What are the details of the strange life of the ancients?

1. Did ancient women shave their bodies?

Compared with their high IQ of keeping pace with the times, China women have not evolved much in shaving their body hair. In fact, a long time ago, ancient women advocated shaving off their eyebrows and then painting them with black pigment ... Yes, women in Kurosawa's film Chaos liked to make their eyebrows a little thicker, which was the result of learning from their ancestors in China ... In addition, ancient women were also popular in "pulling their faces", that is, removing fine hairs on their faces with thread ... It was said that only men loved face, but it seemed that this was not the case.

There were 3000 people in the harem of the ancient emperor. Are there really so many?

3000? This is just a conservative figure. The ancient emperors' pursuit of womanhood can be described as tireless. Emperor Yang Di, the famous bad king, wrote letters to solicit beautiful women from all over the world, and even selected 3,000 virgins to enter the palace for "recreation". Emperor Yang Di is still a piece of cake, and the ranking champion is Tang Xuanzong. Although the love between him and Yang Guifei is described as earth-shattering in ancient books, the number of his lovers is as high as 40,000 ... Well, it takes more than 65,438+000 years to use one every day.

3. The ancients often said that learning to be rich in five cars, how many books can be loaded in five cars?

It should be pointed out that this "car" is a carriage and an ox cart, not a big truck. This word describes how the famous Shi Hui was diligent and studious during the Warring States Period. Every time he goes out, he takes five cars of bamboo slips to read on the road. I don't know if he can understand this rugged road. Anyway, this style is enough. There are very few books in these five-car bamboo slips, and probably even the hardcover version of "Ancient Literature View" can't fit. According to this algorithm, any one of us has dozens and hundreds of cars.

4. How often did the ancients usually take a bath? What do they use to wash their hair?

The ancients were much more hygienic than we thought. As early as the pre-Qin period, the ancients "washed their hair for three days and bathed for five days". In the Han dynasty, there was also a rule of "taking a rest", which meant that officials could take a day off to take a bath after working for five days. How can civil servants be treated like this now? Some people even write books because they like to take a bath. This is Xiao Gang, Emperor Jian Wen of the Southern Dynasties, and his Bath Sutra. The ancients washed their hair more frequently, and often used clean water and natural detergent "Sapindus mukoraiensis" to wash their hair.

The ancients didn't have toilet paper, so what should they use to wipe their ass after going to the toilet?

The ancients probably practiced ninja magic. Before the invention of paper, the ancients used small pieces of wood and bamboo to "scrape" their buttocks after defecation, not afraid of scraping hemorrhoids. Even after the invention of paper, the ancients had to continue to be "ninjas", because China has a tradition of "respecting and cherishing Chinese characters", and paper is very expensive, so wiping one's ass with paper is a luxury behavior that does not respect people. It was not until the Yuan Dynasty that Mongolians cared about what paper you cherished, and since then, the ass has been treated "gently".

6. The ancients didn't have a refrigerator, so how to preserve food?

Who said the ancients didn't have a refrigerator? The "bronze ice guide" unearthed from the Chu tomb in Ceng Houyi, Suixian County, Hubei Province, is the earliest refrigerator found in the world. As early as the Spring and Autumn Period, slaves carved ice cubes in winter and stored them for nobles to drink in summer. Simply put, the ancient "refrigerator" is a box, in which ice cubes are put, and then food is placed in the middle of the ice cubes to achieve the function of keeping fresh. However, in the past, the "refrigerator" was simple and had a single function. Unlike now, the refrigerator can even become a container for murderers in thrillers.

7. How did the ancients predict the weather?

In Shang Dynasty, it was a great skill to observe astronomical phenomena by using sensory systems such as eyes and ears, so it was not a problem to get into a higher vocational school in the government. By the Zhou Dynasty, people had learned to predict the weather through the behavior of animals. During the Qin and Han dynasties, the ancients completed the formulation of 24 solar terms. Later, the advent of the lunar calendar was the crystallization of the wisdom of ancestors of all ages. The ancients predicted the weather, although there were no sophisticated instruments, but in many cases it was much more reliable than the so-called "weatherman" now.

