Most of the capitals of the Central Plains Dynasty were in the north, and the winter in the north was extremely cold. Royal nobles can still burn a lot of charcoal fire to keep warm. Ordinary people have a harder time this winter. If it is wartime, I'm afraid it's just like Du Fu said, "The wine in Zhumen stinks and the bones on the road freeze to death."
However, the wisdom of the ancients is far less than that of today. Although cotton was not introduced to China at that time, our ancestors had other ways to keep warm.
According to historical research, some people have planted hemp in the ruins unearthed by Banpo residents, and the earliest fiber is hemp. The ancients processed it into thread and rope, and then processed it into quilts and other things to cover the body to keep out the cold. At the same time, in order to make a living, the ancients domesticated sheep, took wool from them for processing to keep out the cold, or planted hemp crops, and then woven them into flax by textile technology.
Although linen was rough, it was already a good cold-proof item at that time. But the cold-proof effect of flax is far less than that of cotton today, so the clever ancients filled it with kapok cotton wool or reed flowers. In the homes of some dignitaries, the filler is animal fluff.
With the popularization of silk in the later period, a large number of precious and gorgeous silk entered rich families and became the main items for the upper class in the Central Plains to keep out the cold. On the one hand, the material made of silk is smooth and does not hurt the skin; on the other hand, rich people will choose duck down and cashmere as fillers. For poor families, straw has become the best choice. Poor families will dry the straw and put it in bed to keep warm when it is cold.
Paper clothes prevailed in the Southern Song Dynasty, and the imperial court specially distributed paper clothes as a thing for ordinary people to keep out the cold in winter, which was plundered by ordinary people. On the one hand, paper has become a convenient writing material, on the other hand, it has become a necessary thing for many people to spend the cold winter.
The best heating effect can't be achieved by our own self-defense articles, but charcoal fire is the fastest developing technology. During the Spring and Autumn Period, elaborate heating stoves appeared. Then, in the Qin dynasty, a palace fireplace as high as one meter was enough to heat a palace of the emperor; In the border areas where nomadic people live in concentrated communities, the kang gradually evolved. The fuel, charcoal and coal used for heating in the past dynasties have also been innovated from generation to generation.
For example, in the Tang dynasty, the price of charcoal was sky-high For example, Bai Juyi's charcoal seller, a car of more than 1000 kilograms of charcoal was taken away by arrogant people, which was a great loss to the charcoal seller. However, in a wealthy family, this car with more than 1,000 kilograms of charcoal only lasts for a few days. Nobles often build special greenhouses in winter, paste the walls with pepper paste, and then supply charcoal fire.
However, such a large consumption, even people with official positions can not achieve such luxury. But in the Tang dynasty, for example, in order to show sympathy for officials, the court distributed special firewood and silver every winter, but for the long winter in the north, this was just a drop in the bucket.
Even in the Song Dynasty, the price of charcoal was still high. For example, Bianjing, 15 Jin of charcoal can fry the price to more than 200 yuan, which is equivalent to more than six buckets of rice. Of course, in order to show sympathy for the people, the imperial court in Song Dynasty would lower the price of charcoal, but because it is a matter of human life, every time charcoal is sold, it will be looted by the people, and even some people will die.
In A Dream of Red Mansions, Jia Baoyu's maid is the one who warms the bed. In winter, due to the cold in the quilt, in order to let the host have a comfortable rest, there will be a special person to undress your young lady and young master in advance to warm the bed. At the same time, on the one hand, charcoal was used as a fire for heating, on the other hand, the ancients used the heat generated by charcoal to heat ice water and poured it into utensils for ladies and wives to warm their hands and feet.
The long winter of the ancients finally ended in the Ming Dynasty. At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, cotton planting had already appeared, but when Zhu Yuanzhang was in power in the Ming Dynasty, compulsory measures were taken to popularize cotton planting in large quantities, which reduced the number of people who died of cold in the world.
The winter in ancient times was long and cold, even if the quilt was invented later, it was sky-high for ordinary people. Fortunately, due to the popularity of cotton in the later period, people's fear of winter has decreased. If you meet a wise monarch and give the people a little favor and sweetness, you can naturally spend the winter.