Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, August 18th: Towards Harmony between People and Water in Dealing with the Flood — — Revelation of 2016 Flood Control and Flood Prevention

　　Xinhua News Agency reporters Wang Yu, Zhang Xingjun, Lin Hui and Liu Hongxia.

　　Humans live by water, civilization is born by water, and disasters also start from water.

　　China has a vast territory and a complex climate, and has suffered too many floods for thousands of years. The history of the development of the Chinese nation can be said to be a history of fighting water.

　　When the historical clock points to the 21st century, with the increasing frequency of extreme weather and climate events, the water disaster situation becomes more severe and complicated.

　　In 2016, China once again passed a rare flood control exam. Today, this exam has achieved a staged victory. Behind the answer sheet, success and regret, relief and grief are intertwined.

　　Looking back at the flood and its response, many warm moments and shortcomings are thought-provoking.

　　Concentric from top to bottom, United as one, condenses the great power to fight the tide. However, some links also make people see a sense of "fatigue"

　　"The rain this year is too heavy. I have never seen such a fierce rain in my life." Zhu Linfa, a villager in fenghuang town, Xinzhou District, Wuhan, Hubei Province, still remembers that on the night of July 1, it seemed that the sky had been poked and leaked, and it rained incessantly. The water level of the lifting river near the home rose rapidly, and it didn’t take long for the breach to occur, and the flood roared into the village … …

　　A series of figures confirm the serious flood this year: since the flood season, there have been more than 30 heavy rainfall processes in China, and the average rainfall has ranked second in the same period since 1954; Precipitation in 164 counties and cities broke through historical extremes; 395 rivers have exceeded the warning flood, 90 rivers have exceeded the insurance flood, and 44 rivers have exceeded the historical flood; Three typhoons landed and ravaged; More than 30 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities were affected … …

　　Dongting lake police! Poyang lake police!

　　The Yangtze River is in a hurry! Taihu Lake is in a hurry!

　　Thrilling, ups and downs. History seems to repeat itself, but the situation has not deteriorated after all. This battle for flood control and flood fighting has achieved a staged victory: none of the large and medium-sized reservoirs in the country has collapsed, and there is no breach in the main dikes of major rivers, and the dangers of rivers and lakes are under effective control.

　　What kind of power helps us defeat the flood?

　　— — It is a cohesive force of unity from top to bottom.

　　General Secretary of the Supreme Leader has repeatedly made important instructions on flood control and flood fighting, demanding that party committees and governments at all levels should adhere to their responsibilities and perform their duties, do a good job in flood control and flood fighting, and effectively protect people’s lives and property.

　　At the critical moment of flood control and disaster relief in late July, General Secretary of the Supreme Leader also made an important speech on doing a good job in flood control, flood fighting and disaster relief at the East-West Cooperation Forum on Poverty Alleviation held in Ningxia, stressing that the current situation of flood control, flood fighting and disaster relief is very severe and the task is very heavy. All relevant regions, departments and units should give priority to ensuring people’s life safety, take further actions, strengthen measures, implement responsibilities, and do their best to do a good job in flood control, flood fighting and disaster relief.

　　Premier Li Keqiang went to the flood control site in the Yangtze River and Huaihe River basins to deploy flood control and emergency rescue and disaster relief work.

　　At the critical moment of flood control and disaster relief, the People’s Liberation Army and the Armed Police Force risked their lives to take the lead, and the police volunteered and fought continuously, undertaking a lot of urgent and dangerous tasks. At the peak of flood control, 4 million people from five provinces in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River stuck to the front line of the Yangtze River trunk dike, including 3.7 million ordinary people, 200,000 government officials and 100,000 officers and men, forming a strong joint force of military and civilian linkage.

　　— — It is a strong "arm" to cut the peak and stop the flood.

　　After more than ten years of continuous investment, China has built a large number of key water conservancy projects and control hubs, and its disaster prevention capability has been significantly improved. The Three Gorges Reservoir is undoubtedly one of the brightest pearls.

