Verses about the ways of transmission of letters by ancient people

1. What were the ways of transmitting messages in ancient times

China was one of the first countries in the world to establish an organized information system for transmission.

As early as the Shang Dynasty, more than three thousand years ago, the transmission of information has been recorded. Passing by horseback was called posting, and posting was an early form of organized communication.

Located in the Jiayuguan Railway Station Square, the "stagecoach" sculpture, which is taken from the Jiayuguan Wei and Jin dynasty mural tomb, the stagecoach hand held up the paperwork, the stagecoach four-legged air, speed. This brick mural picture in 1982 was the first congress of the All-China Philatelic Federation as a small chapter stamps theme pattern, which shows that Jiayuguan is one of the birthplaces of China's information culture.

The emergence of information transmission in ancient times could not be separated from the Great Wall, which was "five thousand years up and down and 100,000 miles across". The term "Great Wall" was first used in the Warring States period.

In ancient times, there were different forms of construction in different dynasties, so the title of this defense project is also different, such as: columns of cities, square cities, plugs, temporary Luo, boundary trenches, border walls, etc., in fact, they all refer to the "Great Wall", in fact, the Great Wall in a broader sense of all the giant military engineering system in ancient China. In successive generations of the Great Wall construction process is followed in the basic principle of "according to local conditions, according to the danger to the plug".

First, according to the shape of the ground to construct the project. The second is to make full use of geographic dangers to defend against the enemy.

The Great Wall as the main wall, including barricades, passes, barracks, guards, piers, beacons and beacons, and observation, communication and other integrated functions, the formation of the most rigorous military defense system in ancient times. Among them, the beacon towers on the inner side of the Great Wall are an important part.

During the Western Zhou Dynasty, in order to prevent the enemy from invading, "beacon tunnels" were used as contact signals for border defense emergencies. In the ancient history book "Zhou Li" has such a paragraph records "in the countries from the border to the hinterland of the channel, every distance, built a beacon, one after another, on the stage with orange pulley, orange pulley head with a cage containing firewood, the enemy invasion, the beacon one after another to set off fireworks to pass the alarm.

Whenever the night warning, guarding the stage people ignite the cage of firewood and grass and raise it high, relying on the light of the fire to the leader of the platform to pass the message, known as the "beacon", the daytime warning is ignited on the stage of the accumulation of fuel grass, smoke to show the urgency, known as the "flint". Ancient people in order to make the smoke straight and not curved, so that far away from being able to see, but also often to wolf dung instead of fuel grass, so also known as wolf smoke.

The Zhou Dynasty stipulated that: the Son of Heaven raised the beacon flint vassals around the world must immediately bring troops to the rescue, *** with the resistance to the enemy. Thus, the implementation of the beacon system means that as early as in the Zhou Dynasty, there has been a huge and perfect military information contact network.

China's archaeologists in 1972 to 1976 in Juyan through the excavation of the Han dynasty obtained more than 30,000 pieces of wooden slips, and excavated the beacon flint site, on our understanding of the Han dynasty beacon flint provides a wealth of information. According to the wood can be seen in the two Han Dynasty, from the four counties of Hexi (present-day Gansu Province, Wuwei, Zhangye, Jiuquan, Dunhuang) has been set to salt flint beacons, and the scale is very large, the management of the extremely strict, known as "beacon flints 10,000 miles away from each other", is said to be "a flint in five miles, ten miles of a pier, thirty miles of a fortress, a hundred miles of a city plugs

In addition, also used a variety of different codes to indicate the number of enemies, the enemy in the following 500 people put a beacon, in more than 500 miles put two beacons and so on. In the excavation of the "Sai Shang Beacon Pin" recorded the court at the time of the enemy alarm and put up the beacon of the regulations, that is, "joint defense convention".

The provisions of the article stipulate that in the different parts of the Xiongnu infestation, the number of people, time, intention, changes and weather anomalies, etc., the plugs put up the type of beacon, the number of transmission method and how to correct the error and other details, even the flint commander sick leave have to be approved by the superiors. This information transfer method, the defense of the border, against the enemy had played a role.

