Before the Tang and Song Dynasties, China people had separate meals, but after the Song Dynasty, it became a combined meal system.

As the saying goes:? People eat for the sky? Naturally, as a part of food culture, food style is also worthy of future generations' attention. For example, during the Tang and Song Dynasties when China's food industry was prosperous, the traditional food style had undergone profound changes. In ancient China, the traditional way of eating was divided into two parts, which was replaced by the combined eating system. Before the Tang and Song Dynasties, the main diet was time-sharing system, but after the Song Dynasty, it became a shared diet system. What was the reason?

Food sharing system in Han dynasty

First of all, it is precisely because of the changes in eating utensils and dining tables that the separate dining system began to move towards the combined dining system. The earliest dining table in China was a table, so people usually put food on the table when they get together or eat, and then sit on the table with their knees down to eat. This situation did not change until Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties. At that time, the eating habits and daily utensils in the Central Plains were influenced by the nomadic people in the north. Because the nomadic people in the north mainly live a changeable traditional life, they will take a Hu bed with them as a temporary seat for outdoor dining, which is recorded in the history books. Can you put it on the seat? , is a seat similar to today's Mazar-e-Mazar. The appearance of this eating tool has made the traditional sitting posture of people in the Central Plains develop from kneeling to hanging feet.

Murals of Tang Wei's Tomb

By the Tang Dynasty, all kinds of pier-type chairs that could meet the needs of sitting upright began to become popular in the upper class of the Tang Dynasty. There is a rope bed with a backrest and hands recorded in Zi Tong Zhi Jian. This kind of chair is actually the emergence of modern chairs. After the continuous transformation and development of later generations, the rope bed has evolved into a full range of Chinese chairs. For example, the earliest chair recorded in China's historical materials was unearthed in Gao Yuanjue's tomb in the middle Tang Dynasty. It can also be guessed that Chinese chairs in the Tang Dynasty have been widely used in the upper class. In the subsequent Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, we can see from Han Xizai's Night Banquet that the tables and chairs used by people at that time were very close to those used today. Since then, the shape of dining tables and chairs has been basically finalized, and it has continued until the Song Dynasty.

Han Xizai's banquet.

It is precisely because of the appearance of these tall tables and chairs that the traditional dining system in China is provided with an important opportunity. Modern Chinese furniture replaces kneeling with hanging feet. While people are sitting high, new dining table furniture with a certain height and a large area has also appeared. Therefore, it provides specific conditions for food to be concentrated on the dining table, so that people can also sit at a table to eat. After the long development and changes of tables and chairs in the previous dynasties, high tables and big chairs were basically shaped in the Song Dynasty, so since the Song Dynasty, the system of sharing meals has also become the mainstream of diet.

Spring Banquet in Song Dynasty

Finally, people in the Song Dynasty fully accepted the eating method of * * * eating utensils, so that the joint eating system was widely circulated in the Song Dynasty and continued to this day. The appearance of high tables and big chairs provides people with an opportunity to eat * * * * *. However, in order to avoid the exchange of body fluid during eating, in the Tang Dynasty, even if people sat around a table, they still ate one food for each person.

But after the Song Dynasty, with the prosperity and development of the economy, people would go to tea shops and pubs to eat around the table and push cups for a change. The cooperative diet system with harmonious folk customs atmosphere has been gradually accepted and recognized by people, which has also promoted its popularization and development and become the mainstream of diet in past dynasties since the Song Dynasty. These are the reasons why the ancient partnership system in China appeared, shaped and passed down to this day.