Where did the tradition of "cold food" come from? The origin of the fire prevention system in the Forbidden City in history!

How did the tradition of "cold food" come into being? The source of the fire protection system in the Forbidden City in history! The editor-in-chief will provide you with detailed relevant contents.

As the place where the emperor himself lived, the ancient imperial palace was no more vigilant than the fire except against rebellion and resistance. In the ancient Zhou Dynasty, a special fire alarm system was established, and a total fire ban was implemented at certain times of the year. This system was later called the "cold food" tradition to commemorate Boyi and Shu Qi.

The Cold Food Festival actually originated from the ancient fire prevention system.

Successive central governments have departments responsible for the fire prevention work in the capital. During the Han Dynasty, he was in charge of public security in Chang 'an and served as a fire officer in Chang 'an. The Tang Dynasty also set up a special fire brigade "Wuhou Store". Later, the "waterboarding" of the fire brigade in the Song Dynasty was once thousands of people. The Ming and Qing Dynasties did not forget to set up a fire brigade with professional skills.

However, even with such strict precautions, the emperor's residence will still be destroyed by fire from time to time. Sometimes even the whole palace will be burned down.

Epang Palace was probably not built at the end of Qin Dynasty.

The most famous is that Xiang Yu burned Epang Palace. However, recent archaeological evidence confirms that Epang Palace was not built when Xiang Yu came to Xianyang. If he really started the fire, it was only the unfinished foundation of Epang Palace and some charred building materials.

In fact, if it were not for the war, the losses suffered by the palaces of Qin and Han dynasties would not be great. Compared with later generations, the population density and building distribution density of the capital cities of Qin and Han dynasties are relatively small, and there are large blank areas between buildings as fire areas. But in Chang 'an, Luoyang or other independent palaces, fire alarms still ring from time to time. For example, during the reign of Emperor Shun of Han Dynasty, Luoyang Palace caught fire and the Treasure Hall was completely burned. During the reign of Zhang Han, Princess Xinping's house caught fire and the fire spread to the West Pavilion of the palace. By the end of the Han Dynasty, there were as many fires in the palace as 1 1.

Restoration of Chang 'an in Han Dynasty

The Tang Dynasty was not a particularly frequent era of palace fires. Due to the warm climate and abundant rainfall in the 7th-9th century, the Tang Dynasty also strictly divided the residential areas of the capital. At that time, the system was that there were enough rooms between Fang's residential area and Fang's business area, and it was forbidden to walk around at will. This restriction on civil liberties also reduces the frequency of fires. In the Song and Ming Dynasties, with the disintegration of the system and the sharp increase of population density in Beijing, fire finally became the biggest threat to the palace.

The most famous palace fire in Song Dynasty occurred in 1032. At that time, the renovation of Wendeng Hall had been completed. The fire suddenly started from the palace and quickly spread to the main buildings such as Chongde Hall, Changchun Hall and Huiqing Hall, until the main hall of the palace was burned to white.

Dense houses in Song Dynasty were actually fire hazards.

This is an unprecedented disaster in history. Song Renzong sent someone to investigate the cause of the fire. Finally, it was determined that he was a court worker in charge of sewing, and the accident was due to the careless use of a fire bucket. The fire bucket is a modern ironware, but in the era when there is no electricity, it needs to be put into red-hot charcoal.

But obviously, officials in the Song Dynasty haven't learned to put all the responsibilities on temporary workers. After determining the person directly responsible, the whole government pointed out the real cause of the fire: the harem was densely populated, the residence was narrow and empty, and the stove was too close to the wooden beams and columns. The heat generated by long-term cooking will dry wood, which will be a huge hidden danger.

The palace in the Northern Song Dynasty is the smallest and easily swallowed up by fire.

In the Southern Song Dynasty, the population of Lin 'an, the capital, further increased. There are even slums with overlapping wooden houses. The width of an ordinary sidewalk is 10 households. Under such a tight layout, the scale and loss of fires in the Southern Song Dynasty were very alarming.

132 Lin' an fire control

In the Ming Dynasty, Vulcan didn't intend to let Zhujiajian Island go. Cheng Zu of the Ming Dynasty ordered people to set off fireworks in front of the Wumen Gate to celebrate New Year's Day, but they lit the Wumen Gate Tower. The fire continued to burn, even killing the highest official in charge of directing the fire, and finally completely destroying the meridian gate.

142 1 year, the three halls of the Forbidden City were struck by lightning and caught fire. The Fengtian Temple was burnt to white. Although Judy did everything possible to strengthen security measures, the Forbidden City has been burning every year for more than ten years. When Judy died, the restoration of the three halls had not been completed.

The Forbidden City, built in Judy's time, experienced several fires.

1443, the Fengtian Temple rebuilt by the orthodox emperor was struck by lightning and caught fire again. Fortunately, it rained heavily and the fire was controlled in time. The fire in the era of Emperor Zheng De was very personal. In order to create a lively atmosphere, he ordered people to place colored lights and set off firecrackers in the palace. Firecrackers set off a series of colorful lights, lit the accumulated firecrackers in turn, and finally burned down six palaces.

When Emperor Jiajing ascended the throne in 1557, lightning once again lit the three halls. This time, the fire was still fierce, destroying the 15 palace gate on the second floor of the three main halls. Fortunately, Emperor Jiajing took away the Yongle Grand Ceremony in time, otherwise this masterpiece might have been swallowed up by the fire as early as Jiajing years.

Layout of the Forbidden City in Ming Dynasty

However, this is not the highest peak when the imperial palace was burned down in the Ming Dynasty. During the Wanli period, in addition to the incredible explosion of the maharaja factory, there were three lightning strikes for the third time. This time, the lightning fire destroyed the main buildings of the three halls, almost as it did during the Jiajing period. It took the Ming Dynasty 30 years to rebuild the Three Great Halls.

In view of the huge fire losses suffered by the Forbidden City in the Ming Dynasty, the Qing Dynasty completely renovated the Forbidden City. First, add masonry gables between buildings to prevent the fire from spreading between wooden buildings. Secondly, a new type of fire fighting tool "hose" was introduced from Japan, which is an effective tool for indoor fire fighting. The third is to set up a water tank in the palace and order people to patrol closely to find hidden fires.

"Water Dragon" imported from Japan

In the Qing dynasty, the tragedy of completely burning down the three halls no longer happened. However, the fires in the Forbidden City still spread from time to time, and even the Yongle Ceremony, which escaped the fire in the Three Halls, was destroyed by a fire in Gan Qing Palace.

Until today, the Forbidden City with high building density and wood structure is still a place where the fire department needs to keep a high degree of vigilance.