"Feng Shui Tanks" can be seen everywhere in ancient buildings.
After entering the Taihe Gate of the Forbidden City, among the red walls and yellow tiles, there are always some golden vats that catch people's eyes from time to time. As far as the level of ancient artifacts in China is concerned, the jar belongs to a vulgar thing that can't be served on the table. Compared with the incense burner and turtle crane on the base of white marble, it is really inconspicuous, but only these urns are covered with gold. The emperor, who has always paid attention to respect and inferiority, wants to put such a vat in the most solemn place under the sun, and even daub it with precious gold, which naturally has the special needs of the royal family.
In the eyes of the emperor, the real names of these tanks are called auspicious tanks, also called Taiping tanks. Generally speaking, they are all made of iron and copper. According to its material, it can be divided into iron cylinder, bronze cylinder and gold-plated cylinder, and these three cylinders also have a * * * name, which is "Door Sea".
Gold-plated auspicious cylinder in the Forbidden City (thanks to Dahan for the picture)
In ancient times, people often called the jar placed in front of the door "sea" for three reasons. First, the word "sea" refers not only to the sea, but also to those large ships. The national treasure "Deserted Mountain and Jade Sea" is actually a huge jade jar. Second, the ancients expected that there would be no more fire in front of the door. Third, because these vats can store a lot of water, the key is.
According to the records in the archives of the Qing Dynasty, there are 308 such auspicious jars in the Forbidden City. However, due to historical reasons, the number of existing auspicious cans is 23 1, of which 18 is gold-plated and the rest are bronze or iron cans. Moreover, not all these auspicious jars in the Forbidden City were set up in the Qing Dynasty. As early as the Ming Dynasty, these vats were installed for fire prevention. Here is a trick to identify the age of auspicious jars: all iron jars with big ears on both sides are basically from the Ming Dynasty, while those with large animal rings cast on both sides of the jars are relics of the Qing Dynasty. The earliest existing auspicious jar in the Forbidden City is the iron jar made by the imperial supervisor in the fourth year of Ming Hongzhi, which is in Taihe.
(Ming Dynasty iron cylinder under the white marble steps in the Hall of Supreme Harmony)
In the palace, different auspicious jars will be placed for decoration according to different positions. As the most important central axis of the Forbidden City, 18 gold-plated auspicious jars are evenly distributed in a straight line from the Hall of Supreme Harmony, the Hall of Zhonghe, the Hall of Baohe and the Gan Qing Palace. As for why the gold-plated vats are placed in these positions, it is because these palaces located on the central axis are the largest buildings in the palace, and the gold-plated auspicious vats have the largest water storage capacity in all the doors and seas. Therefore, in order to ensure sufficient fire water to the maximum extent, it is natural to put these largest auspicious cylinders on this central axis. Of course, in addition to this use value, the auspicious vat should be plated with gold.
The number of these auspicious jars is huge, and the cost of casting is amazing. According to the Records of Playing and Selling in Qianlong Period of Qing Dynasty, the average diameter of each 18 gold-plated auspicious cylinder is about 1.66 meters, the height is about 1.2 meters, and the weight can reach more than 3,393 kilograms, that is, more than three tons. As for the small gold copper-iron auspicious jar, besides being as high as the gold-plated one, its diameter is 1.4m and its weight is about 2 166kg.
In addition to consuming property in the production process, it is also quite laborious to look after the auspicious jar. In summer, these auspicious jars need the daily care of Sula (a handyman), the management office of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and add water to change water in time. The Inner Collar of the Ministry of Internal Affairs is responsible for the daily affairs and chores management of the palace. There are only 30 eunuchs in such a huge palace, one of whom is in charge of the auspicious jar.
The most troublesome thing about looking after these auspicious jars is that after the dry and cold winter in Beijing, because the emperor was worried about a fire, it was stipulated in the "Installation" section of the "Current Rules of the Palace" compiled by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Qing Dynasty: "Every copper jar and iron jar in the palace, during the Light Snow Festival, eunuchs and pipe heads were installed all the way to the cylinder head and cylinder liner at the beginning of the year, and each cylinder bottom was made of stone. And the reason for all this is for one purpose-fire prevention!
The Last Fire in the Forbidden City ―― Fu Jian Palace Fire
Because most of the ancient houses in China are made of wood, and the ignition point is very low, often a Mars can cause great disasters. The Forbidden City was built in the 18th year of Yongle in the Ming Dynasty (A.D. 1420) until the emperor abdicated in the 3rd year of Xuantong in the Qing Dynasty (19 1 1). In the history of 49 1 year, these great projects, which cost the country countless manpower and material resources, were so easily destroyed by the fire, which was unbearable for the emperors, so the fire prevention work in the palace was the top priority.
If people today can clearly know how tragic the major fire in the Forbidden City is, they can also know the importance of fire prevention for the Forbidden City.
The Forbidden City was built in A.D. 1420. The next year, a big fire broke out in the Forbidden City, which burned the three magnificent halls, that is, the Golden Hall, which we often hear, into a pile of rubble, which was a major blow to Judy, the Ming Emperor at that time, because he drove away 654.38+ten thousand craftsmen and hundreds of thousands of laborers in this unparalleled palace. Moreover, this Forbidden City, which represents heaven, is also a symbol of the emperor's power. This fire burned not only the material palace, but also the majesty and face of the emperor. In the following time, the burned Golden Throne Hall was in ruins. It was not until 19 that Ming Chengzu accumulated enough wealth to rebuild the three halls.
The inscription ring of the animal head in the auspicious cylinder of the Forbidden City
After the Qing Dynasty, there was a fire in the Hall of Supreme Harmony in the 18th year of Kangxi, in the 23rd year of Qianlong, in the 2nd year of Jiaqing, in the Qing Palace and Jiaotai Hall, in the 8th year of Tongzhi, in the 14th year of Guangxu. In the face of these frequent major fires, the Forbidden City, which is dominated by wood structures, can't resist at all, but in addition to these fires with great consequences, there are many small fire incidents. Therefore, at the first moment of discovery, regardless of the palace or the people, the ancients placed water tanks between the yard and the house, not all for the illusory goal of today, but more for nip in the bud and protect family and property to the maximum extent when the fire comes.
Just like the older generation raised fish in a water tank, they only know it means "fish", but the wisdom handed down by the ancients is contained in these habits. Because of the poor drinking conditions of the ancients, it is inevitable that there will be some unclean things such as parasites or algae in the water. So if you put fish in it, you can solve this problem in the simplest way in the food chain. At the same time, if the water quality is toxic, the fish put into the tank will naturally give people a boost after death. Although there are many seemingly mysterious nonsense in life, what can be handed down in history has the simplest truth, so when facing those historical heritages, we should not only know why, but also know why.
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