　　"If there is no peak cutting and flood storage in the Three Gorges Reservoir during the flood season this year, the consequences will be unimaginable." Zhang Jiatuan, the National Defense Inspector General and spokesperson, said that in the first flood season, 21 large reservoirs in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, represented by the Three Gorges Reservoir, released floods ahead of schedule, freeing up 36 billion cubic meters of storage capacity. After entering the critical stage of flood control in July, the reservoirs coordinated and coordinated to store 22.7 billion cubic meters of flood in the main and tributary of the Yangtze River.

　　— — It is the perfect progress of scientific scheduling.

　　The discharge of every reservoir and every river may have an impact on the overall situation. Like skilled magicians, the National Defense General and the Yangtze River Defense General monitor, discuss and judge around the clock, and accurately and finely dispatch large reservoirs. When to flood the reservoir and when to stop the storage, there is precision and science behind every dispatching order.

　　If there is no flood of this volume, the direct consequence is that the section of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River beyond the police embankment will increase by 250 kilometers; Jingjiang section is over-alarmed; Chenglingji area is facing flood diversion, 520,000 mu of cultivated land will be submerged, and 380,000 people will face resettlement … …

　　— — It is an uncompromising responsibility implementation.

　　This year, the National Defense General announced the list of flood control administrative responsible persons in major rivers, large and key reservoirs, major flood storage and detention areas and key flood control cities nationwide one month in advance, so that the administrative responsible persons can accept social supervision.

　　In the process of flood prevention in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, the National Defense General announced the list of 885 grass-roots administrative responsible persons in important dike sections. It is the first time in history that the township-level administrative responsible person is disclosed by the national defense general level.

　　Pressure is transmitted layer by layer, and responsibility is implemented layer by layer.

　　In late July, many places in Hebei were suddenly hit by torrential rain, and heavy casualties and property losses occurred in some areas. Four Xingtai-related cadres failed in their work in flood control, flood fighting and disaster relief, were suspended for inspection and will be held accountable according to law.

　　However, behind the powerful force of flood control and flood fighting, some weak links still exist, and even intensify:

　　The main dikes of large rivers are stable, but there are many dangers such as small and medium-sized rivers and dikes. The phenomenon of "looking at the sea in the city" has appeared again in more than 100 cities, highlighting many shortcomings in urban drainage planning and construction; More and more places are "unable to withstand flooding". Compared with the past, the same danger has caused greater losses … …

　　Make up these shortcomings as soon as possible, in order to have more powerful power to deal with floods.

　　Ideas guide actions, and ideas determine the way out. Every step forward in the concept of flood control and flood fighting, the practical effect of flood control and flood fighting will rise to a higher level

　　Pinghu thundered!

　　At 7 o’clock on July 14th, Niu Shan Lake in Wuhan, Hubei Province, a billowing yellow and white smoke rose from the green lake. During the explosion, the dike blocking liangzi lake and Niu Shan Lake slowly sank into the water.

　　After 37 years of dam separation, Niu Shan Lake in Zihu returned to the embrace of liangzi lake, the mother lake.

　　Xu Xinhua, a 70-year-old resident of the Lake District, watched all this quietly in the resettlement site, and his heart was inevitably disappointed. When liangzi lake Lake overflows into Niu Shan Lake, it will slowly flood the lotus pond and fish pond by the lake, flood the way home, and finally flood your home. Niu Shan Lake will restore its permanent water surface and return water to the lake after flood diversion.

　　Although the villagers lost their familiar homes, they found their own homes after the flood. Chinese’s understanding of the relationship between man and water has reached a new height.

　　For the sake of their own survival and development, people claim and occupy the land from nature without restriction. The polder area that should have been a waterway was reclaimed for management, and the "meridians" of natural lakes and rivers were destroyed, blocking the "return road" of floods.

　　During the flood season this year, many communities in Nanhu, Wuhan were seriously waterlogged. People realized that these communities were located in lakes many years ago.

