What did the ancients do when it was cold?

"Slight cold and cold, frozen into ice hockey", the cold season is the period of "three or nine days", which is called "walking on the ice in March and April". There was no refrigerator in ancient times, and it was impossible to popularize saltpeter to make ice later. Therefore, the ancients generally collected ice cubes at the coldest time of the year, stored them in the freezer, and took them out in summer. The custom of picking ice in cold weather continued from Shang and Zhou Dynasties to Ming and Qing Dynasties. The Zhou Dynasty picked ice at the beginning of the twelfth lunar month, and the Ming and Qing Dynasties picked ice before and after the Great Cold.

The custom of picking ice in cold weather lasted from Shang and Zhou Dynasties to Ming and Qing Dynasties. The Zhou dynasty picked ice at the beginning of the twelfth lunar month, and the Ming and Qing dynasties picked ice three or nine days before and after the great cold. According to the "Yanjing Times" written by Fu Cha Dunchong in Qing Dynasty, "it is difficult to meet March 9 in winter. When it is chiseled at night, it sounds like stone, which is called ice. After March 9, although ice is hard to use. " As the saying goes, "the cold is in the March 9th", which is the hardest time to freeze, in line with the royal family's requirement of "taking the bright, clean and firm".