Post in the Past解密古代“快遞”

今天，快遞使我們的生活變得更輕松了。但你知道嗎？中國人過去也使用過它！人們稱它為“Youyi（郵驛）”。

可是在古代，只有officials（官員）才能使用郵驛。他們通常用郵驛來發送消息和信件。快遞員通過騎馬或船運來完成送消息、送信件的任務。有時候甚至會用步行來送件，當然距離不能太遠。

How fast was it？

In the Qing Dynasty （清代）， when an army won a battle （軍隊打勝仗）， they sent the news by post.The first postman rode （騎） a horse as fast as he could. He passed the news on to the second postman. And the second man passed it on to the third. It was like a relay race （接力賽）.

在清朝，每當軍隊打贏了一場戰役，他們用郵寄的方式發送消息。第一個快遞員騎馬送件，有多快跑多快。他把消息傳給了第二個快遞員，第二個快遞員又傳給了第三個快遞員，就像接力賽一樣。

In this way， the news could travel 400 kilometers in one day！ This is about the same distance （距離） from Beijing to Jinan （濟南）.

這樣下去，消息一天就能傳播400公里！這大約是從北京到濟南的距離。

Other ways to send things

Biaoju （鏢局） helped common （普通的） people send expensive things， such as gold. Biaoju guards were good at kung fu. They could protect the things they sent.

鏢局可以幫助一般百姓寄送昂貴的東西，比如黃金。鏢局的人功夫都非常好，所以雇主不用擔心自己貨品的安全問題。

What did they send？

Besides （除了） news and letters， postmen also sent fruits. Do you know Yang Guifei （楊貴妃）？ She lived in the Tang Dynasty. She liked eating lychees （荔枝）. People sent her fresh fruit from the south （南方）. It only took a few days to send the fruit.

除了消息和信件，快遞員還運送水果。大家都知道楊貴妃吧？她生活在唐朝，特別喜歡吃荔枝。快遞員從南方快遞荔枝給她只花了幾天時間。

Have a go

If you were a common person in the Qing Dynasty， how could you send gold？