The Qinhuai Line is the geographical dividing line between north and south China. On both sides of this border, there are obvious differences in natural conditions, geographical features, agricultural production and people’s living customs.

秦淮线是中国南北之间的地理分界线。 在这条边境的两边，在自然条件、地理特征、农业生产和人民生活习俗上都有明显的差异。

And their heating systems.

以及他们的供暖系统。

Dependent on geographical location, when the cold season hits, people in the north  bask in their warmth and wear short-sleeves to walk around at home, while people in the south wrap themselves in down-cotton jackets and tremble on their sofa corner.

根据地理位置的不同，当寒冷的季节到来时，北方的人们沐浴在温暖中，穿着短袖在家里走来走去，而南方的人们则裹着羽绒棉夹克，在沙发角落里颤抖。

The root of the problem lies in the heating system. In the course of historical development, with the Qinhuai Line (해쥰뺨붉窟; Qinling Mountains-Huaihe River Line) as the boundary, it was decreed that there be no central heating systems installed in the south. The result is that we in the Yangtze River Basin find it hardest to fall asleep at night, and regularly awake with our breath as the first thing we see.

问题的根源在于供暖系统。 在历史发展过程中，以秦淮线（해쥰뺨붉窟；秦岭山-淮河线）为边界，宣布南方没有安装中央供暖系统。 结果是，我们在长江流域发现晚上最难入睡，而且我们看到的第一件事就是呼吸。

For some, this “ice cave” is their only companion through life’s winter.

对一些人来说，这个“冰洞”是他们度过冬天的唯一伴侣。

Compared to the dry cold of North China, our cold is mainly caused by humidity and wind. With winter being comparatively long and rain all year round, humidity has a huge impact on the human body’s feelings of cold. According to meteorology, for every 10 percent increase in humidity, the temperature felt by the human body decreases by 1 degree Celsius.

与华北的干燥寒冷相比，我们的寒冷主要是由湿度和风引起的。 由于冬天相对较长，而且常年下雨，湿度对人体的寒冷感有巨大影响。 根据气象学，湿度每增加10%，人体感受到的温度就会降低1摄氏度。

Why doesn’t South China Deserve Central Heating?

为什么华南不值得中央供暖？

With the progress of China’s industrialisation, centralised heating systems were introduced in the 1950s. According to geographical and climatic needs, Changchun, Jilin, Ha’erbin, Beijing and other places, studied the heating systems employed by the former Soviet Union, to then deploy cast-iron radiators over large areas of the cities. However, due to the shortage of energy in China at the time, heating pipes were only laid north of the Qinhuai Line, while there was no central heating equipment provided to the south.

随着中国工业化的进步，中央供暖系统在20世纪50年代被引入。 根据地理和气候需求，长春、吉林、哈尔宾、北京等地研究了前苏联采用的供暖系统，然后在城市大片地区部署铸铁散热器。 然而，由于当时中国能源短缺，供暖管道只铺设在秦淮线以北，而南部没有提供中央供暖设备。

At that time, areas deserving of heating were delineated, again according to the experience of the former Soviet Union; if the number of days with an average temperature equal to or below 5 degrees Celcius is equal to 90 days or more, then the area shall have central heating systems installed.

当时，根据前苏联的经验，划定了需要供暖的地区；如果平均温度等于或低于5摄氏度的天数等于90天或以上，那么该地区应安装中央供暖系统。

Bad news for us; the number of such cold days in the Yangtze River Basin generally numbers around 50. And unlike the “physical attack” in the dry north, the wet cold of the south is described as a “magical attack”; thick clothes do not help.

对我们来说是个坏消息；长江流域如此寒冷的日子通常有50天左右。 与干燥的北方的“物理攻击”不同，南方的潮湿寒冷被描述为“神奇的攻击”；厚衣服没有帮助。

Neither is it realistic nor practical to install central heating facilities in today’s southern China. Tantamount to urban reconstruction, a thermal power plant is not enough; it would be necessary to build a network of boiler rooms across the city, together with the associated interconnected piping to virtually every single building.

在今天的中国南部安装中央供暖设施既不现实也不切实际。 相当于城市重建，一个火力发电厂是不够的；有必要在整个城市建立一个锅炉房网络，以及与几乎每栋建筑相关的相互连接的管道。

In addition, as alert readers will have noticed, the thickness of walls in the south is nothing compared to the north. Once a concrete shell gets cold, it stays cold.

此外，正如警惕的读者所注意到的，与北方相比，南方的墙壁厚度不算什么。 一旦混凝土外壳变冷，它就会保持低温。

How Did the Ancient Chinese Manage to Stay Warm?