Beacon to pass information is very fast, in 119 BC general Wei Qing and Huo Zaiwei led hundreds of thousands of troops to attack, to raise the beacon as a signal to march, just a day's time, this signal from the west of the river to several thousand miles away from Liaodong. Due to the rapid and timely alarm beacon flint, until the Ming and Qing dynasties are still in use.

The city of Yantai in Shandong Province was named after the Ming Dynasty, which set up the Wolf Smoke Tower there to prevent Japanese invasion. Beacon transmission of military information is certainly rapid, but it can not fully express the profound and complex military content, with the development of society and political and military needs, relying on animal power to pass the message of the mode of communication gradually took over the dominant position, the formation of the transmission of the official documents of the more rigorous stagecoach system and the beacon flint alarm to cooperate with the use.

Western Zhou period, in order to adapt to the Zhou King and the vassal contact needs, in the avenue every 30 miles set up a post, the preparation of good horses and cars, specifically responsible for the transmission of official documents, reception of the officials and delivery of goods and so on. Confucius once said, "The popularity of virtue is quicker than setting up a post and transmitting orders."

This means that the moral doctrine he advocated spread faster than the postal order. It can be seen that the postal communication at that time was not only quite complete, but also quite fast.

During the Qin and Han Dynasties, a whole set of postal communication system was formed. In particular, the Han Dynasty, will be passed out of the class of instruments, different levels of instruments by special people, special horse in accordance with the specified order, time to pass.

The sending and receiving of these instruments should be registered, indicating the time, in order to clarify the responsibility. During the Sui and Tang dynasties, the stagecoach business has been unprecedented development.

The Tang dynasty's official postal traffic line to the capital Chang'an as the center, to the four sides of the radiation, straight to the border areas, roughly 30 miles to set up a post. According to the "six canons of the Tang Dynasty" records, the peak of the country has 1639 post stations, specializing in postal service personnel *** more than 20,000 people, including 17,000 post soldiers.

The post was divided into three types: land, water, and waterway, and each post had a post house with post horses, post donkeys, post boats, and post fields. Tang Dynasty on the journey of the post also has express provisions, the land post fast horse a day to go 6 post that is 180 miles, and then soon to 300 miles a day, the fastest requirement of 500 miles a day; walking staff 50 miles a day; against the water boat, the river 40 miles, river 50 miles, the other 60 miles; downstream of the water when the provisions of the 100 to 150 miles.

Cen Sen, a poet, wrote in his poem "The first time I passed the Longshan Mountain, I presented the word "Judge" to the judge, "a stage after a stage, the stagecoach is like a stream of stars; Pingming hair Xianyang, the curtain and the head of the Longshan Mountain".

Tianbao fourteen years on the ninth day of the eleventh month, An Lushan in Fanyang rebel. At that time, Tang Xuanzong was in Huaqing Palace, the two places are separated by three thousand miles, within six days Tang Xuanzong knew the news, the transmission speed of 500 miles per day.

It can be seen that the organization and speed of postal communication in the Tang Dynasty has reached a very high level. Song.

2. Ancient people's way of transmitting messages

Ancient people's way of transmitting messages Specific borrowed objects (1) Knotted rope.

Knotted rope to remember things is a common primitive method of information transfer, China's ancient society knotted rope to remember things in the practice of history books have described, "Zhouyi", "the ancient knotted rope to rule, the later generations of saints to easy to the book deed. Hundreds of officials to rule, ten thousand people to check."

"Zhuangzi" contains: "In the past, Yung Cheng's ...... Zhu Rong's, Fuxi's, Shen Nong's, when it was also, the people knotted rope and use it." The Northern History also mentioned : "shooting and hunting for the industry, simple for the custom, simple for the chemical, not for the text, carved wood knot rope only."

The knot-rope method has been widely used in China's ancient history and has a long history. The Taiwanese Alpine people recorded the date of the appointment, so they tied a number of knots according to the number of days, and untied a knot every night.

