In ancient times, there were no modern bright glass windows, so how did the ancients solve the problem of indoor lighting? This brings us to an ancient and unique material – Mingwa.
Mingwa, a mysterious-sounding name, is actually a substitute for glass used in ancient windows and other places. Its appearance brought precious light to the interior of the ancients.
The selection of materials for Mingwa can be described as diverse. The most common is to grind oyster shells, mussel shells into translucent flakes. Imagine that in the abundant aquatic resources of the water towns in the south of the Yangtze River, those hard mussel shells and oyster shells have been carefully polished by skilled craftsmen and turned into pieces of treasures that can transmit light. There is also a theory that it is boiled into a liquid with sheep's horns, and in color, condensed and pressed into thin sheets. This is really a wonderful idea, turning the seemingly ordinary material of sheep's horn into a bright tile with a lighting function.
Making Mingwaco is a delicate handiwork. Taking mussel shells as an example, craftsmen first choose mussel shells with a more regular shape and good texture. Then, the mussel shell is carefully sanded into a square sheet with four rounded corners. This is not an easy task, and it takes a lot of patience and skill to polish the curved mussel shell as smooth as an anvil. When inlaying Ming tiles, there is also a special aspect. First of all, it is necessary to weave a grid with thin bamboo pieces, and then embed the bright tiles into it one by one, and the upper piece must be pressed down on the lower one, and from the outside, it must be covered like fish scales, so as to ensure that it is both beautiful and effective rainproof.
In ancient times, the use of mingwa was quite common. There is a street in Nanjing called Mingwa Corridor, which is named after the handicraftsmen who produced and sold Mingwa here during the Ming Dynasty. Suzhou's Mingwa industry has even organized a federation called "Mingwa Office", which shows the scale of its industry.
For the ancients, Ming tile is not only a lighting material, but also adds a unique charm to life. When the sunlight shines into the room through the bright tiles, the soft and warm light seems to cast a light veil over the room, creating a peaceful and poetic atmosphere. In such an environment, people may be able to calm down and feel the beauty of life.
Modern buildings use glass as decorations, inlaid on doors and windows, which are both beautiful and functional. But there was no such thing in ancient times. Glass is a foreign product, which should have come in during the Qing Dynasty. Ready-made proof of this is that it was mentioned in "Dream of Red Mansions".
Speaking of paper windows, I think of the custom of pasting paper in the Northeast region in the winter. In some places, it is said that in summer, it is necessary to paste yarn, which is breathable and can keep mosquitoes out. Paper windows are not unique to the North. Before the advent of glass, paper was also pasted on the windows of Jiangnan people in the old days. Only a few wealthy people will use a substitute for glass - Ming tile.
Mingwa is not tile. Mingwa is made from mussel shells polished into square flakes with four rounded corners. Mussels, abundant in the water towns of the south of the Yangtze River. However, the two shells of the mussels are curved, and although the area of the Ming tile is as small as dried tofu, it is as smooth as an anvil when it is made, I don't know why? Perhaps the raw material is not freshwater mussels at all, but marine shellfish.
Ming tile first appeared in the Song Dynasty, in the old Jiangnan was very popular, the amount of use is also large, so the production of Ming tile has become a traditional handicraft. There is a street called Mingwa Corridor in Nanjing, craftsmen lived in the Ming Dynasty according to the industry, and this street concentrated the handicraftsmen who produced and sold Mingwa, so it was named. During the Daoguang period of the Qing Dynasty, the Suzhou Mingwa industry also organized a federation, called "Mingwa Office". In the late Qing Dynasty, a large number of flat glass emerged, becoming the terminator of Mingwa. The Mingwa industry has since declined.
After all, Mingwa is made of mussel shell, and the transparency and lighting cannot be compared with glass. It is conceivable that even if the sun is shining outside, only a faint amount of daylight shines through the tiles on the lattice windows, giving people the feeling of sunset and dusk. The artistic conception is good, this kind of Ming tile, the old Suzhou called it "clam shell window" or "oyster shell window", as for the other name is the shell window, "Li" is the shell. Qing ● Huang Jingren's poem "Rising at Night": "The fish scales and clouds break the sky and condense the daisies, and the shell window is sparse and the moon is teasing." ”
In addition to the use of mussel shell as the main material of Ming tile, may be due to a series of reasons such as cost and process improvement, to the Ming Dynasty, Ming tile has another practice, according to the "Nanjing Historical Records": Ming tile to sheep horn decoction into liquid, and color, condensation after pressing into a thin sheet, called Ming tile. It means that the craftsmen boil the sheep's horn into glue, slightly solidify and press it into a thin sheet, so that they can achieve a better lighting effect, and even make a colored bright tile with color.
Therefore, in ancient times, those who were more wealthy would use a large number of Ming tile inlaid flower windows, and the wooden lattice flower window was inlaid with a piece of Ming tile, which not only solved the lighting, almost a window was a delicate work of art, and some people thought that Ming tile was made of the scales of a big fish, which was on Zhou Zuoren's time, because Zhou Zuoren described it in "Awning Boat": "...... The wooden lattice, embedded with pieces of small fish scales, about an inch in diameter, quite transparent, slightly like glass and tough and durable, this is called Ming Tile. "But to be honest, those Ming tiles made of shells are indeed similar in color to large fish scales, and the way of inlay is to imitate the arrangement of fish scales, no wonder Zhou Zuoren mistakenly thinks that Ming tiles are made of fish scales.
