The Forbidden City is the place where the royal family lives. Whether it is the building materials, architectural design or daily cleaning work, they are all very particular. There can be no mistakes at all. This has also become the 600th anniversary of the Forbidden City. For years, the tiles on the roof have been shining golden, no birds have pooped, and no grass has grown.
1. Materials of roof tiles
The tiles on the roof of the Forbidden City are not like the roof tiles of ordinary people. Since ancient times, royal things have been very particular. What's different is that although it is not made of gold as in folklore, it sparkles like gold. This is actually a special "glazed tile". Its firing process is very complicated. The whole process requires 36 steps. The finished product The surface after production is very smooth and has a certain slope, so it is difficult for things to stay on it.
2. Style of roof tiles
The style of glazed tiles in the Forbidden City is also very different from the square tiles we usually see. They all adopt the style of "tube tiles". Just like small cylinders, birds were taken into consideration when it was first made, so its width is much larger than the distance between the toes of all birds. This means that there are no birds at all on the roof of the Forbidden City. As long as the birds stand on it, they will slide down, so if there are no birds, there will be no bird droppings, and birds like to hold grass seeds in their mouths, which also greatly reduces the possibility of grass growing on the roof.
3. Regular cleaning work
The Forbidden City is a solemn place. A piece of bird droppings or a weed will affect the solemnity of the royal family, so we attach great importance to sanitation work. For this reason, the royal family has institutions and personnel dedicated to maintaining hygiene. Generally speaking, the roof tiles of ordinary palaces will be replaced every three to five years, and large palaces will be replaced every ten years.
And there are usually special cleaning eunuchs who regularly clean up the garbage in the Forbidden City. In that strict hierarchical society, no one dared to be vague, because a little negligence may lead to death without a burial place. .
So for six hundred years, the Forbidden City has been maintained with a golden light and no grass growing.