How did ancient people make fire?\ In the beginning, ancient people saw volcanic eruptions or lightning starting fires and thought it was caused by some deity, so they would bow and worship. Later, Shuinanshi saw woodpeckers creating smoke by rubbing wood and learned to make fire by drilling wood. During the Western Zhou period, the "yangsui" method was invented to make fire, which involved using a concave bronze mirror and the principle of focusing sunlight. After humans learned to make fire by striking stones, using fire became very convenient. Therefore, flint was an essential household item for ancient people. However, it should be kept out of reach of children and kittens to prevent accidents from playing with fire.\ Can an iron pestle really be ground into an embroidery needle? If not, how were needles made?\ In ancient times, anything made of metal was considered a valuable item. If the story is true, the old woman who ground the iron pestle would have been considered wealthy and leisurely. However, making iron needles did require great perseverance and patience. First, red-hot iron was drawn into wire, then cut into sections, with one end sharpened and the other drilled. Making needles for acupuncture was even more tedious: the needle had to be inserted into cured meat to fill holes with fat, and the tip had to be sharpened to be both pointy and round to avoid puncturing blood vessels.\ Besides watching opera, how did ancient people celebrate birthdays?\ China values respecting elders, and only elderly people could celebrate milestone birthdays. A newborn child would celebrate their first year with a "zhuazhou" ceremony. For subsequent birthdays, parents would usually just boil a few eggs to pass it off; this was called a "small birthday." Only at 60 did a person qualify to celebrate a "major birthday," at which point grand festivities with opera performances could be held, and friends and relatives would give precious gifts and well-wishes. So, in ancient times, to have a decent birthday, one had to have the fortune to live a long life.\ If a great hero from ancient times participated in the modern Olympics, would they win easily?\ Who do you think would win in a fight between Spider-Man and Sun Wukong? Questions like this can only spark debates and never reach a conclusion. Most ancient people engaged in physical labor, so their endurance and resilience were likely much better than modern people. However, today's Olympics cultivate a small number of athletes with the nation's full support, including finances, manpower, and technology, which ancient heroes would likely not be able to compete with. Yet, in endurance-focused events like marathons, ancient people would still have a good chance.\ Before sanitary pads, were menstrual cloths disposable or reusable?In ancient times, the longest thing on a woman's body, aside from her hair and foot-binding cloth, was the 'menstrual cloth.' The menstrual cloth was a long strip of fabric used to tightly wrap the lower body during menstruation. However, because ancient women often engaged in physical labor, they still occasionally experienced leaks. Additionally, since frugality was highly valued in China, the used cloth was washed and reused. Modern women should really be grateful to the inventor of sanitary pads, as they have, to some extent, 'liberated women.'
How did ancient people lose weight? Are there folk remedies for breast enhancement?
Compared to today's myriad diet pills, ancient methods were much simpler, such as using tea to lose weight. However, ordinary people in ancient times rarely had access to rich foods and were always engaged in heavy and tiring work, making it difficult to gain weight. Natural methods were used for breast enhancement, such as dietary approaches using red beans and soybeans to achieve fuller breasts. Additionally, the ancients believed that acupoint massage could also help breast development. Compared to these 'internal regulation' methods of the past, modern breast enhancement methods are more dangerous and can easily result in 'ruined breasts.'
Did ancient people undergo cosmetic surgery?
Ancient people believed that 'the body, hair, and skin are received from one's parents,' so they would not deliberately perform surgery on their own bodies like modern people do. In past wars, it was common to cut off prisoners' noses, so the ancients developed a nasal reconstruction surgery: a gap was cut in the arm, the arm was fixed onto the injured nose, and once both wounds healed, a piece of flesh the size of a nose was taken from the arm to serve as the new nose. However, this is completely different from modern cosmetic surgery done for beauty.
