As the saying goes: people have three urgencies. No matter who you are, solving internal emergencies is an unavoidable part of life.
But in ancient times, there were no paper towels, how did they go to the toilet?
"Paper" to wipe down after using the toilet
In the time-traveling drama "Looking for Qin", the actor Xiang Shaolong first arrived in the Warring States Period, the first problem to be solved, what to wipe after going to the toilet?
As a result, after asking the locals, he was directly given a piece of bamboo, which is somewhat difficult for modern people to accept.
In ancient times, this "bamboo chip" was called "toilet chip" and was made of wooden or bamboo strips. Of course, although the ancients did not have the developed conditions today, they were particularly careful about daily necessities, especially those used every day, and they polished the bamboo pieces extremely smooth, and they would not grind them to the buttocks at all.
The most important thing is that this toilet can also be reused, washed with clean water after wiping, and then dried in the sun, which is very environmentally friendly.
The common people are mainly made of bamboo and wood, while the rich people are more likely to enjoy the toilet chips made of gold and jade.
However, it is impossible to determine the exact age of the toilet chips, but some parts of China and Japan still used toilet chips in the last century.
And the ancients would not be like modern people, carrying a small bag on their bodies wherever they went, not to mention that the toilet chip can be used repeatedly, and no ordinary people will use it once and discard it, so when going to the toilet outdoors, the things used are very "rich".
For example, leaves, stones, tiles, grass, etc., which can be found everywhere, are taken everywhere and discarded when they are used up.
Of course, the nobles will never treat themselves badly when they go to the toilet, they are very particular, they will choose softer linen and cloth, and even more luxurious will use silk directly, and these silk fabrics can also be cleaned and reused.
But whether it is washed or discarded, this is the business of the people around you.
By the time of the Western Han Dynasty, papermaking had appeared in China, which had been able to produce hemp fiber paper, which was coarse in texture, small in quantity, high in cost and not popular.
Until the first year of Yuanxing in the Eastern Han Dynasty, Cai Lun improved papermaking, he used bark, hemp and cloth, fishing nets and other materials, through frustration, pounding, frying, baking and other processes to make paper, improve the original quality, and raw materials are easy to obtain, the price of paper is reduced, and gradually commonly used.
However, it was not until the end of the Tang Dynasty that records of the use of toilet paper appeared. In the Southern Song Dynasty's "Pavilion Record", it was recorded: "The toilet board shall not be dirty, and the clean paper shall not be messy."
The net paper here refers to toilet paper, which proves that special paper has appeared at that time, which is inseparable from the developed economy and the improvement of labor force in the Tang and Song dynasties.
In the Ming Dynasty, in the 24 yamen in the palace, there was an institution dedicated to the production of toilet paper for the royal family, that is, the treasure banknote division.
By the beginning of the 14th century, Zhejiang had an annual output of 10 million packs of toilet paper, which contained about 1,000-10,000 sheets of paper per pack, and was basically available to civilians.
The toilets of the ancients
In ancient times, there were no toilets so convenient as today, and there were no pipes that flushed out the feces at once, and their toilets were a little hard to explain.
In ancient times, the toilet was very simple, completely animal behavior, without any shelter, that is, digging a big pit in the open air, people squatting on the pit to go to the toilet, until the pit is full, will dig a new pit.
With the progress of human civilization, people have a sense of shame, and a hut has been built into a special dung pit for shelter.
However, some ancient books record that huts may have been built to prevent people from being blown into the dung pit by strong winds, and at that time it was risky to go to the toilet, and there were indeed cases of drowning due to falling into the manure pit.
More outrageous are the toilets of the Han Dynasty, which they chose to build at the back of the house, built from a high place, and used ladders for people to go up and down. And the bottom of the toilet is connected to the pigsty, that is, human feces fall directly into the pigsty and are eaten by pigs, which is a little disgusting to think about.
The ancients called this kind of toilet "圂" or "圂toilet", but this unclean operation allowed many diseases to breed, and generally only ordinary people in the countryside would build it this way.
In the homes of the nobles, the toilet is very particular and hygienic, and many nobles have built indoor toilets in their homes.
But this way of going to the toilet requires hiring someone to transport and clean the bucket, which is also a loss.
The Empress Dowager Cixi who will enjoy it the most
Cixi has always been known for her extravagance, she was the supreme ruler at the end of the Qing Dynasty, and she was in a state of toilet access that was much more enjoyable than modern people.
Cixi's toilet is called the "official room", and this so-called "official room" is actually a toilet that can be moved.
If asked, why didn't Cixi build a small toilet next to the dormitory?
This has to be said that Cixi will really enjoy it, if she builds a small toilet, she will have to go outside to go to the toilet, where is it convenient to pass the official room.
What's more, if a small toilet is built next to it, the ancients did not have a modern exhaust system, and eventually they had to move the gong bucket out, if it was not treated in time, it would cause the whole yard to be full of smell.
Cixi has a set of cumbersome processes and processes in the "official room": first give the aunt who is the personal head of the room to go to the toilet, and then the palace maid summons the eunuch.
This eunuch is a little hard, he needs to carry the "official room" on his head, enter the dormitory, the palace maid puts a layer of oilcloth under the official room, and after the end, the little eunuch goes out again, as if this is a "sacred thing". After the eunuch took it, the filth would be covered with fragrant wood chips, and finally disposed of.
The most outrageous thing is that Cixi even has to be served by someone to wipe her buttocks, and the toilet paper she uses is even more unenjoyable for ordinary people, and it is customized.
First, use a large piece of white cotton paper to cut it separately and neatly, and then spray very fine water droplets, like a water mist, and use a copper iron to dry each piece of paper.
After such treatment, the paper will be very soft, and the rough burrs on it will also be flattened by water droplets and high temperature, which is simply the closest to the modern "wet toilet paper" existence.
And after Cixi went to the toilet, the eunuch who wiped his butt needed to practice this technique hard, otherwise he would not be able to do the job at all, An Dehai and Li Lianying were both royal commissioners who wiped their buttocks, but according to the wild history, An Dehai's skills were far better than Li Lianying.