Speaking of summer, it's very hot. Fans and air conditioners are necessities. They can dispel sweat and get cool protection.

How did people spend the twenty-four hours with long days and short nights in summer in ancient times with bad conditions?

During the day, you can steal in the shade for half a day, but what should you do with yourself on a sultry night?

Hot and dry weather makes people fidget, so good sleep is almost a luxury. Good sleep is an important part of promoting metabolism and ensuring good health.

The enemy will block you, and the water can cover you. In order to have a good sleep, from pillow to lying down, the ancients worked hard on bedding and made many sleep-aiding artifacts to fight the summer heat.

Various cool pillows have been around for a long time. There is a record about pillows in the Book of Songs: "I can't sleep, tossing and turning my pillow".

After people fall asleep, the head temperature is generally between 34-34.5℃. In order to keep the head at a proper temperature during sleep, so as to ensure sufficient sleep time, the ancients often used ceramics, jade and bamboo pillows to fight against the heat.

Jade pillow is the best of cool pillows, including jade pillow, agate pillow, amber pillow, sasha vujacic pillow, Li Po pillow, crystal pillow and so on.

According to Xijing Miscellanies, my sister Zhao Hede sent 35 gifts to congratulate Zhao Yanfei on his accession to the throne. It was June, and there were many turtles and amber pillows in the present.

According to legend, Zhao Zhen fell asleep with amber, and her insomnia was relieved. I think the cool substance of amber plays a certain role in helping sleep.

The crystal pillow mentioned above is not common to ordinary people, because it is uncommon and particularly precious.

Cui Jue, a poet in the Tang Dynasty, said in his poem Crystal Pillow that it is "cold in the north", which shows that the crystal pillow is cool and comfortable. Who doesn't want such a summer artifact? Therefore, at the end of the poem, the poet expressed his wish that the owner of the crystal pillow could give him the pillow by "cutting the poem to get rid of the trouble".

Ouyang Xiu, a writer in the Song Dynasty, in Rain on a Light Thunder Pool outside the Willow, not only described the indoor painted buildings and the luxurious decoration of jade hooks, but also wrote the heroine's hairpin falling next to the crystal pillow, which also showed that the crystal pillow was not in the pool and only the rich could enjoy it.

After all, there are only a few people with strange stones. Literati who have no conditions regard stone pillows as summer articles and as summer gifts for friends.

Liu Yuxi, who was banished to Langzhou, heard that Yuan Zhen was banished to Jiangling because of a conflict with eunuch Liu Shiyuan, so he sent a good aragonite pillow to Yuan Zhen. It happened to be summer, and Yuan Zhen was very happy after receiving the gift.

Qian Qi, one of the "Top Ten Talents in Dali", wanted to polish a white stone into a pillow and give it to Shan Yao, the supervisor, to praise his virtue of beautiful jade. However, when the white stone pillow is finished, the summer has passed and it will have to be left until next year.

Su Shunqin, a poet in the Song Dynasty, said in "Summer Meaning" that "the summer in the other courtyard is deep and clear, and pomegranate flowers are everywhere", while Bai Pu, a poet in the Yuan Dynasty, said in "Tian Jing Sha Xia" that "the silk kitchen is full of vines, and jade people are lighter than fans".

Bamboo mats, Bai Juyi said, are the "most important things" in summer.

Yuan Zhen and Bai Juyi are also good buddies, so when he was suffering in Tongzhou in summer, Bai Juyi sent a pair of chopsticks, and Yuan Zhen was very grateful after receiving the gift.

"qi zhou's flutes and bamboo flutes are world-famous, and Zheng Jun's treasures are especially precious." It can be seen that Qi is precious, so where is it? First, the bamboo in qi zhou is crystal clear in color and tough in texture; Second, the manufacturing technology of the basket is excellent, with the characteristics of "cold as ice and slippery as rattan".

In addition to bamboo, bamboo mats made of bamboo and Taosheng made of bamboo in Sheng Tao, Sichuan are also common summer bedding in ancient times, collectively known as "Xia Di".

There is also a summer artifact called "Mrs. Bamboo", which is cylindrical and has a hole in the middle to facilitate ventilation. It is similar to a small portable air conditioner. It can be placed on the dining table or held in your arms. Its original function is to cool the legs, so Huang Tingjian also called "Mrs. Bamboo" a "green slave".

The ivory summer sleeping mat is one of the outstanding summer sleeping mats in the upgraded version of Bichan.

Ivory seats are more common in the emperor's house. It is said that Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty gave an ivory chair made of imported ivory, and Zhao's sister Zhao Hede also had a white ivory bed.

So, how is the ivory seat made? In the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yunming recorded:

Like a reed, all ivory towers are known, and they are stored in it one by one. Take them out one by one with soft teeth, which are as flexible as thread and woven as mats.

That is, the ivory is soaked and softened with medicinal liquid, then chopped into thin slices of the same size, ground into white and smooth, and finally woven into mats.

An ivory pad with a length of 2. 16m and a width of 1.4m will consume the teeth of hundreds of elephants. Although it is cooler than bamboo mats, it is extravagant and wasteful.

Therefore, Yong Zhengdi has issued a decree prohibiting China people from producing ivory baskets. At the same time, they should not buy imported ivory baskets. "The artificial wind will naturally stop." .

After all, Emperor Qianlong didn't seem to listen, otherwise, the word "Ivory Terrace" wouldn't appear on the tribute list of Qianlong in five, ten and thirteen years.

In addition, there is a kind of "non-mat" in ancient times, which is made of washed pig hair and is characterized by "slippery and cool", which has a very good summer effect.

The highest state of summer vacation, the cool pillow mat mentioned above, reflects the dependence of summer vacation on the outside world. The wisdom of the ancients is self-evident, but it is not the highest realm of summer vacation.

How can I spend the summer night without a cold pillow or a summer mat?

I remember when I was in primary school, the music teacher looked at the noisy classroom and said "the highest realm-silence", which meant that students should mind their mouths and not whisper.

The highest state of summer vacation is also "quiet", but it is not silence, but peace of mind, which is naturally cool.

Bai Juyi, who was in his forties, visited the Zen master Hengji and was inspired to write "When Hengji was in Zen Room, on Bitterness and Heat":

Everyone is crazy in summer, but the unique Zen master never leaves home.

Is it because there is no heating in the meditation room? But calmness means coldness.

Everyone ran to the shade for the summer, and only the Zen master stayed in the meditation room. It's not that the meditation room is not stuffy, but that the Zen master is calm and cold.

Static and dynamic are relative, calm. Without the intrusion of anxiety, there is no hot position related to anxiety. What you feel and see inside is peaceful and cool.