It's hard to imagine how people bathed in ancient times in a city that lacked running water. More than a century ago, some ancestors still relied on water from wells, which were dug in the open air, in which dead cats and mice could often be found.
In ancient times, people not only had difficulty using water, but also lacked the concept of cleanliness. The habit of taking a bath every day is actually not far away. Even emperors of high status did not have such consciousness, let alone the common people.
Bai Juyi once left a poem: "Today, when you bathe your body, you will be exhausted." Such a prominent figure bathed once, and even wrote a poem to remember it. And the story of Yang Guifei's bathing is even more famous all over the world: "The spring cold Huaqing pool gives a bath, and the water is slippery and gelatinous to wash the delicate body." Huaqing Pond, although it is a bathing place, can only be enjoyed with the permission of the emperor, and the common people are naturally unblessed. They can only keep a wooden bucket or tub at home and boil water to cleanse themselves. What's more, because it is not easy to get water, I simply don't take a bath.
However, the common people also have their way of bathing. Xie Jin, a scholar of the Ming Dynasty and the chief editor of the "Yongle Canon", has a famous couplet: "The thousand-year-old tree hangs the hanger, and the Yangtze River is used as a bathtub." It can be seen that in the eyes of the ancients, bathing in the river was not a novelty. In the seventy-second chapter of "Journey to the West", the scene of seven spider spirits bathing in the scaling spring is described, which is even more vivid and interesting.
But if you want to talk about the most luxurious bath, it has to look at the Empress Dowager Cixi. Ordinary people are happy when they can bathe in the river, but the bathing of the Empress Dowager Cixi is an extremely luxurious ceremony.
In Xiaotangshan, Beijing, there is a bath of the Empress Dowager Cixi, which is 4.55 meters long, 2.90 meters wide and 1.40 meters deep. The walls of the bath are made of ten carefully processed boulders and are exquisitely designed, making them the best of the hot spring pools. Especially when Cixi bathed, that kind of style was even more revealed.
When the Empress bathed, she sat on a wide low chair with dragon patterns carved on the legs. The bath water for her was served by two three-foot-long bucket-shaped wooden tires inlaid with silver plates, one for washing the upper body and the other for the lower body, and they were never mixed. There are as many as 100 towels needed for bathing, each of which is embroidered with a yellow silk thread and a golden dragon, with different forms: some hold their heads high, some look back at the moon, some play with beads, and some spray water. The bath water should be kept clean, and the towels should be discarded and never reused. The bath water is always at the right temperature. Four palace maids bathed her, skillfully, silently and orderly. Gently wipe her chest, back, armpits, and arms, and then apply soap and wipe off the soap foam with a wet towel to prevent her skin from drying out. Then use white pure silk cotton, dipped in perfume and pat the whole body, especially the places that are easy to accumulate soap foam and itch, you need to pay special attention. Finally, scoop water again to wash your face and soak your hands. It is not so much washing as ironing, especially on Cixi's forehead and cheeks, which is said to fade wrinkles.
Even if you show your body in front of everyone, it may be uncomfortable for ordinary people like you and me. But the Empress Dowager Cixi knows etiquette very well, but in order to show her dignity, she can't care so much.