古代中国人是如何保持温暖的？

People in the south have therefore come up with many ways to keep warm. Today of course, there is air conditioning and under floor heating, but how did the ancient Chinese manage, given the horrible cold conditions outside that are a far cry from any kind of luxury?

因此，南方的人们想出了许多保暖的方法。 当然，今天有空调和地暖，但考虑到外面可怕的寒冷条件，与任何奢侈品都相去甚远，古代中国人是如何管理的？

Well, they took a few tips from those who built the Weiyang Palace in Chang’an (today’s Xi’an) in 200 BCE. The largest palace ever built, almost seven times the size of Beijing’s Forbidden City and 11 times that of the Vatican City, its builders came up with a special wall insulation for the residence of the queen therein.

嗯，他们从公元前200年在长安（今天的西安）建造卫阳宫的人那里得到了一些提示。 这是有史以来最大的宫殿，几乎是北京故宫的七倍，是梵蒂冈城的11倍，其建造者为女王的住所提出了一种特殊的隔墙。

The Jiaofang Hall (椒房殿) takes its name from this inventive form of insulation. Painted with a mush made from the flowers of the pepper tree, the walls were rendered pink, while protecting the wooden structure underneath and providing that much-needed insulation.

椒房殿（椒房殿）得名于这种创造性的隔热形式。 墙壁上涂有胡椒树花制成的泥，变成了粉红色，同时保护下面的木制结构，并提供急需的隔热材料。

In addition, in order to ensure the warmth of the winter palace, the ancient palace architects also put in a hollow “wall” during construction, commonly known as the “fire wall”, located under the eaves of the hall. Hot charcoal could then be placed via a small passage into the fire wall; its heat sufficient to warm the entire palace along the fire wall. Not surprisingly, there was an additional fire wall installed under the emperor’s bed.

此外，为了确保冬宫的温暖，古代宫殿建筑师在建造过程中还放置了一堵空心的“墙”，通常被称为“防火墙”，位于大厅的屋檐下。 然后，热木炭可以通过一个小通道进入防火墙；它的热量足以温暖整个沿着防火墙的宫殿。 毫不奇怪，皇帝的床下又安装了一堵防火墙。

Closer to home, and in a more down-to-earth fashion befitting the common people, it more recently emerged that Nanjing people had been eating a kind of hotpot, in order to stay warm, as long ago as 2,000 BCE.

离家更近，以更朴实的方式适合普通人，最近发现，早在公元前2000年，南京人就一直在吃一种火锅来保暖。

The finding was confirmed via a remarkable archeological discovery that was made in Nanjing’s Gaochun District in 1989.

1989年在南京高春区发现的一次非凡的考古发现证实了这一发现。

In May of that year, local farmers found more than they expected when digging irrigation ditches in the area known as Chaoduntou (朝墩头). The resulting excavation by the Nanjing Museum and Gaochun County Cultural Protection Institute turned up 455 cultural relics, together with eight ash pits and 17 tombs, that date back some 4,000 years.

那年5月，当地农民在被称为朝墩头（朝墩头）的地区挖掘灌溉沟渠时发现的比他们预期的要多。 南京博物馆和高春县文化保护研究所的发掘发现了455件文物，以及8个灰坑和17座坟墓，可以追溯到大约4000年前。

Among the discoveries was a four-legged clay cauldron, divided such that the heat source could be placed in its lower half, while food was cooked above, hotpot style.

在这些发现中，有一个四条腿的粘土大锅，可以分开，这样热源可以放在它的下半部分，而食物则在上面烹饪，是火锅风格。

Yet, the ancients were far from satisfied with their primitive contraption. An advanced version of the aforementioned, the so-called “Fengeding” (分格鼎; split pot) was unearthed in the Tomb of the Western Han Dynasty in Xuyi of Jiangsu Province (now famed as China’s crawfish capital) more recently.

然而，古人远远不满足于他们的原始装置。 上述的先进版本，即所谓的“分格鼎”（分格鼎）；最近在江苏省徐义（现为中国小龙虾之都）的西汉墓中出土。

The Fengeding is now regarded as the originator of the “Nine-Square Palace” (九宫格), being divided into nine separate cooking sections by means of a noughts-and-crosses metal grid.

凤定现在被认为是“九宫格”的创始人，通过一个零和交叉的金属网格分为九个独立的烹饪部分。

This winter, therefore, when you walk into your nice, warm office and your glasses immediately fog up, spare a thought for those ancient locals from these parts, for there can be little doubt that old Nanjingers also knew a thing or two about luxury.

因此，今年冬天，当你走进你漂亮、温暖的办公室，你的眼镜立刻起雾时，想想那些来自这些地方的古代当地人，因为毫无疑问，老南京人也知道一两件关于奢侈品的事情。