8. How did ancient women make up?

Makeup is a hobby that women have never changed since ancient times. The three magic weapons most commonly used by ancient women are: Dai Fen, powder and rouge. "Dai" is a black mineral, which can be ground into powder and then mixed with water for thrush. Makeup powder is the present powder cake. Rouge is an ancient lipstick, and the raw material is a flower called "red and blue", which can also be used as blush after being mixed with cosmetic powder. Nowadays, a wide range of cosmetics give women more choices, and the skill of "mask" is better than that of the ancients.

9. The ancients didn't have condoms and condoms. How can they use contraception?

If the ancient emperor didn't want his concubine to get pregnant, he would order the eunuch to hang the woman upside down and wash her nakedness with saffron. In the past, prostitutes also took "cold medicine" containing musk to prevent pregnancy. However, the effect is not 100%. 80% of Wei Xiaobao people jumped out because his mother didn't do a good job of contraception, and some even drank the highly toxic mercury. Of course, most ancient people did not deliberately use contraception.

10. How was the ancient garbage treated?

The ancients were much more environmentally friendly than modern people. Uncivilized things like littering rarely happen. As early as 8,000 years ago, the ancients gathered garbage and piled it up in natural or excavated pits. The quickest way to solve the problem of garbage is to burn it directly, and bury what can't be burned. Most of the remains of ancient garbage dumps are broken porcelain and lacquerware. You can't say that you can repair an antique. Therefore, people who want to get rich can look through the garbage of the ancients.

1 1. Did the ancients drink water raw or boiled before drinking?

Only modern people will be troubled by this problem. In ancient times, there was no environmental pollution. Whether it is river water, spring water, well water or even rainwater, you can drink it directly without worrying about diarrhea. Only when the weather was cold did the ancients boil water and drink it. Although water can be used anytime and anywhere, the ancients should be alert to water pollution, because the prevalence of ancient plagues was mostly related to drinking water. Villains in martial arts movies often use dirty tricks of poisoning water to take people's lives.

12. Were there any maps in ancient times? So how is it made?

According to legend, when Dayu was controlling water, he had a map. The oldest existing maps in China are three ancient maps of the Han Dynasty more than 2,000 years ago. Fei Xiu, a geographer in the Western Jin Dynasty, founded six mapping agencies to make the map more accurate. Ancient maps are basically measured step by step, so the brothers who make maps must first be ascetic monks like Tang Priest. Because it often takes more than 10 years to make a national map, it is a huge and boring project.

13. How to correct the typo written by the ancients?

It is the easiest way to wipe it off directly with a brush. This is how Wang Xizhi and Yan Zhenqing handled typos. Therefore, Wang Xizhi's Preface to the Lanting Pavilion and Yan Zhenqing's Picture of Sacrificing a Nephew can be regarded as "graffiti works" of two great calligraphers. The most common method is to add some dots with a brush next to the typo (usually at the top right) and keep the original word to continue writing. Another method is to paint a mineral called "orpiment" on the typo, which is somewhat similar to the current "correction fluid" ... that's how the loose orpiment came from.

14. How did the ancients kill pests in the era without pesticides?

In ancient times, there were many kinds of drugs used to control pests, including plants such as fine grass and weeds, animals such as ash and foul water, and minerals such as salt, sulfur, lime and arsenic. The methods used include mixed seed collection, planting with seeds, soaking or boiling juice spraying, igniting smoke, smearing moth holes, etc. As early as the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the government even had to set up officials to control pests. Whenever pests are rampant, there will be a spectacular scene of "all people catching insects"

15. When did the ancients go to work? Do you punch in?

Don't think that punching in at work is an invention of modern perverts. Look at the records of the ancients who went to work, and you will feel that it is much more humane now. Civil servants in ancient yamen went to work in spring and summer and signed in at six in the morning; In summer and autumn, you must sign in at 5: 30 in the morning. Anyone who dares to be absent from work or late for no reason is not as simple as deducting some money. Depending on the number of days and the seriousness of the circumstances, he may be flogged or imprisoned. Therefore, being late for work may suffer the pain of flesh and blood, which is not easy to mix.

16. Did ancient students have winter and summer holidays or weekend holidays?

Nowadays, students often say that their holidays are too short. If this kind of complaint happened in ancient times, it is estimated that their palms would have been knocked off by teachers or parents. In ancient times, students did not have special holidays. In addition to New Year's Day and Dragon Boat Festival, students' daily task is to study hard at the cold window. Before the exam, they have to keep their heads down, or dig a wall to steal some light and sprint for the exam. In ancient times, only officials could take vacations. Therefore, after trying to become famous, they can take a vacation with justification.

