In 1752, Franklin's famous kite experiment helped people discover that "thunder is electricity", which started the process of lightning protection in western buildings. Looking through the vast literature and history materials, people were surprised to find that as early as the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty, the western envoy An Wensi had recorded the "secret technology" of lightning protection of ancient Chinese buildings, which was far earlier than Franklin's kite test. What is China's excellence in direct lightning protection technology? This article will give you a detailed explanation. 
International Electrotechnical Commission IEC/TC81 (the third working group) Chinese expert Guan Xiangshi 
"Relatively speaking, western stone buildings are not afraid of thunder. Thunder has knocked off a corner of the stone, and the damage is physical. But the damage to wood on ancient Chinese buildings is not only physical damage, but also may cause fire." "As the longest existing lightning protection building in China's history, the Cishi Tower is unique in that the eight iron chains do not end at the wing corner, but wind down to the ground. In this way, when the lightning strikes, it will leak down along the iron rod, thus protecting the nearby buildings. Isn't the iron pestle the lightning rod (lightning rod)? Isn't the iron chain the downlead and grounded? ” "From this point of view, it seems impossible to explain the 'insulation lightning protection' mechanism through the fact that Yingxian wooden tower has been undamaged for nearly a thousand years."
Chinese ancient buildings are more wooden than those in the west
Hugo, a great French writer, once said that the history of western architecture is "a history written in stone". In other words, most western buildings are made of stone. However, ancient Chinese architecture is mainly made of wood. "Relatively speaking, western stone buildings are not afraid of thunder. Thunder has knocked off a corner of the stone, and the damage is physical. But the damage to wood on ancient Chinese buildings is not only physical damage, but also may cause fire," said Guan Xiangshi. Since ancient times, lightning strikes have caused human and animal casualties, and destroyed countless luxury palaces, temples and residential buildings. In 762 AD, a fire caused by a lightning strike led to the burning of most of the more than 1000 houses in the Potala Palace in Lhasa, Tibet, except Qujie Zhupu and Pabalakang. Access details 
Cishi Tower: the longest existing lightning protection building in China's history
In the south of the Yangtze River and in the north of Hunan Province, there is a lake with the world in mind, and a "Yueyang Tower Story" is widely read. This is Dongting Lake. Cishi Pagoda is located in the southwest of Dongting Lake. It is a brick and stone tower with seven storeys and eight corners. It is 39 meters high. The pagoda stands majestically, looking at Dongting Lake, which is one of the "Baling Victories". Legend has it that Cishi Tower was built by a widow named Cishi. This weak woman, after her young husband died in the vast Dongting Temple, devoted her pension money to this huge project in order to suppress the evil dragon locked by the gods under the tower. In the lake, there is an iron shackle, several giant chains, shackles, chains, towers, guarding the city of Yueyang. These "giant chains" are the key to lightning protection. Generally speaking, there will be an iron pestle in the center of the top of the ancient pagoda, and the decorations on the top of the pagoda are all constructed according to it. To fix the top of the pagoda, several iron chains will be used to extend along the vertical ridge on the top of the pagoda to the wing angle. Because the tension is uniform, the top of the pagoda will not shake due to strong winds and earthquakes. Access details
Yingxian Wooden Tower in Shanxi: Is "Insulation and Lightning Protection" Reliable?
The Yingxian wooden tower in Shanxi, known as the "Chinese Ancient Architecture Dougong Museum", was built in the second year of Qingning in the Liao Dynasty (1056 A.D.), with a height of 67.31 meters. It is the tallest and oldest pure wood structure building in the world. In the past thousand years, the literature records of Yingxian wooden tower being struck by lightning are very few. Therefore, some researchers carried out field investigations and high-voltage simulation experiments, and put forward the "theory of insulation and lightning protection of Yingxian wooden tower". They believe that the body and temple of Yingxian wooden tower, as mentioned above, are two layers of masonry with a height of 4 meters, and the ground under and around the tower foundation is the compacted earth (loess) layer with a depth of 7 meters built when the tower was built that year. Wood, brick, soil, stone and tower foundation are all in dry state, with excellent insulation performance. There is no low resistance layer underground, so there is a mechanism of "insulation and lightning protection". However, in a thunderstorm on the night of September 7, 2002, the wooden tower was struck by lightning. It was not until September 15, 2002, when the management personnel of the wooden tower were cleaning up, they found that the auxiliary pillar in the northeast corner of the fifth floor of the tower was struck by lightning. Access details 
Thunder Fire Alchemy Hall: a vanished natural wonder
In the past, when there were thunderstorms, there would be thunder around the Golden Palace on the top of Tianzhu Peak, the main peak of Wudang Mountain. Lightning would tear the ground, and countless large fireballs would roll back and forth around the Golden Palace. After the rain and clear sky, the main hall is bright as if it had been washed. This magnificent landscape is called "Thunder Fire Alchemy Hall". The "Thunder Fire Alchemy Hall" is a normal reflection of the thunder and lightning phenomenon in nature, and also the result of the ingenuity of ancient Chinese people. On the one hand, it has the effect of lightning protection, on the other hand, it makes Wudang Mountain, the Taoist holy land, more famous. In the 14th year of Yongle in the Ming Dynasty (AD 1416), craftsmen first made copper sheets in Beijing, and then transported them to the Jinding of Wudang Mountain, where they were welded like "assembled furniture". "Because of this construction technology, this large metal object is insulated from the ground, and cannot be discharged after being hit by lightning, so it is transformed into heat energy. When the temperature is high, it is like copper is re melted, and the golden palace is like a new one." Guan Xiangshi explains "the golden palace of thunder fire". Access details
Lightning protection of ancient buildings still faces difficulties
Compared with the West, China has always attached great importance to the lightning protection of ancient buildings, and the country has also issued the Lightning Protection Standard for Ancient Buildings, which has become the industry management standard. As one of the drafters of China's Lightning Protection Standard for Ancient Buildings, Guan Xiangshi explained the purpose of drafting: "On the one hand, Chinese buildings are older than western buildings and have very valuable cultural relics; on the other hand, the structure of Chinese buildings itself is more complex, which needs to be explained by separate standards." Relatively speaking, so far, there is no special lightning protection standard for ancient buildings in foreign countries. There is only one or two statements about ancient buildings in the relevant standards, which is mainly related to the fact that western stone buildings are not afraid of thunder. Access details 
epilogue
Ancient cultural relics not only need to be protected against lightning strikes, but also try to protect the original appearance of cultural relics when installing lightning protection facilities, which adds difficulty to the lightning protection of ancient buildings. In the face of unpredictable natural disasters and lightning protection techniques, it is still worth thinking about how Chinese people can maintain and increase the value of these "millennium real estate" in ancient Chinese buildings.
