Guancha article: https://www.guancha.cn/politics/2023_08_01_703334.shtml
The Forbidden City has not accumulated water for 600 years, but modern drainage technology has caused water accumulation instead? official response
We must rethink the way modern technology works, and re-incorporate techniques of our ancient elders!A few days ago, a short video on the Internet captured the picture of the Palace Museum's Compassionate Palace of Waterlogging during heavy rains, questioning the function of the Forbidden City's drainage system. Today (July 31) Beijing is still experiencing heavy rain. What is the state of the drainage system of the Forbidden City? Is there serious water accumulation in the video? How does the drainage system that the Forbidden City has used for more than 600 years work?
Di Yajing, Director of the World Heritage Monitoring Department of the Palace Museum, introduced that the drainage system of the Palace Museum is a very complicated system. First, the rain falls on the roof and is guided from the roof to the foundation. The courtyard as a whole is high in the north and low in the south, and the middle is high and the sides are low, so the water will be exported to the open ditch through the middle of the courtyard to the two sides, and then flow into the Jinshui River. Some courtyards will directly fall through the "money eye" to the underground ditch below, and then to the branch ditch outside the courtyard. The branch ditch then merges into the main ditch, and finally flows into the Jinshui River.
So, does the Forbidden City have serious water accumulation in the video? Is it the fault of modern technology?
The reporter pointed out that the Ming and Qing dynasties would open the underground ditch for dredging in March every year. At present, the Forbidden City conducts dredging three times a year in spring, summer and autumn, and the number of dredging is quite a lot. Why is there still water in the Compassionate Palace? It’s not that modern technology can’t dredge the silt, but that the staff found products in the dark ditch that only modern society can have: plastic bottles, plastic bags, towels, and even clothes. Blocked the drainage of the gutter. After dredging, the drainage is now smooth.
It is said on the Internet that the Forbidden City has not been flooded for more than 600 years. Is it true?
Di Yajing said that in historical documents, it is often found that the entire area of the Forbidden City has roof leaks, wall collapses, and some records such as courtyard water accumulation. The accumulated water in the area of the door is "several feet", but after the accumulated water is over, everyone's approach is to find the blocking point as soon as possible and clean it up, so that its drainage function can be quickly restored.