The Tibetan Lhoba people are every day with a knife cut a knot, straight cut to the last knot on the expiration date, the knot unraveled to indicate the date of the appointment. Yunnan Dulong people alone out of the house, often to tie a hemp rope around the waist, walk a day to tie a knot to record the number of days out.

The Yao people often get a ruling in front of the headman when there is a dispute between two people, and the method is that each of the disputants holds a rope, and whoever tells a reason that a knot is tied until it is finished, and the knot is more than enough to win the case. In class society, the tradition of knotting rope was also inherited by merchants, and in the shape and use to change.

In stores, hotels, teahouses and merchants' stalls, a variety of fronts or signboards, often decorated with a variety of ornamental pieces, strung with rope, under the embellishment of the front of silk, colorful strips of fabric, a variety of material beads or rows of spikes, there are also many uniquely shaped fronts made of thick hemp rope knotted and woven. Here, rope knots become a new medium for conveying advertising messages.

(2) carved wood. Carved wood for another symbolic language.

History has also recorded the historical facts of China around the carving of wood, such as the "Book of the Later Han Dynasty", "the adults have called, then carve wood for the letter", although there is no text, but also do not dare to disobey. The Ling Wai Dai Ai" also contains: "Yao people have no text, its to be about the wood deed with two boards and carve, the people implement its one, keep the very letter."

"Yunnan Teng Yue state" also mentioned: "Yi have the custom, all loans on credit, through the financial period about things, I do not know the text, only to the wood carved as a symbol, and each half, as promised to pay, hairless." The custom of carving wood for the record in the process of commodity production and exchange, it evolved into the inscription of the official workers or celebrities commodity mark, that is, in the sale of goods on the name of the official workers or celebrities name.

If traced back, carved wood can even be considered as the source of commodity trademarks and mark advertising. (3) Wolf smoke.

China's Spring and Autumn period, there is a record of the use of fire beacon smoke to transmit military alerts. After Qin Shi Huang, in the Great Wall every ten miles that is, build a beacon, with dry wolf dung as fuel, after the ignition, the fire light smoke in the air, the emergency alarm can be transmitted to a very far place.

Ancient poem, "the desert west of the sand, the star on the Long high and low; lonely mountain a few places to see the beacon, the strongest camp waiting drums" line, it is the application of this primitive information transfer method is a true reflection. This medium of communication in the ancient society of merchants were also used in business activities, such as in different periods, there are nocturnal caravans, horse gangs, "fire for the number" of the record.

(4) drums. The original method of information transfer both in the visual and auditory.

The role of the auditory transmission of information is mainly by means of audio communication tools to carry out, which is the most common signaling drum. China's Geno cattle skin wooden drums, also a section of thick trees at both ends of the hollow, and then tied to the hair of the yellow cowhide, hanging in the tree with a mallet, every year, the drums are heard that men and women of all ages gathered in the clouds, singing and dancing.

(5) bamboo horn. The Nu people in our country use the bamboo horn to spread information during the funeral ceremony, by playing different numbers of bamboo horns to report the funeral to the whole village.

The number of bamboo horns increases or decreases according to the status of the dead: unmarried dead people blow a bamboo horn, married people blow two, old people and chiefs blow five or six. The tribal members then rush to the house of the deceased and send eggs to offer their condolences.

Into the class society, with the differentiation of the merchants and traders, the merchants walk the streets and alleys, creating a colorful blowing, pulling, popping and singing and other information dissemination tools, such as the Han Dynasty merchants have blowing xiao to sell mussel sugar records. (6) audio instruments.

China's Neolithic era Miao Di Gou site unearthed pottery bells, pottery ocarina, Jiangzhai site of the three-hole ceramic ocarina have a musical sound effect. After entering the class society, with the development of commodity production and commodity exchange, the form of sound advertising is becoming more and more colorful, and all kinds of artifacts in daily life may become the medium of sound advertising, such as bowls, lamps, pots and so on, closely related to daily life, and entertainment related to the xiao, qin, thurible, drums, gongs and so on, have also become the tool of advertising information transfer.

