Zanthoxylum bungeanum by ancient house insulation method

In ancient times, Zanthoxylum bungeanum was used as building insulation material. Zanthoxylum bungeanum is a common condiment and medicinal material, and it also has good thermal insulation performance.

In ancient buildings, people would mix pepper with soil and smear it on the wall as insulation layer. This kind of practice can make the house warmer, and it can also play a role in preventing cold and keeping warm. In the cold winter, people used various methods to keep out the cold and keep warm, and the ancients were especially good at creating various ways. One of the most striking is the unique way of painting walls with pepper paste.

In ancient times, dignitaries would crush pepper, mix it with soil, and then smear it on the walls of houses. This kind of pepper mud coating wall has good heat preservation effect and mosquito repellent effect. Historically, Weiyang Palace in Han Dynasty was named "Pepper Room Hall" because its walls were coated with strong pepper mud, which shows the royal family's love for this heating method at that time. However, behind such a luxurious heating method, the situation of ordinary people is not satisfactory.

Poverty gap

They live in a simple thatched shed with cold walls. Poor families can't even make a fire to keep warm, so they can only huddle together in thin clothes and rely on each other's body temperature to get some warmth. In the dead of night, sometimes they can be heard sobbing and crying. In stark contrast to the warmth of the pepper room of dignitaries, it fully demonstrated the disparity between the rich and the poor at that time.

Of course, Zanthoxylum bungeanum is a rare and precious spice, so it is not realistic to use it on a large scale. Therefore, the ancients also invented many other methods of heating. For example, choose a house facing south and use sunlight for radiant heating, or pad insulation materials inside the wall to form a "sandwich wall" for insulation. During the period of Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty, craftsmen added many kang to the palace wall to burn charcoal for heating.