Why does the Forbidden City have tens of thousands of rooms, where thousands of people lived in its heyday, but not a single toilet?

The Forbidden City in Beijing generally refers to the Palace Museum in Beijing. This is the royal palace of the Ming and Qing dynasties, also known as the Forbidden City in Beijing. The Forbidden City in Beijing has more than 9,000 houses and more than 70 castles. Its total area is 720,000 square meters, and its total construction area is 150,000 square meters. However, in such a large area, not only does it not have chimneys, it does not even have bathrooms. Why is this? First, let’s talk about why there is no chimney in the Forbidden City in Beijing. The Forbidden City in Beijing refers to wooden houses. These structures are very afraid of open fires and may cause a fire if not careful.

At the same time, in order to avoid dust pollution and maintain the beauty of the buildings, Beijing The Forbidden City uses some high-quality charcoal as fuel, so currently there are almost no chimneys visible in the Forbidden City in Beijing. When watching palace dramas on weekdays, there will occasionally be scenes of chamberlains cleaning feed trucks and dung buckets. This scene can actually give us a glimpse into how the Ming and Qing dynasties solved the problem of going to the toilet.

The Forbidden City in Beijing was formed in the Ming Dynasty, so in the book "History of the Ming Palace", you can find the truth about ancient people going to the toilet. This book records that there is a half room between the outer court and the inner court of the Forbidden City. This half room is called the "East and West Wall", which is actually the "urination and defecation room" used by the palace family members and internal officials. place". This kind of house has a wooden basin hanging inside, which is actually a special tool for going to the toilet. It is not difficult to see that this place for defecation and defecation is actually the toilet in the palace. At that time, the sewage treatment equipment was outdated and there were no flush toilets.

If the bathroom was built in the house, no matter how many preventive measures were taken, the odor would easily rise into the sky. Come on, how can the arrogant emperor, queen and concubines want to smell this smell? Whether it is a courtyard house in Beijing or a home courtyard in our countryside, there is no habit of setting up restrooms in buildings. Restrooms are usually built in the southwest or northeast of the courtyard. Therefore, even though the Forbidden City in Beijing, which emphasizes traditional layout, has 9,999 and a half rooms, there will be no bathrooms in the rooms.