Out of the need for advertising, many merchants also specialize in the production of the performance of the industry's characteristics of the ringing artifacts, more typical of the rattles of goods, shaving and barbering used by the tweezers and forks, sharpening the copper used by the knife maker clapboard and so on. The extensive use of specific borrowed objects shows that the methods and means of advertising communication have changed a lot.

With the frequent communication activities and the progress of communication technology, people borrow all the tools or objects that can be borrowed more effective, more targeted delivery of advertising information. The richness of the media form, so that human advertising communication in a wider geographical area, and to convey a richer ideological, cultural and commercial information.

2. Life borrowed objects (1) grass markers. Also known as the grass mustard.

This is a natural growth, but when it is inserted in the sold or to be sold on the goods, there is a significance of the logo. In ancient Chinese society in different periods of history, small to daily necessities, large to poor people because of hunger and cold sell their children, are used grass mustard.

"Water Margin" has mentioned the grass label many times, the most famous is about Yang Zhi selling knife records: "Yang Zhi that day will be the sword, inserted the grass label, listed to sell." The grass label here has the function of an advertising medium.

(2) grain ears, strainers, wicker. Mostly appear in the countryside in front of the eateries, hanging in front of the door or fence, not only can play a role in identifying, but also show the store's simplicity, hospitality, a small strainer and wicker can immediately close the distance between the store and the customer, the businessman and the passers-by, but also a production cost is low, but the dissemination of the advertising medium with excellent results.

(3) bottle scoop, grass broom. Grass broom is also known as "grass brush" and "grass pole", "broomstick".

After the Song Dynasty, after breaking the restrictions of the city, the store can not only be opened in the residential area, and the market, the countryside can be opened for business. Grass broom as an advertising logo more appear in the restaurant teahouse, Song dynasty literature on these things more records, Song people Hong Mai.

3. What are the ways to send letters to the ancients

First, the beacon to pass the military

"Beacon" is used to pass the border military intelligence in ancient China is a method of communication, began in the Shang and Zhou Dynasty, extended to the Ming and Qing Dynasties, phase Xi thousands of years, especially in the Han Dynasty, the scale of the beacon organization for the big. In the border military fortress or traffic high, every certain distance building a high platform, commonly known as beacon platform, also known as beacon flint, pier beacons, smoke pier. Garrison on the platform to guard, found that the enemy invasion, burning firewood during the day to "burnt smoke" alarm, burning firewood at night to "raise the beacon" (fire) alarm. A lit beacon, the neighboring platform to see the fire also lifted, one by one platform to pass, a thousand miles in a flash, in order to achieve the report of the enemy, deploying troops, to seek reinforcements, the purpose of victory over the enemy.

Second, the geese pass the book

"The geese pass the book" allusion, from the "Han Shu - Su Wu biography" in the "Su Wu shepherd sheep" story. According to records, the first year of Emperor Wu Tianhan (100 BC), the Han Dynasty envoys, Su Wu, General Su Wu, was on a mission to the murder of Nu Diogou Shan Yu detained, he was brave and unyielding, Shan Yu, he was exiled to the North China Sea (present-day Lake Baikal), no man's land shepherding sheep. 19 years later, Emperor Zhaodi of the Han dynasty succeeded to the throne, and the murder of the Chinese and the peace, marriage. Han envoys came to the murder, asked to release Su Wu back, but Shan Yu refused, but could not say, so they lied that Su Wu has died. Later, Han Zhaodi sent another envoy to the murderous, and Su Wu together with the murderous and detained deputy envoy Chang Hui, through the help of the forbidden pawns, secretly met with the Han envoy one night, told the Han envoy Su Wu's situation, and came up with a plan, so that the Han envoys to the single to tell: "Han Dynasty, the son of heaven in the upper forest garden hunting, shot a goose, the foot tied with a letter on silk, which reads Su Wu is not dead, but in a great swamp." The Han envoy was very glad to hear this, and rebuked Shan Yu according to Chang Hui's words. Shan Yu was amazed to hear this, but could not deny it, so he had to put Su Wu back.

