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Preface
In today's era of advanced science and technology, there are many means of transportation, such as high-speed rail, airplanes, and trains.
Then in ancient times, transportation was also indispensable, and the ancients relied on their unique wisdom to create their own means of transportation.
What were the means of transportation used by the ancients to travel? Let's take a look today!
walk
Walking can be said to be the easiest way to travel, and in ancient times, walking was also the most common way for ordinary people to travel.
In ancient times, not everyone knew how to ride a horse, and if you wanted to go far away, you had to bring enough coils to walk, and when you were tired, you would take a rest.
Walking is a way to travel from ancient times to the present, which is not only slow, but also requires a lot of time and physical energy.
Horseback riding
Traveling thousands of miles in a day and a hundred miles at night, this was a very fast speed in ancient times, and many friends saw in TV dramas that most of the people traveled on horseback.
As early as more than 4,000 years ago, the ancients had tamed the horse as an animal, the horse is very fast, and can carry people, which is also one of the important reasons why the ancients tamed the horse.
As one of the means of transportation in ancient times, not everyone can ride on a horse, first of all, riding a horse requires a certain amount of skill.
Then there is the fact that horses are more expensive, for example, in the Tang Dynasty, a horse cost dozens of silver, and the annual income of a Jiupin official at that time was only about 15 taels of silver.
After the horses are bought, they have to train the horses, plus the grain and grass that the horses usually eat, and raising horses is also a lot of money.
Therefore, in ancient times, horses, as a means of transportation, were not available to everyone, and only a few wealthy families were worthy of it.
In ancient times, horses were not only used as a means of transportation, but also in military affairs, and cavalry played a very important role in the military camp.
carriage
A horse can only be ridden by one or two people, and by using a horse to pull the cart, more people can ride, and the most important thing is that the carriage does not have to be exposed to the wind and sun.
Legend has it that there were cars 4,600 years ago, but horse-drawn carriages only appeared in the Shang Dynasty, and horse-drawn carriages not only had speed, but also relative comfort.
The horses drawn by the carriage also ranged from one to many, two horses were "piao", three horses were "piao", four horses were "si", and there were six-horse carriages of higher specifications.
There are also many theories about the horses drawn by the carriage, if six horses are used to pull them, and the hair of these six horses is uniform, it is the highest grade carriage.
Horses were not a means of transportation that ordinary families could afford in ancient times, and if ordinary families could buy a horse through hard work, then the carriage was a way for dignitaries or wealthy families to travel.
Of course, horse-drawn carriages were also used in military affairs, known as "chariots", and were important combat equipment in ancient warfare.
T轿子
In the impression of most friends, the sedan chair appears in the scene of marriage, but this is not the case, and the sedan chair is also a daily means of transportation.
The sedan chair has a history of nearly 4,000 years in the mainland, and the most primitive sedan chair appeared during the Xia Dynasty, and the sedan chair is different from other means of transportation, which requires manpower to carry it.
There are many people carrying a sedan chair, all of which have different cultures, and the sedan chair also has different functions.
The first is to get married, when getting married in ancient times, it is generally eight to carry the sedan chair, four people in the front, and four people in the back to carry the sedan chair.
There are also people who have died, and the coffin is also carried in a palanquin, and the number of people carried is different depending on the Xi customs.
In ancient times, most of the sedan chairs were used by some royal nobles to travel, and they also followed the maid to take care of themselves at any time.
However, the sedan chair is usually used for short-distance travel, after all, it is carried by manpower.
Ox carts and donkey carts
Many friends will ask, carriages and sedan chairs are either used by rich and noble families or used by royal families and nobles, so what do ordinary people rely on to travel?
The first is the ox cart, in the Shang Dynasty for more than 3,000 years, there was an ox cart, the difference between the ox cart and the horse cart is that one is pulled by horses and the other is pulled by oxen.
In addition, the interior of the car is also different, and the ox cart pays more attention to economy and practicality, usually carrying people and loading goods together.
Donkey carts and ox carts are the same as practical to get the favor of the people, donkeys this animal, not only simple to raise, but also endurance is also very good, that is, the speed is convenient compared to horses.
Speed is an important factor in travel, and donkey carts and ox carts do not have such conditions, so naturally they are not as good as horse-drawn carts.
Not only carts pulled by donkeys and oxen, but also many people will ride oxen or donkeys directly to travel.
Compared with horses, donkeys not only have a speed difference, but also a difference in appearance, donkeys are much shorter, without a vigorous posture and bright hair.
In ancient times, many celebrities liked to ride donkeys, such as Li Bai, Lu You and other literati and ink writers, who believed that donkeys were slow and could see the scenery and think more things.
Bull riding has to mention "Lao Tzu", for Lao Tzu to ride a bull, it is rumored that there is such a story: Lao Tzu is a Tibetan official of the Zhou royal family, and there was a civil strife in the Zhou royal family.
Lao Tzu rode a cow to Hangu Pass, and the officials guarding the pass saw a purple gas in the east, which indicated that a saint was coming, which was also the origin of the purple gas from the east.
Bamboo raft
There are land means of transportation, and naturally there are also tools of waterways, and the earliest means of transportation that appeared on the water were items called floating gear.
Tie a gourd and some branches around your waist so that you don't sink, and you can paddle forward with your hands, similar to our current lifebuoys.
The ancients found that this way of travel was not only slow, but also very physically demanding, so they relied on wisdom to make a bamboo raft, which could save time and effort.
Later, it was improved again and wooden boats appeared, which could not only carry people, but also load goods, and travel in the water more stable.
epilogue
No matter what kind of means of transportation, it represents the wisdom of human beings, and the ancients still created horse-drawn carriages, ox carts and other means of transportation through wisdom in the absence of airplanes and trains.
And these means of transportation are also promoting the historical development of our China, leaving an indelible trajectory in the long river of history and culture.
I don't know if you have any different views after reading this article?
Bibliography:
- Theme of this issue: Ancient means of transportation[J]. Reading Guide for Elementary Schools (Upper Edition), 2017
- Riding a horse to ancient times[J]. LIU Dachen; Li Peng, Art Enlightenment, 2019
- History of transportation in China[M]. Bai Shouyi, Author, Unity Press, 2011
- Ancient Chinese chariots and horses[M]. Edited and illustrated by Wang Jindong, Henan People's Publishing House, 1984
- Illustrated dictionary of ancient Chinese transportation[M]. Zheng Ruokui, Yunnan People's Publishing House, 2007