First, the ancients only ate two dinners a day, but they also ate supper.
In ancient China, there were no three meals in the morning, noon and evening. Just eat and feed, which means morning and evening. The schedule of the ancients was very different from our present situation. Because there was almost no nightlife in ancient times, the ancients basically began to forget it at seven or eight in the evening. In other words, they basically went to bed at dawn. Since I went to bed early, I naturally got up early. In ancient times, everyone got up before six o'clock. This is the moment when the emperor went to court, and the ministers got up at five o'clock. The time for breakfast is about 9 o'clock in the morning. When the sun reaches the southeast corner of the sky, it begins to eat. It is 9 o'clock. Please note that after eating, there will be no lunch today (be sure to eat). The time for eating is about 4 pm to 5 pm. After eating this meal, people in ancient times were basically ready for bed. At that time, there was no nightlife, and the court implemented a curfew policy. It was terrible to wander around the street and get caught.
By the way, there was no habit of taking a nap in ancient times. Confucius' student was slaughtered to sleep in broad daylight, and Kong Old Master Q was so angry that he cursed him: "Rotten wood cannot be carved, nor can the wall of dung be carved." It can be seen that in the eyes of the ancients, life is hard work. It was the rule at that time to rest as soon as it got dark. This situation was completely changed in the Song Dynasty. The economy in the Song Dynasty was very prosperous, and the nightlife of the masses was gradually enriched. In the Song Dynasty, the curfew policy was abolished, and people could go out to visit the night market. There are many snacks in the street, that is, from the Song Dynasty, the public began to have the habit of eating supper. After the Song Dynasty moved south, southerners continued to keep the tradition of eating supper, while northerners basically did not have this habit. During this period, although people still have two main meals, most people will eat supper at night. The emperor of the Song Dynasty liked to drink mutton soup in the dark, and this habit also spread to the people.
Second, during the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the curfew policy was revived.
After the demise of the Song Dynasty, Meng Yuan ruled the land of China. The Mongols are so funny that they promised to come out at night in the early stage, resumed curfew in the middle stage and stopped in the later stage. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, there was a curfew policy continuously, as long as there was no curfew on festivals such as Lantern Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival. On weekdays, soldiers patrol the streets repeatedly. It's bad luck to find someone walking in the street if the other person can't give any reason. With the curfew from the beginning, the people in Ming and Qing dynasties recovered to two meals a day from the beginning. However, the local big families are all outside, because in the big yard, these big families basically maintain their nightlife. Basically, it's going to the theater, having dinner, and so on. This is inevitable. It is only in modern times that people in China have three meals a day. Since the Opium War, western culture has continuously entered our country, which naturally includes the habit of eating three meals a day. At the beginning of the 20th century, the habit of eating three meals a day gradually became popular, about 100 years ago.