commit 86d3b918c2ffb1e1c68f13f3bad953f49521ed86 Author: freddybocanegr Date: Fri Sep 18 09:53:23 2026 +0000 Add Ancient Chinese Buildings are Held together with Rice, Sugar, and Blood diff --git a/Ancient-Chinese-Buildings-are-Held-together-with-Rice%2C-Sugar%2C-and-Blood.md b/Ancient-Chinese-Buildings-are-Held-together-with-Rice%2C-Sugar%2C-and-Blood.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a66d6d0 --- /dev/null +++ b/Ancient-Chinese-Buildings-are-Held-together-with-Rice%2C-Sugar%2C-and-Blood.md @@ -0,0 +1,7 @@ +
Edible additives in mortar served both practical and philosophical purposes. The city wall of Nanjing, built 600 years ago, was the first line of defense for the founding capital of the Ming dynasty. Originally 22 miles long, it was built with 350 million bricks, most of which have survived centuries of weathering. In 2010, intrigued by the wall’s sturdy composition, a team of Chinese researchers analyzed mortar samples from one section. The secret ingredient turned out to be humble sticky rice, a staple of Chinese cuisine. This use of gummy grains as an adhesive is not entirely surprising. For thousands of years, Chinese builders mixed sticky rice, or glutinous rice, with lime mortar to assemble structures across the country, including city walls, pagodas, bridges, and tombs. Cooked rice was first boiled into a paste, then blended with sand and lime, a substance produced by heating limestone. Scientists have long been fascinated with this unusual formula, and in recent years, different teams have conducted studies to better understand it.
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Researchers Jiajia Li and Bingjian Zhang spent six years collecting 378 samples of ancient mortar from 159 sites throughout China, dating from the Taosi phase (2300-1900 BC) all the way to the late Qing dynasty (1644-1911). Their numerous chemical tests found that 219 mortars from 96 locations had "organic components"-that is, small traces of starch, protein, brown sugar, [blood glucose wellness](https://wavedream.wiki/index.php/User:BradleyPiquet20), and oil. These mixtures have helped preserve much of China’s built landscape. One notable sample, from a 2000-year-old tomb in Jiangsu province, turned up what the researchers say is the oldest known trace of [sticky rice](https://en.search.wordpress.com/?q=sticky%20rice) mortar. While the researchers don’t know the recipe’s origin story, they determined that by the Tang dynasty (816-907), rice was often used to improve construction. By the Song and Ming dynasties, both periods of extensive architectural activity, this unique mortar was prevalent, especially in the foundations of important buildings. Sticky rice is sweet, and augments savory dishes such as zongzi, pyramids of rice and fillings neatly wrapped in leaves, or tang yuan, a sweet soup with rice dumplings.
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It is also waxy-a texture that comes from the polysaccharide amylopectin, which gives the rice a denser microstructure. Mixed with lime mortar, the grains boost compressive strength, helping walls bear loads without fracturing. They are also highly water resistant, which protects buildings against erosion. Mortar samples from halls and the garden of the famed Forbidden City, built in the 15th century, tested positive for the starch. So did sections of the Great Wall of China, which was largely restored during the Ming dynasty. But one sample from the Wall, where it runs through Yanqing County, contained a less common ingredient: animal blood, which showed up in just five sites. Animal blood might sound like a grisly substance for building walls, but it was a perfectly normal additive used by several cultures. Historical recipes written in French, Italian, and English have [detailed](https://lerablog.org/?s=detailed) ways to mix oxblood and lime mortars. In China, builders used pig blood to improve the consistency of their mortar, according to a 2014 study.
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It is also easily available, resulting in diverse regional dishes such as pork blood soup and pig blood curd. Many other organic additives favored by the Chinese helped repel water. Li and Zhang found oil samples from 87 sites, which they believe to be tung oil, a common waterproof seal for wooden ships. Another, egg white, is not only water resistant but also improves the viscosity of mortar. Researchers have found that brown sugar, too, reduces water content in mortars, enhancing their strength. According to ancient literature, sucrose was often used to build forts and homes in eastern and southeastern China. These mortars were also likely invented out of necessity. In distant Rome, the secret ingredient of concrete was volcanic ash, which improved the durability of lime mortar and enabled it to set underwater. Similar mortars made with volcanic ash were adopted throughout Europe and western Asia; however, volcanic ash was not available in ancient China. Instead, engineers would have used their own regional ingredients to create distinctive building materials.
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