17. Did ancient babies drink goat's milk or milk? Or just breast milk?

If ancient babies could drink goat's milk or milk, there wouldn't be so many tragic cases of premature death. Ancient people usually had to reach a certain age to drink animal milk. Babies are still mainly breast milk containing human antibodies, because there was no current sterilization technology for animal milk at that time, and babies were not resistant to bacteria. What if mom doesn't have milk? You can only "borrow milk", and the career of wet nurse was born. Poor families without milk can only use rice to grind into fine pulp suitable for swallowing as a substitute.

18. How did the ancients make a fire?

At first, when the ancients saw a volcanic eruption or lightning strike, they thought it was a god and worshipped it. Later, Suiren saw woodpeckers rubbing wood to make smoke, from which he learned to drill wood for fire. In the Western Zhou Dynasty, the "positive image" was invented to take fire, that is, using the principle of sunlight focusing, a concave bronze mirror was used to take fire. It was very convenient to use fire before man knew how to knock stones to make fire. Therefore, flint is a necessary item for the ancient people to live at home. However, be careful to put it out of the reach of children and kittens to avoid playing with fire and setting yourself on fire.

19. Can the iron pestle really be ground into an embroidery needle? If not, how is the needle made?

In ancient times, everything belonging to metal was considered valuable. If the allusions are true, then Mo Tiepestle's grandmother can be regarded as a rich and idle person. However, making iron needles does require a lot of perseverance and patience. First, draw the red-hot iron into iron wire, then cut it into several sections, sharpen one end and drill a hole at the other end. Making needles for acupuncture is more complicated. First of all, you need to insert them into bacon, fill the potholes with grease, and the tips should be sharpened to make them sharp and round, so as to prevent needles from piercing blood vessels.

20. There were no sanitary napkins before. Is the menstrual cloth disposable or reusable?

The longest thing on ancient women's bodies except hair and foot-binding cloth is "menstrual cloth". Menstrual cloth is a very long piece of cloth, which is used to tightly wrap the lower body when the "period" comes. However, because ancient women often took part in manual labor, it is still inevitable to "see the red". In addition, because China has always advocated frugality, the used cloth strips will be reused after cleaning. Today's women should thank the inventor of sanitary napkins, which "liberated women" to a certain extent.

2 1. How did the ancients lose weight? Are there any remedies for breast enhancement?

Compared with all kinds of diet pills now, the ancient methods are much simpler, such as drinking tea to lose weight. However, ancient people seldom ate big fish and meat, and they had to do heavy and tired work all day. Where can they get fat? Ancient breast enhancement methods were more natural, such as using food supplements such as red beans and soybeans to achieve breast enhancement. In addition, the ancients believed that acupoint massage also contributed to the soaring chest. Compared with the "internal adjustment method" of the ancients, the current breast augmentation method is more dangerous, and it will become "destroying the chest" if you are not careful.

22. Is the night watchman who shouts in the street in the middle of the night that the sky is dry and the fire is dry a civil servant?

In ancient times, the night watchman was similar to the current community patrols and administrators, and was mainly responsible for patrolling nearby at night and telling the time. Because they travel at night, they are more likely to "hit ghosts" than ordinary people. In the zombie films of Hong Kong and Taiwan, the watchman often dies suddenly and inexplicably. Having said that, the watchman is at least a serious profession and a civil servant, because the lower-ranking soldiers in the ancient army were arranged as watchmen, just like bodyguards and policemen. To be sure, their treatment is not as good as that of current civil servants.

23. Besides listening to traditional Chinese opera, how did the ancients celebrate their birthdays?

China pays attention to respecting the old and valuing the virtuous. Only the elderly can live long. When the newborn is one year old, a "grab week" will be held. Every year after the birthday, parents often cook a few eggs to kill time. This is called "Little Birthday". It is not until you are 60 years old that you are qualified to celebrate your "birthday", that is, your "big birthday" At this time, you can shine brilliantly, and friends and relatives will also send precious gifts and good wishes. Therefore, in ancient times, if you wanted to have a decent birthday, you had to have the ability to live long.

