If foot stoves are considered the first generation heaters, the current heaters have been improved for who knows how many generations.
During the pre-holiday cleaning, an "antique" was unearthed. It is made of copper, like a casserole, with a handle like a teapot, and the lid is full of round holes the size of soybeans. With my face covered, I called my wife. The wife said that this was a foot stove left by her grandmother and was used in the countryside. Seeing that I was puzzled, he explained: My grandma’s house is on the bank of the Yangtze River, and she relies on a foot stove to keep her warm in the severe cold.
The raw material stove is grandma’s “required course”. After the rice is cooked, use a fire shovel to shovel the slag with the remaining fire on it, spread it on the bottom of the foot stove, and cover it with a layer of chaff. Grandpa is a carpenter. When doing camphor and pine wood work, he will leave sawdust and sprinkle a handful of sawdust on the chaff. After a burst of green smoke, the air will be filled with a faint scent of camphor wood or rosin. . Grandma was sitting on a bamboo chair, with her hands in her armholes and her feet in thick-soled socks, stepping on the stove cover to keep warm.
In order to extend the heat preservation time, grandpa will make a "cover" with cattail grass and cover the foot stove inside. When he thinks that the time is almost up, he will open the lid and add some chaff. The time and amount of adding ingredients are also very particular. If you add it too early, the last one hasn't burned out yet; if you add it too late, the last one has flamed out and you have to wait for the next meal to rekindle it. The amount of ingredients you add depends entirely on your eyesight, and the evenness of the ingredients depends on your gestures. My wife said that my grandfather was considered a master in those days, and one refill of ingredients would last for two hours.
The "main business" of the foot stove is to warm hands and feet, and it also has a "side business". On rainy and snowy days, they show their "heroic qualities" by drying shoes, socks and diapers. In addition, if you get greedy, throw a handful of soybeans into it, and when you hear the "pop, pop" sound, open the lid and pick it out with chopsticks, put it in the palm of your hand and blow it back and forth. After blowing it clean, you can put it into your mouth to satisfy your craving. Occasionally, I would pick a small potato and put it in the foot stove, and soon the aroma of roasting potatoes would waft out. This was the "afternoon tea" of my childhood, my wife said with aftertaste.
Speaking of it, the history of the foot stove is quite long. It is recorded in "Qing Barnai Chao" written by Xu Ke of the Qing Dynasty: "The foot stove is made of copper, and its shape is either square, round, oval, or hexagonal. The cover also had patterns carved into it to burn charcoal for warmth, and most of the people who used it were women." At that time, foot stoves mostly burned charcoal and were a luxury item for wealthy people. However, an ordinary foot stove was made into an exquisite one. Crafts. Especially on the stove cover, the round ventilation holes are arranged in geometric shapes or decorated with various flowers, which always give people an elegant and auspicious feeling. If the foot stove is considered the first generation heater, the current heaters have been improved for who knows how many generations. But the craftsmen were not satisfied. They kept exploring on the road of practicality, beauty and environmental protection. The heaters that changed from generation to generation mushroomed into the homes of ordinary people like bamboo shoots after a rain. (Wang Ke)
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