The Forbidden City has 9,999 rooms but absolutely no toilets, so how did tens of thousands of people in the past “settle” it?
The Beijing Palace, also known as the Forbidden City, was the home of the Ming and Qing dynasties of China. This is the largest palace complex in the world that has been preserved to this day and is the pride of the Chinese people.
The palace architectural complex was built in nearly 20 years, from 1406 to 1424 with a huge investment in both wealth and human power. 6 centuries have passed, many times of dynasties changed, feudal times also collapsed, but the Forbidden City still stands in the center of Beijing capital.
A large corner of the Forbidden City seen from above
With an area of 720,000 square meters, the Forbidden City is said to have a total of 9,999 rooms. If you want to visit the Imperial Palace, it may take a few days to fully explore. However, despite being so vast, this place lacks a seemingly essential work, which is a toilet.
In the first place, the giant palace was not designed and built with toilets at all. All current public toilets are newly built in modern times for the purpose of serving tourists and staff.
Tourists who want to visit the ancient latrine in the Palace will never find it
So the question is that the Emperor, his concubines and tens of thousands of palace maids, eunuchs, guards, slaves, etc., who lived in the Forbidden City for several hundred years ago, have “settled” the basic needs. How is this day? The answer is actually quite simple, which is sanitary pots (bins) with lids, inside covered with ashes.
For kings, people of high status, the design of this barrel must also be different, luxurious and called providence. They are made of sandalwood, inside containing sandalwood ash and flavorings to reduce odors. The mouth of the barrel is smoothed so that the occupants are not uncomfortable or scratched. Some portable toilets are also very sophisticatedly designed with brocade cushions, with armrests on both sides.
A cushion-lined toilet of the Ming Dynasty kings
After the owner finishes using the toilet, the eunuch or the palace maid will have to carry it out. In the imperial palace during the feudal period, there was a division of servants who were only in charge of dumping waste in the toilet and cleaning the tank. Large waste bins must be regularly dumped outside to avoid the stench from entering the majestic palace.
That is for people in high positions, and the eunuchs and palace maids of course have to use rudimentary and poor-quality tools. Their toilet bowl is called a bronze bow. In general, they are just an ordinary wooden barrel, nothing more and nothing less, and there is no aromatherapy spread inside.
The slave’s toilet tools are much simpler
In fact, the use of buckets and pots to go to the toilet directly like tens of thousands of people who used to live in the Forbidden City is not because there is no other option. From ancient times, latrines, rudimentary toilets also appeared. But because at that time, human waste was considered unclean, damaging the sanctity of the palace, so toilets were forbidden to build. With a large number of people, plus the type of toilets like before, surely the Forbidden City always has an unpleasant smell, so it is best that they have been banned from the beginning.
By: Sohu
Business and marketing
at Blogtuan.info – Source: cafebiz.vn – Read the original article here