　　"Times are changing and ideas are changing. Everyone understands a simple truth better. No matter how many materials there are and how fast they develop, if the ecological environment is destroyed, it will not be worth the loss, and even suffer natural punishment. " Yu Dan, a professor at the School of Life Sciences of Wuhan University, said.

　　People give the flood a way out, and the flood gives people a way out. Breaking embankments and diverting floods is not only an emergency move, but also a great leap from the concept of flood control in China to the combination of dredging and blocking. It is in the repeated floods that the Chinese nation profoundly realized the way of harmonious coexistence between people and water.

　　The basis of flood control and flood fighting is "prevention" and the core is "people". During the flood season this year, the number of people threatened by floods and typhoons was as high as 7.8 million, almost equivalent to the total population of a medium-sized European country.

　　In Dajueshan Village, Zixi County, Jiangxi Province, the word "Xiao Zhou" is written in charcoal on the door panel of an adobe house with a history of 100 years, followed by a series of mobile phone numbers. Mottled handwriting has been painted over and over again by different people.

　　This is the special phone book of Zhang Mulan, a lonely old man in the village. The phone on the door panel belongs to Zhou Jianwen, director of the village committee. Whenever Zhang Mulan dials the phone, it means that there is an emergency, heavy rain, flash floods and landslides … …

　　"The old man’s house is 10 kilometers away from the village committee. As soon as the flood season arrives, we are worried when the elderly call, and we are also worried when the elderly don’t call. " Zhou Jianwen and his colleagues braved the wind and rain many times and carried the old man to safety overnight.

　　Put people’s life safety in the first place — — The concept of people-oriented and life first has been deeply integrated into the blood of cadres.

　　Behind the huge work intensity, it shows the firm belief that people’s life safety is above all else.

　　Advanced ideas guide the success of practice; Backward ideas may also become the fetters of moving forward.

　　The investment in water conservancy infrastructure construction is large and the effect is slow. Some cadres have unclear responsibilities and insufficient motivation. They always feel that they are "making wedding clothes for others"; The illegal occupation of flood discharge facilities in some river sections still exists, and the masses take economic interests as their starting point and take luck as a matter of fact. Some people think that there is no need to worry about the flood in this area for many years, and the defense plan stays in the document, and once the flood comes, it is often at a loss … …

　　If you take the law, you will get it; Take the law, and you will get it. Only by abandoning backward concepts and establishing advanced concepts can China’s flood prevention and fighting cause cross one threshold after another and leap to a higher platform.

　　Science and technology should go up, and people should go up. In the confrontation between man and water, it is inseparable from the real "anti-flood artifact" — — Capitalized person

　　After thousands of soldiers and civilians fought for two consecutive days and nights, at 8 o’clock on July 12, Xinhuayuan, Huarong County, Hunan Province, broke its mouth and successfully closed the dragon. In this thrilling flood fighting and rescue operation, 16 local truck drivers formed a "truck death squad". The drivers tied safety ropes, risked their lives, stepped on the "firmest accelerator", and even the car rushed to the breach with stones to intercept the rolling torrent.

　　"Compared with the truck death squads, all kinds of online ‘ Anti-flood artifact ’ It’s really lame. " Some netizens commented like this.

　　Today, with the rapid development of science and technology, the science and technology of flood control and flood fighting in China is "quality". Underwater robots detect water conditions, unmanned aerial vehicles monitor disasters, and "Dragon Suction" vehicle-mounted mobile pumping station quickly drains water & HELIP; … The application of these high-tech means has greatly improved the effectiveness of flood fighting and emergency rescue. However, in this man-water duel, it is hard to imagine the final outcome without fearless courage and the spirit of fighting floods with self-sacrifice and selflessness.

　　In the raging flood, people and their spirit are the most fundamental "anti-flood artifacts."

　　"The body also good? How is the child? " — — This is a short message sent to his wife in Wuhan by Ma Hongtao, a soldier of a pontoon brigade of the Army in the Central Theater, while waiting for the search and rescue order.