24. If ancient heroes take part in the current Olympic Games, will they win a great victory?

Who do you think will win PK in Spider-Man or the Monkey King? This kind of question can only cause heated debates and will never come to a conclusion. Most of the ancients were engaged in manual labor, so their endurance and endurance should be much better than that of modern people. However, the current Olympic Games is to train a handful of young athletes with the strength of the whole country. With the support of financial resources, manpower and technology, ancient heroes can't beat them. However, like some competitions that attach importance to endurance, such as marathon, the ancients still have a great chance to win.

25. Did the ancients have plastic surgery?

The ancients thought that "the skin of the body was influenced by parents", so the ancients would not take the initiative to move a knife on themselves like modern people. In the past wars, it was very popular to cut off the nose of prisoners of war, so the ancients developed a set of nose reconstruction surgery, that is, cut a gap in the arm, fix the arm on the injured nose, wait for the wounds on both sides to heal, and then dig a piece of nose-sized meat from the arm as a new nose. However, this is completely different from modern cosmetic surgery.

26. Did the ancients brush their teeth?

The ancients also paid great attention to oral hygiene. A long time ago, our ancestors used the middle finger of their right hand as a toothbrush. Later, the "Yang Zhi toothbrush" invented by Indians was introduced to China by monks, also known as the "square wood". The use method is simple: bite one end of the poplar soft and brush your teeth with medicine to make your teeth smooth. A simpler method is to "chew" the twig like a giraffe, and a similar effect can be achieved. When modern people "live in the wild", they forget to bring their toothbrushes, so they might as well go back to the ancient methods.

27. What if the ancients were nearsighted?

In ancient times, there was no environmental pollution problem, and there was no temptation of TV and computer, so few people were nearsighted. Usually, nearsighted people are hard-working scholars. You see, it's strange that you are not nearsighted if you always dig walls and steal light and read books at night. The ancients believed that the inability to see clearly was due to inattention, so "Zhi Ding Pill" was the most commonly used prescription, and acupoint massage and acupuncture were also used to treat eyes. During the Ming Dynasty, glasses were introduced to China from the west. With glasses, everyone ruined their eyes and became more unscrupulous.

28. How was the eunuch castrated? Then how do I pee?

During the operation, the castrated person will be bound with white cloth strips below the abdomen, then disinfected with paralyzing pepper water, and then tied with hands and feet, and then it depends on the master's swordsmanship. It is best to remove the penis and scrotum at the same time, otherwise the cartilage will grow out and have to be removed again. If you cut too deep carelessly, you will sink a hole, which will lead to urine and urine. After the operation, due to the lack of "water pipes", most eunuchs urinate in a fan shape. They had to squat in order not to get their pants dirty.

29. Were men circumcised in ancient times?

In ancient China, there was no custom of letting men hide their skins. Men generally cherish their bodies, hair and skin, and only ethnic minorities have the tradition of circumcision. On the contrary, circumcision is more common abroad. For example, in the relief works of ancient Egypt, adult men are depicted as being circumcised in a standing position. The reason of traditional circumcision is not for hygiene, but for the worship of penis, and foreskin is considered as an appearance defect.

30. Ancient women wore Chinese-style chest covering, so did they wear underwear?

The ancients said that clothes, the upper body is "clothes" and the lower body is "petticoats". A petticoat is a bit like a skirt. To put it bluntly, it is a fig leaf. Pants were not available until the Spring and Autumn Period. Later, when women menstruate, they would wear an old pair of trousers to avoid getting dirty outside. Slowly, men followed suit and gradually evolved into underwear worn today. Nowadays, not wearing underwear has become another sexy expression.

3 1. Did ancient men have a hobby of cross-dressing?

"Cross-dressing men" are similar to those gay men who are both feminine and handsome and like to play female roles. There are relevant records in the Spring and Autumn Literature. At that time, this trend of liking handsome men was mainly prevalent among nobles, and even the people in Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties heard about it. Pan An, Yanhe, Du Hongzhi and others were all famous handsome men in Wei Mingdi at that time, who were good at applying powder skin, even women were not as good as themselves.

32. Were there lesbians in ancient times?

In ancient China, lesbians were often called "grinding mirrors", and both sides got some sexual satisfaction by touching each other's bodies. Because of the same body structure on both sides, it seems that a mirror is placed in the middle, so it is called "grinding mirror". There is also a woman disguised as a man with a dildo on her waist and having sex with each other. Lesbians in ancient times mostly happened in the harem, because the only men the ladies-in-waiting contacted were emperors and eunuchs. In the absence of men, ladies-in-waiting have to "digest internally" by themselves.

