Marquis Yi of Zeng’s Fridge: How Ancient Chinese Made Life Cool

Today, we’ll talk about an ancient artifact that served as Marquis Yi of Zeng’s “refrigerator.” Yes, you heard me right. It was a bronze cooling device from the Warring States period, and demonstrates early Chinese cooling technology using ice and clever design to chill food and drinks.

Transcript

Marquis Yi of Zeng’s Fridge: How Ancient Chinese Made Life Cool

Today, we’ll talk about an ancient artifact that served as Marquis Yi of Zeng’s “refrigerator.” Yes, you heard me right. It was a bronze cooling device from the Warring States period, and demonstrates early Chinese cooling technology using ice and clever design to chill food and drinks.

As governments and industries struggle to combat climate change, we nevertheless see global temperatures creeping upward. In fact, the China Meteorological Administration reported that as recently as May of this year, the national average temperature was 0.9 degrees centigrade higher than the same period in previous years. As you know, especially if you’ve been listening to our series of podcasts covering climate issues, such a sustained increase in temperature could have dire consequences. In particular, central-northern parts of Central China, northeastern parts of the Southwest region, as well as Xinjiang, western Gansu, and southern Shaanxi in northwestern China, saw temperatures 2 to 4°C higher than usual. And the provinces of Henan and Shaanxi recorded their highest average temperatures since 1961 for the same period. 

Alarmingly, for the spring of 2025, a total of 287 national weather stations scattered throughout the provinces of Xinjiang, Gansu, Shaanxi, Henan, Sichuan, and Hubei reported daily maximum temperatures that exceeded all historical records.

Now, in modern times, when the scorching summer sun turns your home into a sauna, people tend to crank up the AC to get some relief, which of course only exacerbates the problem of global warming, but that’s not our topic for today. Today, we’re going to tell you about some clever Chinese ancestors who, over two thousand years ago, had already mastered techniques for using ice to keep cool during the summer swelter.

One set of artifacts provides direct evidence of using ice in the summer: it’s the ice storage vessel of Marquis Yi of Zeng from the early Warring States Period, lasting from 481 to 221 BCE

Held at the National Museum of China, this set of artifacts was unearthed in 1978 from the tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng in Sui County, central China’s Hubei Province. The set is exceptionally well-preserved and consists mainly of two vessels: an outer bronze ice storage container and a smaller inner wine vessel.

The sides of the square outer container, or “jian” in Chinese, are adorned with coiled dragon patterns, while the lower part is decorated with hanging leaf patterns. Inside the lid is an inscription that reads “Owned by Zeng Houyi (translated as Marquis Yi) for personal use”.

The jian was used to contain ice. The inner bronze vessel is called “fou”, most often used to contain wine but sometimes could be used for food.

Known as China’s oldest refrigerator, this set was used for regulating the temperature of wine or food. When fitted together, the two vessels have some space in between them, which allows for the placement of ice to cool down the wine in summer. But this set could also be used as a heater. In winter, the jian could store warm water or hot coals to maintain a warm temperature for whatever food was inside the fou.

Evidently, Marquis Yi of Zeng was a real foodie. Among the burial items found in his tomb, archeologists also discovered a large quantity of utensils with traces of food or seasoning. For example, there was a bronze fish-grilling plate with charcoal underneath and fish bones on top. Although the fish meat had decayed, the bones indicated that it was likely the remains of a carp. Additionally, near the fish-grilling plate, there were two large containers also made of bronze that were filled with fish bones, indicating Marquis Yi of Zeng’s particular fondness for fish dishes. These containers also contained numerous seasonings such as Sichuan pepper.

The State of Zeng was located in present-day Hubei, and during the Warring States period, the climate was even hotter than it is today. Grilling fish was especially popular during autumn and winter. However, during summer, such grilled dishes could easily cause internal heat according to traditional Chinese medical philosophy. But of course, being in a high position of power, Marquis Yi of Zeng had the means to overcome common concerns. He had ice coolers to chill his wine, so why not enjoy some spicy fish with it?

And Marquis Yi of Zeng wasn’t the only aristocrat to use ice in the summer. Later nobles had the good fortune to enjoy new ways of enjoying ice.

It’s been recorded that during the late Warring States period, nobles of Chu had already started to enjoy chilled beverages in summer.

In one ancient book it says, “Chilled, fragrant frozen drinks are not for the common people,” clearly establishing that iced beverages were part of a lifestyle reserved only for the elite in society.

Another innovation was known as “ice pot” and was a more topical type of treatment, that is to say, nothing was ingested. In the same way a hand warmer or hot water bag might be used during cold winter months, in the summer months, members of the aristocracy could enjoy crushed ice that had been placed inside a jade pot, which was held in one’s hands or placed here and there around the body to achieve a cooling effect. Besides cooling, the ice pot is said to have acquired something of an artistic and literary value. It is believed to have metaphorically represented in some way a noble morality, conveying the meaning of purity and clarity. By the Tang Dynasty, from 618 to 907, the use of ice pots in summer was already quite a well-established custom among the upper class.

