What is the cultural mystery behind the ancient steelyard? The invention of "steelyard" contains philosophy!

Let's take a look at the mystery behind the scales brought by braids.

Weighing is a great invention of China people, which embodies the wisdom of China people and can be called "national quintessence". The scale consists of several parts: one part is a scale, and the thick end of the scale is equipped with scales, and the whole scale is inlaid with scales; The second is weight; The third is the weighing pan.

Weighing is also called "full". It is done according to the meaning of Xuanyuan constellation. It belongs to the stars and is the god of thunderstorms. The weighing beam is called the "balance" and symbolizes the constellation Wei Zi, hence the word "weighing beam".

But the specifications of ancient weighing instruments are different from those of modern weighing instruments. The' iron scale' used by the ancients was 16 Liang per catty, and half a catty was equal to 8 Liang.

Why did our ancestors stipulate the unit of weight like this? What secrets does it contain?

There is a well-known story about this "16 Liang" Jin. According to this story, it was not Qin Shihuang who was in charge of unified measurement at that time, but Prime Minister Li Si. Li is very talented, let him take over the porcelain making work. After receiving the order, he successfully unified the monetary regulations, the size of measuring instruments and the determination of basic weight units. But this time the problem appeared. How much is appropriate? Li Si is a mess, because since the two units have been decided, it seems that there is no problem to change them casually, but they are too casual and not elegant.

The indecisive Reese went to ask many emperors. Many emperors didn't speak, but just wrote a few small seals with pens: the world is fair. Reese was still a little puzzled, but he had a brainwave, counted the strokes of these words and happily decided to use 16 as one kilogram.

Although the story is like this, this historical anecdote is obviously fabricated by later generations, with no scientific basis and no textual research.

In fact, we must discuss this issue from two aspects, one is traditional culture, and the other is actual historical background.

First of all, culturally, these things of our ancestors must have an explanation full of philosophical wisdom. The ancients believed that a person's life, from birth to death, is complete if he is lucky and has a long life.

They use astrology as a means to measure fate and spy on the sky. Astrology has influenced our ancient China culture to some extent.

The ancients believed that the Big Dipper was the star of emperors, and emperors were responsible for life and death. "South Six Stars" is the star of life. It is the master of all beings, stick to the right path. "Samsung's prosperity, prosperity and life" is a lucky star. It is the master of prosperity, life and good luck or bad luck.

The total number of these three stars is "16", so the ancients used "16" as the basic unit to measure objects. As the saying goes, "there is a god whose first three feet are raised."

The ancients carved the figures symbolizing "life and death, the right path, good or bad luck" on the scales to warn unscrupulous businessmen that life and death are divided into good and evil, rather than giving up the principle of being a man for personal gain.

If you lose one or two pieces, luck will be deducted from your good luck. If you weigh less than two ounces, the birthday girl will subtract a little from your life.

Therefore, there was a popular saying among the people in the past that "the weight is full of good people because they have lost their hearts and lives."

China's traditional culture tells us to trade fairly and make a lot of money. Therefore, the scale is regarded as a symbol of integrity, selflessness and openness in people's minds. During the Three Kingdoms period, Zhuge Liang once said, "My heart is as big as a scale, and I can't let people lift their heads." But this statement has gone beyond business and market transactions and reached the height of personality and morality. Therefore, all businessmen should be honest, righteousness first, and many a mickle makes a mickle.

The ancients believed that the North Pole ruled life, the South Pole ruled death, and the North Star in the sky guided the way. So the positioning star represents Polaris, 16 represents the Big Dipper, 6 represents the Big Dipper, and 3 represents Fortune 500. They also demand that businessmen should trade fairly. If they give less to one or two people, it means that people who cheat will not be blessed. If they give two or two people less money, they give three or two people less money.

Two equals half a catty, so people often say "half a cat"

Of course, the wisdom of the ancients was not only as simple as looking at the stars and pictures, but also related to the production conditions and systems at that time.

First of all, the standard reference value at that time was two per kilogram 16.

According to the records of eating goods in the Han Dynasty, the State of Qin used gold to measure things. For example, Qin Shihuang defined one foot as 23 cm, so one inch equals 2.3 cm.

"Stone said that" Jin Ping's square inch is gold ",and the square is a ruler, that is, 23 cm, and the inch is 2.3 cm. Make a cube of gold with a length of 23 cm and a width of 2.3 cm, and the measured weight is equal to 16 ounce, which is what the ancients called one kilogram. But ancient grams are different from modern grams, so one kilogram in ancient times is equivalent to more than half a kilogram now.

Guan Yu's cold-eyed saw weighed 82kg in 2008, but actually it was only 4 1kg, less than 50kg. During the Republic of China, the government of the Republic of China expanded the application scope of "sixteen countries, two systems", but set 1/2 as 3 1.2g and 1 kg as 500g.

It wasn't until 1959 that China adopted the "Twelve System", which is the unit of measurement we use now.

The deeper reason behind this is that it involves a binary problem. Under the conditions of ancient production, it is obviously better to use binary system than decimal system in scale. Let's think about it. Is the tenth division or the sixteenth division better in scale?

Some friends here may say that it is ten equal parts, but it is actually sixteen equal parts. Because there are no ancient carving tools, it is difficult to distribute them evenly. The simplest thing is to fold in half, which is the prototype of binary. Because it is folded in half, it can only be 2048 16, so it is only 16.

The technology and productivity in the pre-Qin period were not as good as today. Even scales are not popular. Ordinary people weigh themselves with relatively simple scales.

As long as there is an object with a weight of 1kg, an object with a weight of 1kg is used by the principle of balance; If the object is light, divide the weight in half, which is exactly half a kilogram. If the object is still light, continue to distribute it evenly, that is, a quarter of a kilogram. So close.

If decimal system is adopted, it is not an integer less than 1/4kg, which increases the difficulty of determining the temporary weight. So it is most convenient to use the power of 2 to convert the weight.

If not, the decimal system would have been used long ago. After all, the conversion is easy.