　　Just 10 words contain Ma Hongtao’s unspeakable guilt and concern for his wife. Ma Hongtao is an assault boat operator in the search and rescue operation. With advanced equipment and years of experience, he drove the assault boat many times to avoid many dangerous sections and led the officers and men to the affected villages at the first time.

　　This time, the flood happened, which coincided with the expected date of delivery of Ma Hongtao’s wife. Before the hospital examination, it was found that the child’s umbilical cord was around the neck and needed to be hospitalized immediately. Although the organization agreed that Ma Hongtao would take a vacation to accompany the delivery, he gave up because of the arduous task of fighting floods. During the days of the search and rescue mission, Ma Hongtao didn’t even have time to make a phone call of concern.

　　Immediately after being rescued in distress, he threw himself into the front line of flood fighting, stuck to his post after the death of his loved one, and jumped into the flood to save others but didn’t come up … … In the face of the flood, a "capitalized man" like Ma Hongtao was established, and the spirit of fighting the flood was passed down.

　　Longwangmiao Wharf in Wuhan, the intersection of the two rivers, is a famous dangerous section of the Yangtze River. In early July, the flood attacked the last line of defense in this city with a population of 10 million. On the riverside, an ordinary billboard stands out, which reads, "People are on the embankment, vowing to live or die with it". This is the oath of nine Communist party member. They signed it in red pen, which is powerful.

　　The same oath appeared in 1998.

　　At that time, Tang Renqing, then director of the Flood Control Office of Jianghan District, Wuhan, and his colleague Li Jianqiang, as well as 14 other party member, made a life-and-death card together, pledging to live and die with the levee. Eighteen years later, Tang Renqing and Li Jianqiang, who are over 500 years old, once again took on the heavy responsibility of guarding the Longwang Temple, and once again set a life-and-death card with seven other party member.

　　"No matter how old we are, as long as we can get on, we will, because we are the dike keepers." Li Jianqiang, 57, said.

　　Two "life and death cards", spanning 18 years in just visiting, inherit the immortal spirit of fighting floods.

　　"In flood fighting and emergency rescue, the role of science and technology is getting bigger and bigger, but the role of people is more fundamental in every dike and every danger. For example, the levee is full of weeds, and it is impossible to see the dangers such as soft soil, piping and bubbling. It is necessary to step on it step by step and explore it inch by inch. " Zhang Jiatuan said.

　　People are the most precious force in flood fighting and emergency rescue. This is not only a precious revelation in flood fighting and disaster relief, but also a warning of the shortage of water conservancy and flood control talents in some areas of China.

　　"Jiujiang Jiangxinzhou has more than 40 kilometers of the Yangtze River coastline. After the danger occurs, someone must patrol the embankment day and night to check the danger. However, there are more than 6,000 people in our entire Xinzhou farm, and only 1,000 people are at home all the year round, of which the young and middle-aged laborers are only two or three hundred. The rest are old, weak, women and children." Zhu Wenbin, secretary of the Party branch of Sanfenchang, Xinzhou Market, said anxiously.

　　A large number of grassroots flood prevention and rescue technical backbones with actual combat experience, which grew up in several floods in the 1980s and 1990s, are now retired or transferred abroad. Many rural young and middle-aged laborers go out to work, leaving only the elderly and children, and the mass patrol team organization is facing new problems. The shortage of water conservancy cadres and flood control talents and the shortage of flood control and flood fighting labor force are becoming a major bottleneck in flood control in some villages.

　　… …

　　Drawing strength from the flood, become a butterfly was reborn in the disaster. Facing up to the shortcomings and filling in the shortcomings, we have reason to believe that the Chinese nation, which has gone through hardships and perseverance, will be more steady in its struggle against floods and will write a new chapter in the harmony between man and water! (Participating in reporters: Yan Huang, Wu Hao, Yang Yuhua, Liao Jun)

CCTV Olympic Channel Launches News Briefing

　　CCTV.com News: In order to further strengthen the Olympic concept and create an Olympic atmosphere, a news briefing was held in Beijing on the afternoon of 28th to launch the Olympic Channel of CCTV. It was announced at the meeting that from January 1 to September 30, 2008, the sports channel of CCTV will be renamed as the Olympic channel.

