Many literati in ancient times were also hunted by mosquitoes, and their poems and songs recorded their "hunting".
Pu Songling, the author of Strange Tales from a Lonely Studio, was deeply attacked by mosquitoes. He condensed his social experience from collecting wind into a mosquito-repellent song: "Mixed smoke in the Atractylodes furnace, mixed flue-cured tobacco flies." Andrew's bats are born. Once they get rid of drugs, they will be safe. "
Among them, smoking was the main means to deal with mosquitoes in the old days. The ancients had a method of "lighting a match rope", that is, weaving wormwood and wormwood into a straw rope, igniting it after wetting, and the smoke emitted can repel mosquitoes; Rich people have smoke stoves, which can not only fragrant indoor air, but also repel mosquitoes. It also advocates that people use bats, the natural enemies of mosquitoes, to kill mosquitoes.
Fang Xiaoru's "Mosquito Pair" in the Ming Dynasty recorded that teenagers pulled out Artemisia bundles and finally set fire to them, full of smoke, and circled around the bed several times to drive away mosquitoes. The poet Lu You said: "Zeguo is full of mosquitoes, and the night is a reminder. If you can't lift the fan, you can take a quick burn. " (Mosquito Fumigation on Mr. Wan Ling) Burning wormwood to smoke mosquitoes is also a common sight in the old society.
Besides smoking, mosquito nets are also used to prevent mosquitoes. "I'm afraid you'll stir the brocade window, and ten axes will be light (Xiao) to surround the jade at night" (Tang Changchu's Mosquito on the River). At that time, mosquito nets were already an important measure to avoid mosquitoes. However, the "golden window" and "gauze" in the poem are obviously not ordinary people's items, but more like the decoration of a big family and a rich family. Later, it was improved and simplified into a mosquito net.
Tang Yuanzhen said in a poem, "Mosquito-repellent incense sweats with light gauze, and the mosquito kitchen with high volume lies alone." "Mosquito Kitchen" refers to mosquito nets, just like the "gauze cabinet" in Yuan Mei's mosquito-repellent poems in Qing Dynasty.
In the Song Dynasty, Ouyang Xiu said in the poem "Hate Mosquitoes" that "the smoke on the eaves is bitter, and the candle shines on the wall", which obviously mentioned using light to attract mosquitoes. Until now, this trick is still in use. "Ten thousand fans stopped and became a ball, and there was a faint thunder at night. It is easy to avoid darkness in the light, but difficult to avoid darkness in the dark "(Wang Qingxiufeng's Singing Mosquito).
Small mosquitoes, hiding in Tibet, are hard to prevent, and guerrilla tactics are used incisively and vividly. The poem also talks about "ten thousand fans", which refers to fans made of Pu Ye, and monks in temples often use this method to drive them away.
During the Daoguang period of the Qing Dynasty, Shan Dounan, a famous poet in Zhejiang Province, wrote a poem "Reading Mosquitoes", which was quite enjoyable to read: "Life is full of blood, and people are the most stupid. The skin is on the beak and the palm is on the back. " Are mosquitoes human opponents? A slap can kill a mosquito. But it takes two to clap hands, which is often "self-criticism, self-criticism" (Yuan Mei's poem).
On the contrary, Yang Luan in the Southern Tang Dynasty seems smart and open-minded: "During the day, flies are full of rice plates, and mosquitoes flock at night. Every night in the dead of night, I will bite Yang Lan. " Anyway, mosquitoes come to bite every night, so let it bite.