How did ancient people store ice until summer?

Ancient people used an ice bank to store ice in summer.

In ancient times, ice banks were often used to store ice for summer. With the development of science, refrigerators and air conditioners have replaced the functions of natural ice, and ice rooms and natural ice have gradually disappeared. The cool world brought by natural ice in the early years has become history.

In old Beijing, there are two kinds of ice rooms, one is the official ice room and the other is the private ice room. Add up to dozens. Government-run ice rooms are mostly arched underground ice rooms made of masonry, while private ice rooms are all dug holes to store ice.

Government-run ice rooms can be divided into two categories, one is an ice room that directly serves the palace, and the other is an ice room that serves the government or the palace. Nowadays, private ice rooms have long been nowhere to be found, and at least three official ice rooms are well preserved. One is in the Forbidden City; One is in Xuechi Hutong, Xiangshan Gate Street, East Gate of Beihai Park, which is called Xuechi Ice Room. One is located at No.5, Lane 5, Gongjian Hutong, East Street, Beihai Park. It is called Gong Jian Ice House.

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Modern icehouse

Nowadays, there are few remains of ancient ice houses. However, there are many place names named after the igloo, which can be used for people to reminisce in ancient times. Xuechi Hutong is the location of Xuechi Ice Room; The igloo Hutong outside Deshengmen has an igloo back alley (also called the back of the igloo) in the north. Jie Bing Hutong is located in Shuncheng North Street of Fuchengmen, formerly known as Bingshi Hutong, and later renamed as 1965.

Bingshichang Hutong, located in Sanlihe River outside Zhengyangmen, is now the location of Bingshichang Primary School. Outside the north gate of Beihai Park, there is an ice room hutong, where the ice room is a cellar and can store ice in the early 1950s. Today's ice room in Zhongguancun area; Haidian Town also has the Ice Room Hutong, which was replaced by Zhongguancun West at the end of the 20th century.

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