　　> > > > Click to watch the video recording of the news briefing.

Sun Yusheng, deputy director of CCTV.

　　Sun Yusheng, deputy director of CCTV, said in his speech that the launch of the Olympic Channel is an important node, which is the need for CCTV’s Olympic coverage to be further upgraded, and it marks the all-round development of CCTV’s Olympic coverage. To this end, CCTV will build the Olympic channel with the program standards and modes of the Olympic Games.

　　> > > Full text of Sun Yusheng’s speech: Do the best Olympic coverage.

　　Jiang Heping, director of CCTV sports channel, introduced that the Olympic channel will be operated in five stages according to the Olympic process in 2008. While maintaining the original characteristics of the sports channel, the following program arrangements will be made.

　　> > > > Full text of Jiang Heping’s speech: At that time, seven CCTV channels will cover the Olympic Games.

　　The first stage: January 1 to March 23. In the morning, the Sports Morning Post was completely revised to Hello, 2008, and in the afternoon, the Olympic Games time slot was opened to reorganize the classic games of previous Olympic Games.

　　The second stage: March 24th to May 3rd. Launch the torch relay report program "Walking with the Flame". This 40-minute program focuses on the relay of the Olympic flame abroad and Everest. At the same time, the "Beijing 2008" series will be adjusted. At this stage, the Olympic channel will focus on several time nodes: March 24, the fire ceremony in Olympia, Greece; On March 30, the fire handover ceremony at the marble stadium in Athens; On March 31, the torch arrived in Beijing; On April 30th, the countdown to the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games was 100 days. At the beginning of May, the Olympic flame passed into Mount Everest.

Jiang Heping, Director of CCTV Sports Channel

　　The third stage: May 4th to August 7th. The Olympic Channel adds a special program "Walking with the Torch" every morning, noon and evening, covering the Olympic torch relay in 31 provincial capitals of China. In addition, special time slots have been set up to report the preparation and promotion of Chinese athletes and the important events before the Olympic Games. It is the first time in the history of the Olympic Games that the torch relay will pass through all 21 overseas cities and 113 domestic cities on TV.

Horse urine color, bovine blood red, lethal green … … Artists are really painting with their lives!

Mummy Brown: Pigment extracted from dismembered bodies.

Did you know that mummies were used to make paints? The name of this color is ""Mummy brown”，Made of crushed mummy flesh, white asphalt and myrrh.

Mummy is one of the symbols of mysterious ancient Egypt, but there was a time in history when mummies were regarded as commodities rather than precious cultural relics, and the business of buying and selling mummies was very prosperous.

They are cut into small pieces and imported into Europe, where they are used as fuel, fertilizer and even a panacea for all diseases. With the rising price, the huge profits even prompted some profiteers to fake mummies with tramps or animal carcasses.

Painters from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance often bought medicinal materials from pharmacies as pigments, and mummy brown was discovered by painters under such circumstances. Mummy brown is rich in color, high in transparency and more expressive than ordinary brown pigments, so it is very popular.

Micheál Martin Radling’s "Inside the Kitchen" uses this kind of pigment extensively.

Don’t worry that these works will smell rotten, and spices such as frankincense and myrrh will be used when making mummies, so the smell of mummified brown may be quite good.

In 1964, due to the sharp decrease in the number of raw mummies, the genuine mummy brown disappeared from the market.

Now you can still buy the pigment called "Mummy Brown", but there is no mummy in the raw material.It is made by mixing kaolin, Shi Ying, goethite and iron ore powder.Compared with authentic mummy brown, it is usually yellow or red in color.　　

Carmine: parasites become food pigments.

Carmine is not the same thing as the rouge used by ancient women in China. Most of the rouge used for makeup is made of petals, while carmine is made of a crushed cactus parasite.

