Kang bed-stove
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Kang (Chinese: 炕; pinyin: kàng; Manchu: 
nahan) is a traditional long (2 meters or more) sleeping platform made of bricks or other forms of fired clay. Its interior cavity, leading to a flue, channels the exhaust from a wood or coal stove. The heat of a cooking fire may be used for maintaining comfort in cool weather.
Like the European ceramic stove, a massive block of masonry is used to retain heat. While it might take several hours of heating to reach the desired surface temperature, a properly designed bed raised to sufficient temperature should remain warm throughout the night without the need to maintain a fire.
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[edit] History
The Kang is likely derived from the concept of a heated bed floor called a 'huoqiang' found in China in the Neolithic period, according to analysis of archeological excavations of building remains in Banpo Xi'an. The bed at this excavation is made of 10 cm pounded clay on the floor. The bed was heated by 'zhidi' which is simply the process of placing an open fire on the bed floor and clearing the ashes before sleeping. It is mentioned by Tang poet Meng Jiao in his poem titled Handi Baixing Yin. 'No fuel to heat the floor to sleep, standing and crying with cold at midnight instead'. In the excavated example the repeated burning is believed to have turned the bed surface hard and moisture resistant.
The first known type of heated platform appeared in China and used a single flue system. An example of this type of heated platform was unearthed in 1st-century building remains in the Heilongjiang Province. Its single flue is 'L' shaped, built from adobe and cobblestones and covered with stone slabs.
Heated walls with a double flue system was found in a 4th century ancient palace building in the Jilin Province. It has an 'L' shaped adobe bench with a double flue system. It is structurally more complex than a single flue system and has functionality similar to a Kang.
The word Kang means 'to dry', first documented in the Chinese dictionary in AD121. The earliest Kang remains have been discovered at Ninghai, Heilongjing Province in the Longquanfu Palace (699-926).
Outside China, the concept of a "masonry heater", a large stove made of brick or other masonry keeping a house warm for a long time, has been used in various forms throughout northern and eastern Europe. In particular, Russians have traditionally used a similar sort of stove/bed, known as the Russian oven (Russian: Русская печь); it is unknown whether this was introduced from the East during the period of the "Tatar yoke".
[edit] Culture
Traditional Chinese Dwellings (Zhongguo chuantong minju) (a bilingual text) has a few line drawings of Kangs. It says that the Kang is used to cook meals and heat the room, making full use of the heat-retaining capacity of the loess [soil used to make adobe]. The Kang produces radiant heat to heat the interior space indirectly in addition to the bed mass itself.
The Kang was also an important feature of traditional dwellings in the often frigid northeastern region of Manchuria, where it was known as nahan in the native language of the local Manchus. It plays an important role in Manchu's mourning customs. The deceased is placed beside the Kang instead of the normal Chinese practice which is in the central hall. The height of the board on which the body is placed indicates the family status or age of the deceased.
In this picture of a room in a Chinese inn, reproduced from Wandering in Northern China, by Harry A. Franck (Copyright 1923 by the Century Company of New York and London), one can see a man who may be the author sitting at a short-legged table that has been placed on the Kang. Behind the Kang is a fine window that lets much light into the room. The window appears to be closed by a paper-covered lattice, not a pane of glass.
[edit] References
- Alan,Kam (2002). Historical Perspectives on East Asian Science, Technology and Medicine. World Scientific
- Robert,Stuart (1845). On the History and Art of Warming and Ventilating Rooms and Buildings. G. Bell
[edit] External links
- http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200507/30/eng20050730_199250.html
- http://books.google.com/books?id=j0k1AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA172&lpg=PA172&dq=%22floor+kang%22&source=web&ots=jlggYUJkeu&sig=H0jikLbM63mE7ymKSEeea3Sod64#PPA188,M1
- http://books.google.com/books?id=32QneZ9HtrYC&pg=PR9&vq=Kang&dq=%22floor+kang%22&sig=kkWhy1OKJis7aScUbZD-5MIpoSM#PPA506,M1