Third, the fish pass the ruler

In our country's ancient poetry, the fish is seen as the messenger of the letter, and use "fish", "fish book", "carp", "Double Carp" as a synonym for letters. Li Shangyin in the Tang Dynasty wrote in the poem "Send Linghu Langzhong": "Songyun Qinshu long time away from home, double carp a long way a paper book." In ancient times, people often use silk to write letters, to the Tang Dynasty, further popularity of weaving into the boundaries of the silk to write letters, due to the Tang people often use a foot long silk to write letters, so the letters are also known as "shakusu" ("vegetarian" refers to the white silk). Because of the messenger, people often knot the shakusu into the shape of a double carp, so there is a Li Shangyin "double carp a long way a paper book" said. Obviously, here the "double carp" is not really two carp, but just knot into the shape of the double carp shaped shakusu just.

Fourth, the green bird book

According to China's ancient wonders of the book "Classic of Mountains and Seas" records, the green bird **** there are three, the name of the Zhao Lan, Purple Swallow (there is also a green bird's name the author did not access to), is the Queen Mother of the West's entourage and the messenger, they are able to fly over the thousands of miles and miles of water to pass the message of good luck, happiness, happy good news to the earth. It is said that the Queen Mother of the West once wrote a letter to Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, and the Queen Mother of the West sent the green bird to deliver the letter, and the green bird carried the letter from the Queen Mother of the West all the way to the Hall of Cheng Hua in front of the Han Palace. In later myths, the green bird gradually evolved into the king of all birds - the phoenix.

Fifth, the yellow ears of the book

The exact time of the beginning of the pigeon letter, there is not a clear statement, but as early as in the Tang Dynasty, pigeon letter has been very common. The fifth generation Wang Renyu "Kaiyuan Tianbao remains" book in the "pigeons" records: "Zhang Jiuling boy, the family raised pigeons. Every letter with the pro-knowledge, only to tie the book on the feet of the pigeon, according to the teachings of the place, fly to cast. Jiuling eye for flying slaves, the people were all surprised." Zhang Jiuling was a politician and poet in the Tang Dynasty, he not only used carrier pigeons to deliver letters, but also gave them a beautiful name - "Flying Slave". Since then, Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, pigeons have been playing an important role in people's communication life.

Seven, kite communication

Legend has it that as early as the end of the Spring and Autumn Period, the Lu State craftsman Gong输盘(即鲁班) was modeled after the shape of the bird, "chipping bamboo and wood as a magpie, into the flight, three days without", this bamboo and wood made of materials will fly "wood magpie", is the kite, and the kite, the kite, the kite, the kite. This kind of flying "wooden magpie" made of bamboo and wood is the predecessor of kite. In the Eastern Han Dynasty, Cai Lun invented papermaking, and people used bamboo gabions to make a frame, and then used paper to paste it, which became the "paper kite". Five Dynasties when people make paper kites, tied to a bamboo whistle on the top, the wind blowing bamboo whistle, sound like a kite, "kite" the word came from.

Eight, the bamboo tube to pass the book

The story of the bamboo tube to pass the book, from the Sui emperor Kaihuang eleven years (590 years) to start, that year in November, the south have been rebels, in order to pacify the rebellion, stabilization of the country, the Sui emperor issued an urgent edict to appoint Yang Su for the marching chief, the rate of the army to go to the crusade.

Yang Su led the navy across the river into the south of the river, ...... one side of the marching chief Shi Wanliang assigned to lead the army of two thousand people, over the mountains to penetrate into the back of the rebels to launch an attack. ...... One day, Shi Huan Wang stood at the top of the mountain in the wind and look, see in front of the dense bamboo forest is wave-like dance with the wind, suddenly have a realization, and immediately sent people to cut off a section of bamboo, write a good report on the war in, sealed and put into the water, and let it drift down. A few days later, there is a water picking townspeople saw this bamboo tube, they salvaged it and opened it, found Shi Huan Wang sealed inside the report, then according to the report on the tips to send it to Yang Su hands. ...... Then, Yang Su led a large force, and continued to ride the victory to pursue the anti-Sui scattered soldiers, it did not take long, completely pacified the rebellion.

