Why did the rich people in ancient China like to put water in the yard?

People in China love Feng Shui, and everything is related to Feng Shui. As the saying goes, "It is best to gather wind and air", so in many families in China, when natural conditions can't meet the needs of mountains and rivers, some water tanks and fish tanks will be placed. But when it comes to the place with the most water tanks, it is the Forbidden City, which is called "the best in the world". In the imperial palace, which pays attention to the solemn hierarchy, there are so many water tanks from the former dynasty to the harem. Is the palace doing this to recuperate Feng Shui?

"Feng Shui Tanks" can be seen everywhere in ancient buildings.

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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".

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.

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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.

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.

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The most troublesome thing about keeping 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 installed the cylinder heads and cylinder liners until the beginning of the year, and made a stone foundation at the bottom of each cylinder." And the reason for all this is for one purpose-fire prevention!