Like modern people, the ancients first thought of transforming the living room environment and building an "air-conditioned room" with refrigeration equipment to escape the summer. This kind of room was called "summer room" in ancient times, "bridal chamber" in the pre-Qin period, "cool room" in the Qin and Han dynasties, and "cool hall" in the royal family. Later, "ice room" and "cool pit" all belonged to summer room. Cave dwelling was the most popular "air-conditioned room" in the pre-Qin period. The so-called "cave" literally means cave, which is the original structure of modern "basement". It can be seen that the cave houses popular in the pre-Qin era are actually "basements", but they are more particular than basements.
At that time, the nobles who had the conditions had caves in their homes, and some important dining activities would be arranged in caves in summer. Dr. Bo You of the State of Zheng is one of the famous "drunkards" in the history of China, and his family has a cave. "Thirty Years of Zuo Zhuan's" Xianggong "records:" Zheng Bo has a cave to drink, but he drinks at night and rings the bell until morning. " Uncle Zheng likes drinking, so he built a cave for fun at night and stayed up all night. It can be seen that the grottoes are very similar to the popular "entertainment space" of the pre-Qin aristocratic class in summer.
At that time, from Zheng in the Central Plains to Chu in the south and Wu in the coastal areas, nobles liked to spend the summer in caves, which were also an important place for them to settle down. In the summer of 5 15 BC, He Lv, the son of Wu, the later king of Wu, used his grottoes when he assassinated Wu Wangliao. According to the analysis of historical data, caves in the pre-Qin period were not entirely basements using underground cold sources, but also artificial cold sources. At that time, ice cubes were placed in high-rise caves to cool down and adjust the temperature.
In the summer of 552 BC, Yin Zigeng, the son of Chu, died. Who is the suitable successor? Zifeng avoided the appointment of King Chu Kang, wore a cotton gown and coat, and lay on the bed in the cave to pretend to be sick. On a hot day? Why does Zifeng still wear a coat? It turned out that he put ice under the bed.
There was a "cool hall" in the imperial palace of the Han Dynasty —— "first frost in midsummer" with good refrigeration effect.
Ice has always been one of the important cold sources for the ancients to cool down in summer. This method of using natural cold sources to cool rooms began at least in the ancient Zhou Dynasty.
In the court of Zhou Wang, there is a special person who is responsible for collecting ice cubes for the royal family to use in summer. According to Zhou Li, the person in charge is called "Lingren" and has 80 employees. Generally, from1February every winter, workers begin to collect natural ice cubes and transport them to the freezer for storage. This ice harvesting system existed until the late Qing Dynasty. In the palace of the Han Dynasty, there was an air-conditioned room in winter and summer. The house used in winter is called Wentiao Hall, the house used in summer is called Liangqing Hall, and Liangqing Hall is also called Yanqing Hall, which is the highest summer house in the royal family. According to Hanshu, the cooling effect of Liang Qing Temple is excellent, which means "clear room and summer frost", which means that it can frost indoors in midsummer and the room temperature is as low as frost.
Indoor refrigeration equipment is also extremely luxurious. The article "Pavilion" in the anonymous ancient book "Three Fu Huang Maps" has such a record: "Take the painted stone as the bed, the writing style is like brocade, the purple glaze curtain and the purple jade as the plate, such as Qulong, all decorated with miscellaneous treasures" and "Take the jade crystal as the plate, store the ice in front of the knee, and the jade crystal is clean with the ice". The high-grade stone bedding itself is a good product for summer use, with a belt next to it. What's more, let the waiter and face the fan. In this way, multiple cooling, natural cool and comfortable.
Dong Yan, who was favored by Liu Che, the Emperor of the Han Dynasty, "once lived in Yanqing Room". These are the cool furniture when Dong Yan stayed in the cool hall. By the way, Dong Yan is the daughter of Emperor Wen of Han Dynasty, the little lover of Princess Liu Piao of Guantao, and the 50-year-old aunt of Liu Che. The age difference is about 30 years old. This "strange love" once left the words "cuckold" and "master".
"Water-excited Fan Car" in the Imperial Palace in Tang Dynasty —— The earliest imported air conditioner in China.
Buildings with air conditioning in the summer of the Tang Dynasty were not called "Liangtang" in the Han Dynasty, but called "Liangtang". The "cold palace" is the bedroom of the empresses of the Tang emperor. It faces Taiye Pool in the north and is built according to water. It is very cool to live in it in summer.
In the Tang Dynasty poet Zhang Zhongsuo's "Music in the Palace", the so-called "red fruit and jade pool are solid, and the gold plate is exposed to ice; Ganquan will spend the summer, and the terrace will condense Guang Xiao ",which describes the scene of" including the cool terrace "to spend the summer.
The refrigeration mode of "with cool hall" is very advanced, which is realized by mechanical devices. Tang Yulin Hero records that Chen Zhijie, who was gleaned at that time, gave a lecture to Li Longji of Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty, and Li Longji invited Gao Lishi to talk with him. It was a hot summer, and Li Longji moved his "office" to Liangdian for the summer. Chen Zhijie saw, "(Li Longji) seat rear water drive fan car, wind hunting skirt." After coming in, Chen Zhijie was "given to sit on the stone couch", feeling "gloomy, unable to see the sun, the water in the corner became a curtain to fly, and the seats were frozen."
This historical record contains a lot of information. First, in architectural design, the "cool hall" is dark, so it looks gloomy; Second, the existing "electric fans" at that time did not use modern electric energy, but water energy. Water is used to turn the fan blades, "water-excited fan car", and the fan blows cold water to form air conditioning; Third, there is a circulating cold water source in the temple, so water drops fall from all sides to form a water curtain. This is to install water pipes on the four eaves of the palace to guide water to the eaves. Cold water circulates on the house, the indoor temperature naturally drops, and the refrigeration effect is excellent, reaching the refrigeration effect of "freezing on the seat".
This kind of "air-conditioned building" is called "self-pavilion" and "rain pavilion" by the people. At that time, high-ranking ministers had such "air-conditioned rooms" in their homes, and Wang Haoshi, mayor of Chang 'an (Beijing), also had his own pavilion. The cooling effect of the pavilion can be described as "when it is in summer, if it is cool in autumn".
Modern scholars have verified that this refrigeration and air conditioning technology with mechanical principle was not invented and first used in China, but originated in the Eastern Roman Empire, when palaces in that country were equipped with this kind of "air conditioning". If this research is true, this device should be regarded as the earliest "imported air conditioner" in China.