How did the ancients build a house without a nail?

Nails are components that can be seen everywhere in our daily life, but they are not found in ancient buildings. The ancients didn't need a nail to build a house. In addition to the limited conditions at that time, it was impossible to produce in large quantities and the cost was high. Nail rust easily affects beauty and looseness, and high maintenance costs are also several major factors that the ancients worried about. In addition, the tenon and mortise (S ǔ n m ǔ o), which was widely used in the Warring States period, was convenient, practical and effective, and naturally became the first choice for the ancients to build houses.

Tenons and mortises were widely used during the Warring States period. It is a connection method that combines the concave and convex parts of the component itself, and the convex part is called tenon; The recessed part is called the socket. In ancient architecture and furniture manufacturing, tenons and mortises play a vital role. As long as craftsmen are skilled and tenons and mortises are used properly, every wooden structure can be fastened tightly to achieve a seamless stability, and naturally nails are not needed.

The tenon-mortise structure not only has practical and exquisite characteristics, but also contains the connotation of yin-yang and systematic balance in Taoist thought, which is one of the reasons why it was reused by the ancients. With the changes of the times, the design of modern solid wood furniture and accessories often adopts tenon-mortise structure. Besides showing the natural harmony of wood, the decorative function of tenon and mortise can not be ignored.

Mortise and tenon are the soul of traditional wooden furniture in China. The change of tenon and mortise highlights the extraordinary wisdom of the ancients, condenses the essence of thousands of years of traditional culture in China, and deposits the inheritance of traditional crafts in the streamer rotation.