Without a generator, how can the head of the zodiac spray water?

Yuanmingyuan is a large-scale royal garden of China feudal dynasty and Qing Dynasty. The name is "Yuanmingyuan" inscribed by Emperor Kangxi. The meaning of the word "yuan Ming" is: the circle is fascinating, and the gentleman is also in the middle; When the light shines, the wisdom of talents is also. "Round" refers to personal moral perfection, surpassing ordinary people, and "Ming" refers to bright, perfect and wise political achievements. This is the understanding of Yong Zhengdi in Qing Dynasty, and it is also the ideal standard for ancient kings to flaunt their wisdom.

Yuanmingyuan was built in the last years of Kangxi and Yongzheng, and it was built in 1707 (forty-six years of Kangxi). At first, Emperor Kangxi gave his fourth son Yong Zhengdi a garden in the north of Changchun Garden in the northwest suburb of Beijing. After the death of Emperor Kangxi Michelle Ye in Changchun Garden, Yong Zhengdi succeeded Yong Zhengdi. Yuanmingyuan began to expand on the original basis. Later emperors also repaired and expanded the Yuanmingyuan. After more than 200 years of expansion and renovation by several emperors in Qing Dynasty, Yuanmingyuan has become the most magnificent royal garden in China.

Yuanmingyuan covers an area of 3.5 square kilometers with a building area of 200,000 square meters. It is composed of Yuanmingyuan and its affiliated gardens, Changchun Garden and Qichun Garden (later renamed Wanchun Garden), also known as Yuanming Three Gardens, with more than 50 scenic spots/kloc-0. Yuanmingyuan is known as the "Garden of Ten Thousand Gardens". It was once famous for its grand regional scale, outstanding architectural skills, exquisite architectural landscape, rich cultural collection and profound national cultural connotation, and was hailed as "a model of all gardening arts".

The animal head of the zodiac was designed by Italian Lang Shining, a western court painter, supervised by Frenchman Michel Benoit and made by a court craftsman. Combining Chinese and western cultures, a fountain design of the sitting statue of the zodiac was built. The main body of the bronze statue of the zodiac is a stone carving, dressed in cheongsam. The animal head is made of refined copper, and the caster is also very fine. Its appearance is black, restraining the golden light. It won't rust for a hundred years.

The detailed description of the animal head of the zodiac is also very realistic, with folds, fluff, beard and fangs. These are craftsmen of the highest level. They are forged with chisels. The animal heads of the Chinese zodiac are arranged on both sides of the fountain in a figure of eight, with six on the left and six on the right, which correspond to each other. Every hour there will be a corresponding animal head to spray water. By noon, 12 images were sprayed with water at the same time, and the scene was particularly spectacular.

The landscape design of the Zodiac Faust Fountain was built in the 12th year of Qianlong (1747). There are generally two kinds of fountains, one is to imitate natural water features, which are powered by springs and waterfalls, and the other is artificial landscaping. Nowadays, most artificial fountains are driven by electricity. The fountain of the zodiac animal head in Yuanmingyuan belongs to the second kind of artificial landscaping. Although as early as 1600, British doctor Gilbert discovered "electricity".

So how does the head of the zodiac in Yuanmingyuan spray water?

At that time, designers and craftsmen made great efforts to make the animal head spray of the zodiac. Finally, we came up with the idea of using water droplets to form power. We also know the principle of "water flows downwards", which can transport water to a high place, and then with the help of gravity, water will flow downwards. The fountain in Yuanmingyuan provides water for the zodiac by holding high the reservoir.

In Xiyanglou Scenic Area, between Dashuifa and Haiyan Hall, there is a rammed earth platform with a height of more than ten meters, which is a part of the water tower needed by all the water methods in that year. According to the researcher of Yuanmingyuan Management Office, this is a solid earthen platform, which firmly supports the "tin sea" above, that is, the water tower and reservoir. This reservoir can store 65,438+060 cubic meters of water at a time.

The central building of Haiyan Hall is an I-shaped building with a width of 1 1, and there are also small fountains and pools on the north and south sides of the building. This building is the water supply building of the nearby fountain. At the east and west ends of the building, there are water garages for carrying water. At the lower level of the middle platform, there is a high platform of the sea. There is a reservoir on the platform to ensure the operation of various water methods, which is called "Tin Sea". Because there is a reservoir welded with tinplate at the top, it is commonly known as "Tin Sea".

The West Sea is a water storage building of Haiyan Hall, with various water methods. The whole building is divided into two floors. The material used to build the reservoir is not ordinary sand. We also know that water is a liquid substance and easy to seep, so ordinary materials are not enough. Now we have materials such as cement and concrete to build reservoirs, but we didn't have them at that time. At that time, the reservoir was built with "three concretes" composed of sand, lime and Huang Tu.

At this time, there is a reservoir for the zodiac, and then copper pipes are connected to the nozzles of various water methods and animal heads of the zodiac. At that time, there was no electricity and motor, and the water pressure in the reservoir was pushed to the outlets far and near by using the pressure difference between the upper and lower, and all kinds of water were squeezed out from the water tower. Every other zodiac hour, the zodiac image representing that time will spray water from its mouth, and at noon, the fountain will be poured into the mouth of the zodiac image at the same time.

Then there is a way, but the water will not go to the reservoir for no reason, so how is the water transported?

When it was first built, the dragon and phoenix waterwheel of the water pump was used to provide the water needed by the reservoir, and the skill was manpower. Pedal the water wheel by manpower, raise the water level by using the mechanical principle, and finally send the water to the reservoir, that is, send the water to the "Xihai", and then the head of the zodiac animal is used for various water use methods and water spraying.

There was no electricity at that time, and people were very bitter at that time. Although the various water methods in Yuanmingyuan are beautiful, the scenery behind it is really a bit "labor-intensive". For the temporary appreciation of the ancient royal family, a lot of manpower and material resources are needed.

Past lives of the bronze statue of the animal head of the zodiac.

1860, 10 On June 6th, the British and French allied forces looted the Yuanmingyuan, plundered cultural relics and treasures, and set fire to it. The bronze statues of the animal heads of the zodiac began to be lost overseas. Later, Emperor Tongzhi wanted to repair it, but he was forced to stop because of financial difficulties. After Eight-Nation Alliance, it was attacked by bandits, and the Yuanmingyuan was finally in ruins.

At present, eight animal heads of the China Zodiac have returned to China, including rat head, ox head, tiger head, rabbit head, dragon head, horse head, monkey head and pig head, among which the dragon head is well preserved in Taiwan Province Province. The mouse head and rabbit head were photographed by Pino family and donated to China. The bull's head, tiger's head and monkey's head were shot by Poly Group. Horseheads and pig heads were bought by entrepreneur Stanley Ho and donated to the country.

At present, five bronze animal heads, including ox, tiger, monkey, pig and horse, are collected in Poly Art Museum, while rats and rabbits are collected in China National Museum. The whereabouts of the head of the snake, the head of the sheep, the head of the chicken and the head of the dog are still unknown. Although the Eight Animal Heads have returned to China, they have paid a high price for the return of cultural relics in China.

Most of the bronze statues of the animal heads of the 12 Zodiac animals were obtained by auction, but when China's cultural relics were auctioned, it would attract the attention of the society, thus attracting patriots to bid, which eventually led to a transaction at a price far higher than the market price, thus making some businessmen and auctions seize our national feelings and begin to speculate on high-priced interests.