This bug is called cochineal bug, which originated in America. It was once used by Indians to make up, and was later brought back to Europe by the Spanish.

The color of carmine is stronger than the traditional red dye originally used by Europeans, so it immediately became popular among nobles. It was not only used by painters to paint, but also used to make cardinals’ robes.

At that time, the identity of cochineal insects was always a trade secret. It was not until the end of the 16th century that everyone knew that this beautiful red color actually came from the blood of insects.

Now, the red dye made by cochineal insects is still often used, and the scope of use is much wider than expected. Although carmine is made of insects, it is a natural edible pigment recognized by the US Food and Drug Administration and is often used to color food.

However, everyone seems to find it hard to accept indirect "eating insects". Starbucks in the United States once caused an uproar because it used carmine in its drinks.

Besides being "hidden" in food, carmine also appears in cosmetics, especially in high-grade lipsticks.

In short, it’s really not easy to get this bug out of your mouth!　　

Indian yellow: the color of cow urine that caused protests

Do you know that?/You know what? The elegant and quiet women in Vermeer’s works and the hazy light and shadow in Turner’s works are actually painted with cow urine!

The color of Indian yellow is clear and reddish, which is the heart of many famous painters. Because of its high transparency, it is very suitable for expressing beautiful things in the sun.

Indian yellow originated in India, and its shape is a lump of balls with a slight odor. It has been widely used by painters after being exported to Europe, but the production process is really strange: if cows only eat mango leaves for a long time, their urine will turn orange-yellow, and the urine will be collected in buckets and evaporated to extract yellow particles, which is Indian yellow.

Now we can see that Indian Huang Dou is artificially synthesized from other materials, but this is not because the raw materials are disgusting, but because the production process is inhuman.

In the hundreds of years when Huang Dawei was popular in India, it remained mysterious, and people made various speculations about its raw materials. It was not until someone went to India for a field investigation that the mystery was unveiled, and this revelation triggered a fierce protest movement, because most cows fed in this way were malnourished and would eventually weaken and die.

So in 1908, this production method was stopped on suspicion of cruelty to animals.　

Chrome yellow: It makes Van Gogh crazy.

When it comes to chrome yellow, you have to mention Van Gogh. Chrome yellow is Van Gogh’s favorite color.

It is cheap, opaque and high in color rendering, and the works drawn with it are full and bright, with great tension. The famous Sunflower uses chrome yellow extensively.

The raw material of chrome yellow is lead chromate, which will lead to lead poisoning when exposed in large quantities.

One of the characteristics of Van Gogh’s works is that the pigments are particularly thick, which leads him to coexist with a large number of toxic pigments for a long time. He also has the habit of licking his brush while meditating, which further aggravates his symptoms of lead poisoning.

Some people suspect that Van Gogh’s insanity is caused by this beautiful and deadly yellow pigment, while others think that chrome yellow pigment has even influenced Van Gogh’s painting style in turn, because some images in his works are very similar to the hallucinations that lead poisoning patients will have.

Coincidentally, Goya, a Spanish painter, also loves to use chrome yellow. When he is in a good mood, he will dip his fingers directly into the paint and paint. As a result, he is also suffering from lead poisoning.

In fact, chrome yellow pigment is not a high-quality pigment. It is not only toxic, but also becomes dull due to the chemical reaction caused by ultraviolet radiation after sun exposure. Its heat resistance and acid resistance are relatively general, and few people use it now.　

Bone snail purple: a malodorous liquid specially designed by the royal family

Bone snail purple, also known as royal purple, is the royal color of the Roman royal family, but the production process is disgusting. Not only do dyes stink, but even dyed clothes smell fishy.

Bone snail purple is made from the mucus of dye bone snail. The appearance of the dyed bone snail is different from that of the common conch, with many sharp spines all over it. The submaxillary gland secretes colorless milky mucus, which was originally used for predation, defense and immunity, and will turn purple after contact with light and oxygen. In addition to the dye Oncomelania, many other animals of Oncomelania can secrete this color-changing mucus.

