The
legend that rice porridge was used in mortar to make robust ramparts
has been verified by archaeological research in the northwestern
province of Shaanxi, the state news agency Xinhua reported on
Sunday.
For centuries, rumours have circulated that even
the Great Wall of China used sticky rice in their walls, to fend of
hoarding invaders such as Genghis Khan.
Walls hard substance
During
recent maintenance work on the city wall of the provincial capital
Xi'an, workers found that plaster remnants on ancient bricks were quite
hard to remove, said preservationist Qin Jianming.
A
chemical test showed that the mortar reacted the same as glutinous rice
to a reagent. Infra-red spectral analysis also showed that the mortar
displayed a similar molecular structure to glutinous rice.
"Thus we can conclude that the sticky material was in the mortar," Qin was quoted as saying.
The use of this sticky material, Qin said, helps explain why many ancient Chinese brick structures are still standing.
The walls of Xi'an were built in the early years of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644).