As winter comes, hands and feet can easily get cold especially among women. Thick gloves can be one of the best (option) yet some makes wearing them is not convenient, especially when people want to do something with (they) hands.
However, this was not a problem for ancient Chinese people, had a more exquisite (精美的) tool to keep their hands warm: hand warmers.
There is no accurate (write) record regarding the origin of this tool, but there are some tales about its invention.
One folk story concerns an emperor of the Sui Dynasty who visited Jiangsu in the winter. Due the bitter cold, the local official asked manufacturers (design) a small warmer for the emperor that could be held in one's hands. Thus the hand warmer was created.
By the Song Dynasty, the tool was in widespread use. Techniques for producing the tool were (wide) employed in the Ming Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty. Many poems and books from this period recorded people (use) hand warmers. A Dream of Red Mansions, the classic novel by Cao Xueqin in the Qing Dynasty, also featured a maid sending a hand warmer to the heroine Lin Daiyu in one chapter.
Zhang Mingqi, a veteran manufacturer of hand warmers, was considered first-class craftsman in the Qing Dynasty. The tools that he produced (bear) his surname, called Zhang-style hand warmers.