4. Ancient People's Methods of Transmitting Letters

Hello!

How did the ancients deliver the message?

Drumming: In our country and in ancient Africa, drumming is the earliest and most convenient way to send a message, and Africans used a special drum made of round wood to transmit sound to three or four kilometers away.

Beacon: to prevent enemy invasion and build military communication facilities, in case of hostile situations, the daytime smoke, fire at night, the platform is connected, to pass the message.

Pigeon: The message was tied to the legs of pigeons and sent to the destination by pigeons.

Horseback riding: to pass the message through the post. Stagecoach: also known as the "post", is an ancient for the transmission of official documents or officials on the way to rest, change the place of carriage. According to > records, China's Zhou Dynasty on the main traffic routes set up pavilions for the passing officials and stagecoach messengers to provide food and lodging, the post history of up to 3,000 years, but the surviving sites, artifacts and not much.

5. Messaging (Ancient Modern Modern Contemporary)

Ancient people mainly used the following methods to transmit information: flying pigeons, beacons, fast horses, signals, sign language, letters, flags and so on.

There are mainly flying birds (pigeons, wild geese, flying geese), stagecoaches (fast horses), beacons, wolf smoke, semaphore, lights (three dozen Zhu Jiajiazhuang, Kongming Lanterns) and so on

China is one of the world's earliest countries to set up an organized system of information on the transmission of information. As early as three thousand years ago in the Shang Dynasty, information transfer has been recorded. Passing by horse is said to be stage, stage is the early organized communication. Located in Jiayuguan Railway Station Square, the "postman" sculpture, which is taken from the Jiayuguan Wei and Jin Dynasty mural tomb, the postman holding up the documents and paperwork, the stagecoach four-legged air, speed. This brick mural map in 1982 was the first congress of the All-China Philatelic Federation as a "Beacon play Zhuhou", "we won", "letter in a bottle" small chapter stamps theme pattern, which shows that Jiayuguan is a "Beacon play Zhuhou", "we won", "letter in a bottle", "one of the birthplaces of China's information culture.

The appearance of ancient information transfer is inseparable from the "up and down five thousand years, across 100,000 miles" of the Great Wall. The term "Great Wall" was first used in the literature of the Warring States period. In ancient times, there are different forms of construction in different dynasties, so this defense project is also called different, such as: columns of cities, square cities, plugs, temporary Luo, boundary trenches, border walls, etc., in fact, all refer to the "Great Wall", in fact, the Great Wall in a broad sense of the ancient Chinese all the giant military engineering system.

Beacon communication

As far back as the Zhou Dynasty, China had a beacon to transmit information, beacon as a primitive means of sound and light communication, serving the ancient military war. From the border to the capital of the country as well as the border defense line, a beacon tower was built every certain distance. Inside the storage of firewood, when the enemy invasion, one after another place to light up the beacon alarm, all the lords see the beacon, immediately send troops to help, resistance to the enemy.

Western Zhou Dynasty, in order to prevent enemy invasion, the use of "beacon tunnel" as a border emergency contact signal. In the ancient history book "Zhou Li" has such a paragraph records "in the countries from the border to the hinterland of the channel, every distance, built a beacon, one after another, on the stage with orange pulley, orange pulley head with a cage containing firewood, the enemy invasion, the beacon one after another fireworks to transmit the alarm. Whenever the night warning, guarding the stage people ignite the cage of firewood and grass and raise it high, relying on the light of the fire to the leader of the platform to pass the message, known as "beacon", the daytime warning is ignited on the stage on the accumulation of fuel grass, smoke to show the urgency, known as the "flint". Ancient people in order to make the smoke straight and not curved, in order to be seen from afar, but also often with wolf dung instead of fuel grass, so also known as wolf smoke. The Zhou Dynasty stipulates that: the son of heaven to raise the beacon flint lords around the world must immediately bring troops to the rescue, *** with the resistance to the enemy. Thus, the implementation of the beacon system means that as early as in the Zhou Dynasty, there has been a huge and perfect military information contact network.