China ancient indigo production technology?

Brewing and dyeing are ancient chemical processes in China. Because these two crafts are closely related to the clothes and food in people's daily life, they are also the reflection of social culture, so they were developed more than 4000 years ago. At the end of primitive society, due to the division of labor between agriculture and handicrafts, production developed and different classes of rich and poor gradually appeared in society. Some rich people in the upper class use grain to make wine for fun, or seek happiness from heaven, earth and ancestors as sacrifices. Among a large number of cultural relics unearthed from Longshan cultural site at the end of primitive clan society in China, there are many pottery wine vessels, which shows that there is wine at this time. In the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, drinking has become the fashion of the ruling class. There are many wine characters in Oracle Bone Inscriptions; There are many articles for holding or cooking wine in Shang and Zhou pottery and bronzes unearthed underground, such as Zun, Mao, pot, Jue, horn, belt and so on. Some bronzes also have inscriptions. There are also many records about winemaking, such as "Poetry Xiaoya Land House": "I have the heart of this Le Yan guest." Xiaoya Gilly: "Be polite and considerate to the guests." Sweet wine "Zhou Song Harvest Year": "For wine, it is the best, and (Cheng Xia+four points) is the ancestor *." It is said that at harvest time, ancestors sacrificed with wine. These records show that Yu Wang was able to brew wine more than 2,000 years ago.

By the Zhou Dynasty, there were already "wine men" and "wine masters" in charge of the production of all kinds of koji and wine. There are six things that must be paid attention to when making wine in the Book of Rites: "The rice must be neat, the water must be clean when tillering, the water must be fragrant, the pottery must be good, and the fire must win." The record pointed out some important key issues in the process of brewing, such as raw material selection, koji making, pickling, cooking, fire use, temperature control and equipment selection, and reflected the technical experience accumulated by the ancients in the process of brewing. Among them, koji-making not only involves chemical knowledge, but also involves the role of microorganisms.

In some minority areas of China, all kinds of wines were brewed long ago. For example, Xinjiang wine has long been famous in China. Grape is called "Pu Tao" in ancient books, and it was planted in Xinjiang and other places at the latest in the Western Han Dynasty. In the Classic of Materia Medica, grapes have been listed as top grade, and it is pointed out that they can be used as wine. "Biography of Shuwei Gaochang" said: "Drink more." After being brought into the mainland, it was welcomed by people.

When making wine, people also use the principle of fermentation, using grain fermented vinegar. Vinegar was called "acyl", "vinegar" or "bitter wine" in ancient times, and it was recorded in the literature during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. For example, the "zit man" in Zhou Li Tiangong is the official in charge of brewing vinegar. There was a saying of "begging for help" in the Analects of Confucius earlier. Besides wine and vinegar, soy sauce and soy sauce are also the products of ancient brewing technology.

The dyeing process in China also developed very early. According to archaeological excavations and Oracle Bone Inscriptions and other documents, silk reeling in Shang Dynasty was quite developed, and silk dyeing technology also developed accordingly. The Zhou Dynasty was dominated by five colors: blue, yellow, red, white and black. Book of Changes: "Paint five colors to make you bright." Moreover, the five colors are used to dye silk and make clothes, so as to distinguish people's status. At the same time, the dyeing process is summarized as boiling, (three-point water+Cambodia), explosion, dyeing, and "dyeing people" to dye silk by hand. According to ancient literature, the raw materials used for dyeing are plant dyes extracted by chemical processing, such as indigo dyed blue and madder dyed deep red. There are records about ancient printing and dyeing techniques in Kao Gong Ji in the pre-Qin period, but most of these jobs were done by women. In Thailand and Han Dynasty, dyeing technology further developed and became an independent handicraft industry. "Historical Records Biography of Huo Zhi" records: "A thousand acres (Houkou+Ba) of money, thousands of people, etc." It can be seen that the seed value dye crops and dyeing technology were quite developed at that time. In the mid-6th century, the agronomist Jia Sixie's Thirty Miscellaneous Notes on Qi Yao Min's Dredging talked about "Yellow River Dyeing and Imperial Method in Hedong" and said: "The yellow roots in the field are ripe, and the ash juice is mixed evenly; Squeeze juice, don't put it in another container. More (hand in hand+longevity) I cooked it well, and I mixed it with gray juice as porridge. Pour into the pot and cook raw silk. Count (go to the bottom of the word+turn back) to make it even. Look at the water bag and let the silk ripen ... "The organic dye contained in the rehmannia root is a mordant dye. When dyeing, it is necessary to form a lake with metal mordant to fix the color. Plant ash juice is used here, because it contains metal mordant. 1972 Among the fabrics unearthed in Mawangdui, Changsha, there are colored overprinted yarns and fabrics overprinted many times. According to the analysis, there were 36 kinds of color images, which reflected that the dyeing at that time had reached a high level. The technology of extracting indigo from China in ancient times was introduced to Europe through Central Asia in the Middle Ages, and it was always one of the main dyes in European printing and dyeing before artificial synthesis.