on a computer[J]. Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry for Middle School Students (Grade 7 Mathematics) (ECNU Edition), 2007
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