In ancient times, how did ordinary people solve the problem of food and accommodation when they traveled far away from home?

Stagecoach is the official status can only be used, although in the court decree lax times, sometimes through the relationship of ordinary people can also live in the inn, but in general the average scholar is not a way to live, can only think of their own way.

So live in a self-funded inn? Want a room in the sky?

In today's China, traveling along major highways and railroads, there are inns or hotels anywhere, so it's not a problem, but in ancient times, it wasn't as easy as it was in the TV series.

Because in fact many dynasties in ancient times discouraged the opening of folk inns, and even sometimes it was against the law to open one. Why? Because inns were for folk merchants, and ancient Chinese tradition many times viewed merchants as worthless to the state.

For example:

The decree of Wei in the Warring States period stipulated that for those who ran merchants and inverted inns (hotels), flunkies and those who took the lead in not farming or building houses, they were to be taken out of the army and the army was not required to have any pity on them, they could be made to eat less, do hard labor, and they could even be used to fill in trenches.

The Qin dynasty, Shang Yang changed the law, the introduction of the "abolition of the reverse travel order", will be included in the folk hotel "idle industry" intended to stifle;

Wei, heavy tax suppression. Set up store tax five, "tax city, into the person, the person a money. Its store, and for five, collect

tax has a difference."

Sui Dynasty, "banning travel and food, suppression of industry and commerce, the people have to the street to open the door, Du"

In ancient times, many times the people's free movement is seen as sinful, civilian tourism and what is basically non-existent, and is not encouraged by the state.

Of course, with the imperial examinations have changed, because the readers in ancient times is a privileged class, seen as a reserve army of bureaucrats, so the readers can travel, is relatively the most free group of people.

From the Tang Dynasty onwards, there was a peak in the hotel industry, when countless private hotels appeared on the official road between Chang'an and Luoyang, the most prosperous part of the empire, opened by many ministers and even princesses, and even temples competed with each other to open side businesses to make money from the hotel industry.

Then into the Ming and Qing eras, as the scale of the imperial examinations got bigger and bigger, inns finally started to become popular, but even then, in addition to the capital and provincial cities, many places, such as the county towns, didn't really have any good inns that really met the standard. To be honest, the kind like the one in Martial Arts, it's not even up to par.

Why?

So except for some towns and cities on the main transportation routes, it's hard to find decent inns in other areas. Most of the time, you'll just have to find a temporary home to stay at for the night.

So go out and make sure you carry a bunk, sleep in a big bunk, buy your own rice and cook it in a pot. This is common.

Slightly wealthy small landowners or readers, will bring one or two servants, riding a donkey, if lucky, will have relations with the squire's home to stay, or go to the temple to seek accommodation. This will be a better situation, but if you are not lucky, then you can only find a broken temple to hit the ground to live to live.

In ancient times, when ordinary people traveled, the situation was very complicated, depending on the class and occupation, respectively, the treatment was different, and the most concerned about the imperial examination scholars to Beijing to catch up with the exams, but also not a smooth sailing.

During the Ming and Qing dynasties, services such as stagecoaches, stores, vendors, and guildhalls appeared along the thoroughfares of each province. Whether on horseback, by boat or on foot, conditions were relatively better than in previous generations. However, it was not as convenient as today.

First, the imperial examination scholars

For the middle-class families, it cost a lot to raise a meritorious offspring. If you pass the countryside examination, and go to Beijing to take the examination, you can rely on your identity credentials, have a local *** to receive the guide, and entertained by the post along the way, the problem of food and shelter is somewhat guaranteed, but it is not the whole story.

However, some remote places of the post, extremely dilapidated, lack of funds, talk about what services, only to provide accommodation. Some rich families of officials and merchants even hire people to escort their sons to the city to take the exams, but the percentage is very small.

Naturally, there are also students in remote places, single, single-handedly, trekking. Due to the high mountains and far away, food and shelter places are not fixed, dangerous, naturally there will be sudden *** situation occurs, so in the ancient notebooks and novels, there are often students were fox fairy ghosts and monsters confuse or killed by the strong man thieves, and even the story of fraudulent use of the name of the examination to be an official, in fact, are derived from the actual life.

Second, the small and medium-sized merchants

It is generally believed that there are merchants' guilds in big cities all over the world, implementing mutual cooperation. But according to relevant information has been shown, after the establishment of the guild hall, almost become bureaucrats, big businessmen, rich households and even celebrities of the club, ordinary merchants are unlikely to enjoy this treatment, not in a circle.

Ming and Qing Beijing merchants halls around the world, the situation is even more so, the poor people are not difficult to enter. Guild leaders regularly organized gatherings and activities, entertaining large businessmen and scholars, to open up the relationship deep. For the province's hometown or the family clan relatives to the capital of life, will also take care of care. More than that, of course, impossible.

For those who do not have a strong network of small businessmen, if there is a large amount of trade or goods running, hiring a team of bodyguards or training the children of relatives to go along is the norm. As for food and shelter issues, often self-provided stoves or along the way to solve, passing through villages and towns, buy ingredients to cook and make a living.

Third, the city life

Ming and Qing Dynasty Beijing, for example, came to the capital of the students, divided into the current year's examination and purchase of materials. Those who took the exam that year, those who had connections, lived in the guild halls or fixed points provided by the court. Come to find out the news, visit the teacher, seeking to teach the people of learning, money on the service, no money can only temporarily live in the remote area, to be developed.

As for the ordinary students of science, if the city has no relatives and friends, or spend money to live in hotels, or no money to stay in the temple, under the footbridge, there are gaps between the various stores, can be used to live, these are in the Ming and Qing dynasties of various types of guidebooks to the capital can be seen.

And most of the merchants came to the capital, small business, in order to save costs, is also roughly the same, hotels and stores are really too expensive. Spend a trip and the business becomes unprofitable.

Some of the latter

The above briefly said the general situation, as for some monks and nuns, the army or other out of the system of the wandering of the people, the specific problem of specific analysis, not a sentence or two can be introduced clearly.

It is not easy to live in a big city, the price of rice is expensive, the cost of living is high, and so are the problems in the ancient cities. In the traditional era, population mobility was low, and most people did not move more than 50 kilometers from their hometowns to engage in farming, so the percentage of people who went out of town was generally very small. In other words ordinary people could not travel far, and those who could travel far were basically not very ordinary.

Naturally, according to the laws of the market and the dynamics of consumption, there are few organizations that provide services, fixed sectors fixed locations and fixed access. As for some people traveled far and wide, the road to go off the beaten path, in addition to food and shelter tough, safety issues that also have to seek their own luck it.