33. Is it really feasible for flying pigeons to pass books?

In ancient China, it was impossible to test when flying pigeons were used to deliver books. During Mongolia's Western Expedition, summoning pigeons have been widely used in military activities and made great contributions. Later, pigeons became a wonderful tool for delivering love letters and a "matchmaker" in many beautiful marriages. In ancient times, flying pigeons handed books, and people often bound stationery with red silk thread to attract the attention of the recipients. Nowadays, we use e-mail, telephone, video and so on. Although it is more convenient and quick, it lacks a trace of romance and expectation.

34. Did the ancients have vaults or safes? How did they hide the money?

As early as the primitive times, in order to preserve the hard-hunted food, the ancients would dig a hole to put the food into the cave and put a big stone to block it. Later, it evolved into wrapping valuables in animal skins, which should be regarded as the prototype of the safe. With the development of appliances and locks, people began to put money in boxes and cabinets made of different materials. However, even if the "safe box" appears, it is inevitable that a group of fugitives will be killed halfway. Therefore, money houses came into being, but they also became more professional institutions for "hiding illicit money".

35. Should old banknotes be anti-counterfeit?

The earliest paper money in ancient times was born among the people and was freely issued by businessmen. But in doing so, it is easy to have random hair and forgery. Later, Jiaozi (the earliest paper money in China) was officially issued, with stricter anti-counterfeiting measures and two official seals on the paper money. During Song Huizong's period, it was changed to "Yin Qian", with more complicated patterns and multi-color overprint to make it more anti-counterfeiting. Since then, all dynasties have their own unique anti-counterfeiting methods. There are so many patterns that modern people have not yet figured out how our ancestors prevented counterfeiting.

36. Did ancient people install false teeth?

As early as the Han Dynasty, Zhang Zhongjing invented the method of filling teeth with amalgam. Professional doctors wearing dentures also appeared in the Song Dynasty. Ancient dentures were made of many materials, including ivory and bovine bones and hard sandalwood. Dentures can not only solve the practical problems of using teeth, but also have the function of decoration and showing off. "Tooth bridge" is to tie the teeth with soft gold wire and iron wire, and then tie them to the mouth. It has no chewing function and is purely decorative. This is reminiscent of Hong Kong movies in the 1980s and 1990s, when the nouveau riche opened his mouth, his gold teeth flashed.

37. Did all the boys in ancient times have long hair?

The efforts made by the ancients on three thousand hairs are unimaginable to modern people. In ancient times, both men and women had long hair, and the longer the better. They almost never cut their hair, only trim the sides. Even so, they have to look at the Gregorian calendar to choose the date. When a boy reaches the age of learning, he will tie his hair in a bun, which is called "learning by tying his hair". The ancient "baldness punishment" is an unbearable punishment for the ancients, which is what Sima Qian said: "Shaving one's hair is humiliating."

38. Did the ancients smoke?

Tobacco was first introduced into China from Luzon Island in the Ming Dynasty. At first, it was planted in Guangdong and Fujian provinces, but not many people smoked it. As we all know, the harm caused by tobacco began in the Opium War. Small opium became the fuse to rewrite the history of China. During the Guangxu period of the Qing Dynasty, British businessmen took advantage of their trade to bring cigarettes to the mainland. At first, they gave it away for free, and others became addicted and began to sell it.

39. What were the ancient jade or gem ornaments carved from?

Gold is valuable, but jade is priceless. The ancients have long known the preciousness of jadeite gemstones. And "stones from other mountains can attack jade" also shows that the ancients knew the hardness very early and knew to grind stone tools with harder minerals. When the ancients carved jade articles, they often mashed minerals with high hardness such as timely, garnet and diamond into gravel, which became "jade-solving sand". Later, the hardest "emery", that is, broken diamonds, appeared. No matter how hard the GEM is, it can also be "slaughtered".

40. Was there only a rooster in the ancient alarm clock?

What if the rooster used as an alarm clock is killed? Of course, the ancients didn't hang themselves from a tree. Besides blaming the sun, the ancients also invented the incense bell. It is made of a special mold, and the thickness of the coil is uniform, so the combustion time can be accurate. Then estimate the time according to the scale on the coil incense left after burning. Later, the ancients improved the incense burner. When the incense burns to a fixed scale, the heavy objects hanging on it will fall down and hit the metal utensils under the incense tray to achieve the effect of an alarm clock.