When extracting purple dye from bone snail, people will take out the meat of bone snail, add salt to soak it, heat it with steam, and add human urine to adjust the color depth.

Although it stinks, the color of bone snail purple is bright and lasting, and it will not fade over the years. The value of bone snail purple is also reflected in its rarity, which requires tens of thousands of bone snails to produce one gram of dye, so it is expensive, and it is suitable as a symbol of power and status.

In the past, the production and use of bone snail purple were strictly restricted, and it could only be used for emperor’s clothing, clergy’s robes and military orders. It was not until 1856 that a chemist accidentally discovered the world’s first synthetic chemical dye, aniline purple, and purple gradually faded from the aristocratic color.　

Cattle blood red: the result of thinking "red" and thinking crazy

Red is a color that fascinates nobles in history. The brighter it is, the more it symbolizes wealth and status. In Europe at that time, the dyeing process was almost equivalent to magic, and the dye formula was a secret that craftsmen would not tell anyone.

For a long time, the red dyes on the European market were all "Turkish red" imported from the Ottoman Empire. Western craftsmen were eager to replicate this mysterious oriental red, so they made all kinds of strange attempts.

In addition to the main ingredient, madder, they also tried to add cow dung, cow blood and deteriorated olive oil in the complicated processing process, or Brazil sappan, lac and lichen, but the dyeing effect was not ideal, often brown and orange, which was easy to fade and smelled bad.

Later, a kind of red pigment from Central America entered Europe. This kind of red is so bright that craftsmen are no longer obsessed with copying the oriental red. This kind of red is the carmine made by cochineal insects mentioned above.　

Scheler green: the fatal discovery of chemists

Green is the hardest hit area of toxic pigments. At first, people used copper carbonate to dye, and then Scheler green was discovered, and then Paris green and cobalt green appeared. Each green is beautiful, but each green is toxic.

Scheler green is copper arsenite, which is bright but unstable, not only toxic, but also carcinogenic. Scheler green has poisoned many people in history, and Napoleon may be one of them.

Napoleon died in St. Helena in 1821. There are different opinions on the cause of death. Many scholars have determined that the arsenic content in Napoleon’s hair is much higher than that of normal people. Some people speculate that Napoleon was poisoned and killed. Others point out that the abnormal arsenic content may be related to the Scheler green wallpaper in Napoleon’s room. St. Helena has a humid climate, and Napoleon may die of chronic poisoning due to long-term inhalation of arsenic-containing gas released from wallpaper.

Scheler Green is named after Scheler, the chemist who discovered it. During his life, he made many discoveries that are very important to human beings, such as oxygen and chlorine. After he discovered that copper arsenite can be used as a green dye, this color became popular in the clothing and construction industries. Later, people became sick and even died because of "toxic skirts" and "toxic rooms", and the toxicity of Scheler green began to be recognized. However, people have not completely abandoned it and turned to use it as an insecticide.

Lead white: Did the Queen die of her beauty?

Many people want to have snow-white skin, and there have been various whitening products in history, and lead white is one of them.

Cosmetics containing lead and white have been popular in eastern and western countries, and painters who often depict women’s portraits, such as Renault-Argentina, also use lead and white pigments to show women’s white and beautiful skin after makeup. Even today, whitening products are exposed because of excessive lead content.

In fact, lead white is not the best choice for whitening.

Lead white is the basic lead carbonate, which makes the skin look "dead white" through its strong hiding power. When lead enters the skin, it will not only make the skin dull, but also lead poisoning.

The cause of death of Queen Elizabeth I of England may be lead white powder poisoning, and painters who often use lead white paint also suffer greatly. Because of its remarkable whitening effect, although it has been banned repeatedly in the past, people who insist on using it are still emerging one after another.

There is also a kind of lead white, which is not only toxic, but also a little disgusting.

Its figure appeared in the murals of Egyptian tombs and the icons of Christ in the Renaissance, and it was made by mixing lead ingots, vinegar and cow dung. Although the material is quite blasphemous, the finished product is extremely white and beautiful.