Also during the Tang Dynasty, Prime Minister Yang Guozhong’s family would order large ice blocks to be carved out of mountains in midsummer and have them delivered to the palace to be placed around banquet tables. It is recorded that on occasion, guests would feel so cold during the feast that they had to wear winter clothes. And these weren’t simply giant-sized ice cubes sitting around the dining room. Yang’s family also had the ice blocks carved into exotic creatures, adorned with gold rings and jade belts, and presented them to invited dignitaries in order to win their favor.

After the banquet, it’s time for dessert, but you have to wait till the Yuan Dynasty, which lasted from 1271 to 1368. That’s when Kublai Khan, the founder of the Yuan Dynasty, invented ice cream. OK, maybe he didn’t personally invent it, but it’s well known that he loved milk and in the summer he would add ice to the milk to make it last longer. He also added fruit preserves or jam to his favorite icy drink, thus creating the world’s first ice cream prototype.

But similar to other aristocrats, he wanted to preserve the enjoyment of iced beverages for the elite and kept the ice cream production process a secret. He even issued a decree that no one except the royal family could make ice cream. However, it’s said that in the 13th century, the traveling Italian merchant Marco Polo who was enlisted by Kublai Khan to assist his administration had the honor of enjoying the royal treat. Polo is even credited with introducing the technique of making ice cream to Europeans when he finally returned to Venice.

Now, here’s something from a few centuries later. The Palace Museum in Beijing houses a wooden refrigerator made during the Qing Dynasty, lasting from 1644 to 1911. The exterior is made of cypress, and inside, there are layered drawers. On hot summer days, ice blocks would be placed under the drawers, while food was placed on the shelves above. The interior walls of the box are lined with lead sheeting, which helps to insulate the interior, thus maintaining lower temperatures and preserving the food stored inside.

For our last example, let’s talk about the most luxurious and excessive use of ice. No doubt, this was by emperors of the Song Dynasty, which lasted from 960 to 1279. Emperor Xiaozong decided he had had just about enough of the stifling summer heat and ordered his servants to set up an ice palace. Doing the best they could, they placed green pines and bamboos all around the palace and surrounded it with streams of cold spring water. Inside, the palace was crowded with many large bowls filled with ice.

In Compendium of Materia Medica, a very famous encyclopedic work on traditional Chinese medicine, there is even a record that Emperor Huizong ate so much ice that he developed a spleen disorder.

But what you’re probably asking yourself is, how did they manage to get so much ice in the middle of summer? Well, you’ll be surprised to learn that by the Song Dynasty, development of this technology had been ongoing for two millennia.

The use of ice in summer began as early as the Western Zhou period from 1046 to 771 BCE and continued to develop over time, forming a complete industry chain of ice harvesting, quarrying, storage, and trading, with an integrated supply chain.

In the Western Zhou period, the imperial family had set up a special department to manage ice affairs. The director of the department was often someone who was related and close to the Zhou emperor.

As you can imagine, harvesting ice at that time was no easy task. People didn’t have the technology to make ice during summer, so all they could do was quarry the ice during winter, store it in underground pits, and try to keep it from melting until spring when it was taken out for use.

Not only was quarrying and storing ice physically demanding, but it required certain technical skills as well. First, they had to choose a good source of ice for use by the royal family. Although there were no concerns about industrial pollution at that time, not all rivers or lakes would meet the standards of the officials in charge of ice management. For the ice to meet qualifications, it had to be collected from “deep in the mountains or remote valleys” and from “clean and pure locations.”

Ice quarrying wasn’t possible throughout the entire winter, as it required ice to be solidly frozen and at the lowest temperature possible, so it was usually harvested and transported during the 12th lunar month, the coldest time of the year. In the Ming Dynasty, from 1368 to 1644, the eighth day of the 12th month was thought to be the best day.

After the ice was cut, it had to be uniform in size so that the ice blocks could be tightly packed and stacked. This practice not only increased storage capacity but also reduced gaps and airflow, thereby delaying melting. The amount of ice stored needed to be three times the amount used, indicating a loss of two-thirds due to natural melting.

The ice blocks were stored in ice cellars. Some ancient ice cellars were dug very deep and formed a well. Since the Western Zhou Dynasty, ice cellars were established in each dynasty, often under official management, and sometimes even monopolized by the government.

There were at least three ice cellars in Beijing during the Ming Dynasty. And the number increased to 21 in the ensuing Qing Dynasty, storing a total of 215,700 ice blocks at one time.

With so much ice on hand, there were times that the imperial monopoly on ice would be somewhat loose. During the Tang and Song dynasties, many wealthy families began setting up private ice cellars. Excess ice stored in the government cellars would also be sold on the market. At such times, even some common people would have the opportunity to enjoy ice beverages.

In the late Qing Dynasty, the authority of the imperial court significantly declined, and privately operated businesses for ice harvesting and storage emerged among the common people. After the fall of the Qing Dynasty, the government officially allowed individuals to gather ice blocks and establish ice cellars. These operations were managed by a bureau in Beijing, which issued business licenses and collected rent from those who wanted to harvest ice from local rivers. Finally, even the common folk had the chance to occasionally knock back a cold one on a hot summer’s day. 

Well, that’s the end of our podcast. Our theme music is by the famous film score composer Roc Chen. We want to thank our writer Lü Weitao, translator Wang Yuyan, and copy editor Pu Ren. And thank you for listening. We hope you enjoyed it, and if you did, please tell a friend so they, too, can understand The Context.