The Forbidden City has more than 70 wells of water, but no one dares to drink it: Why?

The Forbidden City in Beijing (China) that we see today is a historical monument built in the Ming Dynasty, based on the original Palace in Nanjing. It is the most representative of Chinese imperial architecture, and is also one of the most well-preserved ancient wooden palaces in the world.

According to the "Mei History" record, Minh Thanh To chose to move the capital to Beijing because a great minister offered that Beijing was the "Land of Long Hung", ie the birthplace of the emperor.

Most of the feudal monarchs believed in feng shui, moreover, Beijing was still among the fiefdoms of Minh Thanh To, so he invested heavily in upgrading Beijing and at the same time promoting it. push people to migrate here to increase the construction workers for the citadel.

Image source: Sohu.

After 11 years of preparation, materials such as wood and precious stones were shipped from all over the country to Beijing. According to Sohu, the total construction area of ​​the Forbidden City is about 150,000m2, the interior structure is extremely sophisticated with more than 10 different types of domes combined with colorful components, creating a Forbidden Forbidden City. The city is majestic and magnificent.

Revolving around interesting stories about this lavish palace, an old eunuch once told that: "The Forbidden City has more than 70 wells, but no one dares to drink water in these wells". 

In total, there are more than 70 wells in the Palace. As the residence of thousands of people during 24 kings, it is not unusual to dig a well in the palace to get water for drinking and living. However, the unusual point is that these wells were only really used at the beginning of the palace's operation. About the last 500 years of the feudal era, historians and historians all said that people in the palace absolutely no longer dared to use water from the Forbidden City well.

Experts say that the reason for the undrinkable well water in the palace can be explained as follows.

1. Fire-fighting water well

The Forbidden City consists of many wooden palaces, all built of precious wood, which is very susceptible to fire caused by lightning or the negligence of the people working in the palace. According to "Mingh History", in the 36th year of Gia Tinh and the 25th year of Wanli, there were big fires in the Forbidden City, causing many palaces to burn down, causing extremely serious damage.

Therefore, according to experts, the construction and reconstruction of works costs a lot of money, which makes the authorities pay more attention to fire prevention and fighting. The water in the supply gradually became useful.

Whenever there was a fire, people in the palace would draw water from a nearby well for timely rescue, it can be said that well water was the most effective fire fighting source in the Forbidden City at that time.

An article on Sohu pointed out that there were more than 100 fires in the Ming and Qing dynasties, but most of the Forbidden City is still intact, it can be seen that these wells played an important role. important in the protection of cultural relics.

Another theory about people's fear of drinking water in the wells in the Forbidden City is related to the story "Tran Phi Well", which is a well that still exists today and has become one of the most famous tourist attractions. language in the Forbidden City.

According to the "Diary of Gia Son", an official of the Forbidden City recorded the story: On the night before the eight-country coalition attacked the Forbidden City, Empress Dowager Cixi was fleeing because she did not want to bring According to Tran Phi - who was always against him, he sent someone to drown Tran Phi in the well.

Tran Phi's tragedy is a typical example of a historical fact of hundreds of years, in which there are "bloody wind" power struggles, countless people have lost their lives under these wells.

However, the explanation that many people do not dare to drink water because it is a "grave of unjust souls" has only stopped at the level of rumors that no one has proven. Meanwhile, a very basic and more reliable reason, is the problem of water quality, which will be shown below.

2. Water quality

Since the Forbidden City was home to many royals, eunuchs, and palace maids, a lot of water would certainly be needed for production and living activities. So if not well water, what kind of water do people in the palace use?

Author Tu Kha, in the book "A collection of small stories from the Qing Dynasty", wrote that: "If people in the Citadel wanted to drink water, they would only use water from Ngoc Tuyen mountain".

Indeed, later, when investigating experts discovered that in the Qing Dynasty, almost all the water used in the Forbidden City was transported from Ngoc Tuyen Mountain.

Accordingly, Emperor Qianlong conducted a test to compare many water sources and concluded that spring water in Ngoc Tuyen mountain is the most suitable for use in the royal court, and well water is hard water (the type of water containing high mineral content). high amount of minerals, mainly two ions calcium and magnesium) drinking will not be good for health.

In addition, well water is also not used for life safety reasons. If someone poisons one well, dozens of other wells in the Forbidden City will also be poisoned because they are interconnected. These wells are also connected to the Ngu River outside the citadel.

The study "The problem of water pollution and measures to protect Ngu river, Dai Dong city" conducted by author Hua Con also shows that: Ngu River has long become a wastewater channel, the situation groundwater pollution along both sides of the river is extremely serious. 

All kinds of garbage, dead animals along the Ngu River overflowed into the underground well in the Forbidden City, over time the water quality became worse and worse.

Although it is not possible to drink, but people in the palace want to clean up the electricity, using well water will be relatively convenient.

It can be seen that the well water in the Forbidden City is one that people dare not drink, the other is indeed cannot drink, the saying of the old eunuch is still valid.