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Text: Wen Shuyan
Edited by Wen Shuyan
Preface
Now when going out to buy food, the general business has a special weighing electronic scale, in some large supermarkets will also use a more intelligent central electronic scale, "weighing" is an indispensable home in the life of modern people.
In addition to the actual weighing scale, "weighing" has more extended meanings in Chinese culture, such as the saying "everyone has a scale in their heart".
The "scale" here represents the meaning of fairness, that is, everyone has a fair judgment standard in their hearts, which shows the status of scales in the hearts of Chinese.
However, precision electronic scales are inventions in modern society, so in the ancient period when there was no electronic scale, the ancients would definitely face all kinds of troubles when weighing, and there would be times when they were not accurate.
So before the invention of weighing tools in ancient times, how did ancient people weigh themselves?
Cao Chong called the elephant
When I was a child, who hasn't heard my parents tell the story of Cao Chong's elephant, which may be the most famous historical story about weighing in ancient times, and this incident is a real historical fact that happened in ancient times, and it is clearly recorded in historical classics.
When the Three Kingdoms were standing side by side, Sun Quan got a precious elephant from a foreign country at that time, and in order to curry favor with Cao Cao, Sun Quan gave the elephant to Cao Cao.
At that time, the elephant was a rare animal, and Cao Cao wanted to know the weight of the elephant very much, but he didn't want to kill the elephant and take it apart and weigh it, so he made a mistake for a while.
At that time, the ministers of the DPRK and China put forward various opinions to weigh the elephant, but because the elephant was too large, these plans ended in failure, at that time, it was easy to say that the weight of a stone was good, but an elephant weighing several tons made the ancients unable to start.
Cao Cao's son Cao Chong was a prodigy at that time, and gave Cao Cao a solution, Cao Cao first asked his subordinates to build a huge boat that could accommodate elephants, and then let people lead the elephants to the boat, and then Cao Chong drew a mark on the edge of the ship's draft.
Then let the elephants return to the shore, and then Cao Cao commanded the people to carry the stones one by one onto the boat, and observed the draft of the boat while moving the stones.
When enough stones had been moved, and the draft of the ship's edge was level with the previous mark, Cao Chong called the stone movers to stop, and then brought the stones down again, and the weight of the individual stones could be added to get the total weight of the elephant.
From this story, we can see Cao Chong's wisdom and wisdom, he used the method of equal substitution to weigh the elephant, and it can also be seen that the weighing technology at that time was in a relatively low-end state.
During the Three Kingdoms period, only some stationary, small-mass objects could be called, and for living creatures of heavy tonnage such as elephants, they could only stare wide-eyed.
The invention of the scale
In fact, it is not that there are no mature weighing tools in ancient times, as early as the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the earliest prototype of weighing tools in the mainland has appeared, and the archaeological excavation of various tombs in ancient times can also reflect that there were mature weights and weighing pans as early as the Western Zhou Dynasty.
It was only in the pre-Qin period that each country had its own weighing standards, and after Qin Shi Huang unified the six countries, the weights and measures were unified, and the weighing standards of the Central Plains could be determined.
In addition to ordinary scales, ancient China also invented a more sensitive weighing tool, which was invented by the inventor Liu Chengsi in ancient times, which was specially used to weigh some small objects, known as Jizi.
At first, in ancient China, it appeared as an ornament or a symbol of fairness, and was generally hung next to the stalls of some merchants as a mascot, but later China's Jin merchants gradually carried forward the function of weighing when they traveled south and north.
At that time, during the Tang Dynasty, it had become a status symbol for the Jin merchants, who would build elaborate boxes to store them.
The principle of use of the scale is similar to that of the ancient Chinese scale, which is composed of a rod, a container for placing items and a weighing stone, and the bamboo is equivalent to an ID card of the Jin merchants in ancient times, so the production of the bamboo at that time was very cumbersome and exquisite.
Take the pole as an example, the scale rod of the famous Jin merchants or the wealthy and noble families is generally made of ivory, and it is inlaid with gold and jade, which looks very luxurious on the surface.
In addition, the container hanging at the end of the crossbar is generally made of bronze, and after polishing and casting, various patterns are carved on it with fine needles, which is very exquisite.
Even the scales attached to the tongzi are made of fine bronze, and a pair of scales is usually equipped with nine weighing stones, the largest of which are inlaid with gold and jade, and are equipped with various gemstones, as a sign of the wealth of the merchant family.
At that time, it had been used as a part of the identity of Jin merchants, which also indicated that the commercial culture at that time was gradually carried forward, and the appearance of the first Jiazi was as a weighing tool for some valuables.
But later, after the introduction of the Zhuzi into the people, it began to enter more areas of life, such as after the development of the commodity economy in the Song Dynasty, the Jiazi generally appeared in pharmacies, as a new tool for weighing medicines.
The development of scales
Although it was impossible to weigh large objects in ancient times, the ancient people could still find a way to weigh some daily necessities in daily life, such as the ancient folk merchants in the mainland invented a lot of weighing tools.
In order to make the Chinese medicine shop have more Chinese characteristics, many Chinese medicine shops still use the scale to weigh the medicine.
The ancient pan scale is not bad with the current one, it is said that there are two large plates on both sides, one plate is placed in the medicinal herbs, and the other plate is placed in the small chips, and then, as long as the two ends of the balance are parallel, it means that the objects at both ends are the same weight, so that the quality of the medicine can be obtained.
Of course, in addition to the pan scale, some street vendors in ancient China generally used the hook scale, because the hook scale is simple technical principle, so it can weigh a lot of objects.
The principle of use of hook scale is very similar to that of the tray scale, but the use of hook scale is more flexible, and now many rural areas are still using hook scale.
Finally, in ancient times, some small pieces of the need for the use of the 戥, the precision value will generally be used, the 戥子 is not the ordinary people can afford to use at home, generally in some gold and silver jewelry stores or the royal weighing jade agate will be used.
It has an innate advantage, it is very sensitive, and can weigh the exact value of a few grams, so when trading precious metals in ancient times, it will also be weighed first to ensure the fairness of both parties to the transaction.
From this point of view, the most accurate weighing method in ancient times in the mainland is innumerable, but it was not popularized in ancient times, but only applied in some small ranges.
epilogue
In modern society, our pursuit of fairness has also entered a new level, and we now not only have to weigh ourselves, but also to be accurate to many decimal places, and we must weigh more accurately to weigh them.
Modern society is the period of electronic scales, and only under the blessing of science and technology can electronic scales accurately weigh the exact number of weights, and now the promotion and popularization of electronic scales make our lives more convenient and convenient.
However, now many rural areas in the mainland still follow the ancient weighing methods, although there are now better weighing methods, but the wisdom of the ancient people in the mainland is still irreplaceable, and many of our current weighing methods are also evolved and borrowed from ancient times.
It can be seen that the development of science and technology is inseparable from the accumulation and innovation of generations, and the development of ancient weighing technology in the mainland also reflects the persistence and pursuit of fairness in the ancient people of the mainland.
It is precisely because of the continuous pursuit of fairness that the number of grams weighed is becoming more and more accurate, which is also linked to the development of ancient commerce in the mainland.
A simple scale, not only can see the level of development of the past dynasties, but also can witness the mainland from ancient times to the pursuit of integrity and fairness of this cultural context, it can be seen that a scale, the scale is not only the scale of goods, but also the development of Chinese history and culture.
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