The inlay of Ming tile is extremely regular and strict. When inlaying, first use thin bamboo pieces to weave into a grid, and then embed the Ming tile in it, especially pay attention to the embedding, from the bottom to the top, one by one embedded in the bamboo net, the top piece must be pressed down the bottom piece, from the outside, it should be like a fish scale to cover down, so that it is not easy to leak rain. After completion, it will be matched to the outside of the doors and windows.
It is best to have a wooden lattice window, with a square lattice in the middle, the same size as the Ming tile, and a window pane is nailed with a Ming tile, which is neat and beautiful. Therefore, in the Ming Dynasty, people who were particular about it installed wooden lattice windows. After the Ming tile is installed, the finely carved artistic window is still exposed, and the visual enjoyment is not delayed. Wen Zhenheng's "Chronicle of Long Things" has a hint about "windows": use wood as a rough grid, set up thin strips and three eyes in the middle, and the eyes are two inches square, not too large...... Nail the tiles, or papier-mâché.
Suzhou in the Ming and Qing dynasties, densely populated houses are connected, the demand for Ming tile is very large, at most, there were more than 40 shops in Suzhou to operate Ming Wa, so the development to the Daoguang period, the Ming tile office was established outside the gate. After the late Qing Dynasty, foreign glass began to be imported, slowly replacing Ming tile. In the late Republic of China, Mingwa gradually faded out of people's sight.
Nowadays, there are few buildings with bright tiles in Suzhou, and only in some ancient gardens or some ancient villages, you can still find traces of it. For example, the floor-to-ceiling long window of the mountain building in the Humble Administrator's Garden, the upper floor of the harmonious window, is still embedded with simple Ming tiles. You can also see some in the Lingering Garden, such as Mingse Tower, Quyu Tower, Yuancui Pavilion, etc., but it is no longer the original Ming tile window in the park, but the Suzhou Lingering Garden Management Office specially went to some ancient villages to collect.
Another role of Mingwa is to make claw lamps, what kind of toys is claw lamps? At that time, there was no glass, the court also used the claw lamp, and the claw lamp is to connect the Ming tile into a lamp, because this kind of claw lamp is bright and bright, not easy to burn, much stronger than the lantern of the paper paste gauze cover, naturally in the court of strict fire prevention, this kind of claw lamp has become the first choice for use, since there is glass, the advantage of the claw lamp is no more, and the process is complex, the cost is high, the use is gradually reduced, and finally the claw lamp is lost.
In the forty-fifth episode of "Dream of Red Mansions", "Golden Ranch Mutual Dissection of Jinlan Language, Wind and Rain and Evening Stuffy Wind and Rain Words", Baoyu went home after visiting Daiyu, Baoyu took a sheep's horn lantern, and after Daiyu heard about it, she took down a glass hydrangea lamp from the bookshelf, ordered a small wax stick, and handed it to Baoyu. In the seventy-fifth round, when admiring the moon in the Mid-Autumn Festival, "the main gate of the garden has been opened, and the horn headlights are hanging. On the platform in front of Jiayin Hall, incense is burned, wind candles are held, and melon cakes and various fruits are offered. Mrs. Xing and the other female guests were waiting inside for a long time. It's really moonlight, popular cigarettes, crystal bright, and unshapeable."
The famous writer Liu Xinwu believes that the horn lamp is made in this way: take a good horn and cut it into a cylindrical shape, then boil it in water with shredded radish, take it out after boiling until it becomes soft, stuff the spindle-shaped last into it, stretch it up, and then put it in the pot to boil after it can't be supported, and then take it out, change it to a larger last support, and repeat it several times, and finally pull out a big and bulging, thin and bright lampshade.
However, over time, the advent of glass gradually replaced the Ming tile. Glass has better transparency and daylight, making the interior brighter. As a result, the Mingwa industry gradually declined and became a part of history.
Although Mingwa is rare in modern life, it carries the wisdom and creativity of the ancients, witnessing the lifestyle and aesthetic taste of that era. When we look back on this period of history, we can't help but be impressed by the ingenuity of the ancients.
- Psychological aspect: Mingwa can affect people's psychological feelings. It lets in natural light to create a soft and warm environment for the interior, which may help relieve emotional issues such as stress, anxiety and depression. In addition, Mingwa can also provide a visual connection with the external natural environment, allowing people to feel the beauty of nature, which can have a positive impact on the psychological state.
- Health: Plenty of natural light is good for health, it regulates the body's biological clock, promotes vitamin D synthesis, boosts immune system function, and more. The use of Mingwa can increase the amount of natural light in the room, which may have a certain positive effect on physical health. However, there are other factors that need to be taken into account for the specific impact, such as the ventilation of the room, the living habits of the occupants, etc.
Today, we live in an age full of high-tech and modern materials, but it's still fun and inspiring to look back at these traditional techniques from ancient times. Perhaps one day, we can draw inspiration from the history of Mingwa and create more environmentally friendly and unique lighting materials, so that ancient wisdom can shine with new brilliance in modern society.
In short, although Mingwa has become a thing of the past, the traces it has left in the long history are always worth remembering and recalling. The next time you walk into an ancient building, imagine the soft light that once shined through the Ming tiles, and feel the wonderful dialogue between the ancients and light.