Since modern times, with the bombardment of the country by the strong ships of the Westerners, and the invasion of European wind and rain, the Chinese generally regard Europe as a model of civilization, wealth, democracy, and even the most beautiful place in the whole country.

But in fact, in terms of livability of climate and geographical conditions, Europe is far inferior to East Asia - we Chinese are in the midst of happiness and do not know happiness!

I don't know if you have noticed that the European continent is one level higher than the East Asian continent in latitude when you look at the Shijie map?

To give you an example, the northernmost city in China is Mohe in Heilongjiang Province, located at 53 degrees north latitude.

The average annual temperature here is around -5.5°C, and the average monthly temperature is below 0°C for up to 8 months. Therefore, it is cold all year round, only about half a month in summer, the maximum temperature is only 20 °C, and only about 10 °C at night, known as "China's Arctic City".

What's even more troubling is the high latitude that changes dramatically between day and night. On the summer solstice, although the temperature in Mohe is cool, the day reaches more than 19 hours. On the winter solstice, when the days are shortest, you can only see the sun for four or five hours, and the light is very weak.

Located at 53 degrees north latitude, the "Arctic City of China" is already so daunting that it is not a good place to live. So how high should the latitude of those famous historical cities in Europe be?

Here are some figures: Moscow, Russia, 56 degrees north latitude; Berlin, Germany, 52.5 degrees N, London, England, 51.5 degrees N, Paris, France, 49 degrees N. The city of Harbin in China's Heilongjiang Province is located at 45 degrees north latitude - the beautiful flower capital of Paris in our impression is even further north than Harbin! And most of the land in Britain is the same latitude as Siberia!

Further south, Rome, Italy, at 42 degrees north latitude; Madrid, Spain, 40.5 degrees north latitude. The latitude of Beijing is 39 degrees north. These southern European countries, which are full of sandy beaches and bikinis in our impression, are actually located at about the same latitude as Jilin and Liaoning.

Continue south, cross the Mediterranean, until we come to the Nile River in the middle of the desert, and we have the impression of Egypt, which is already a hot hell, what is its latitude? Cairo, Egypt, is 30 degrees north latitude, about the same latitude as Shanghai – I recently saw an interview on television with a Cairo citizen who complained that after the revolution, there were constant power outages in the city, no heating in winter, and that he was suffering from rheumatism......

In general, the European continent is one level higher than the East Asian continent in terms of latitude. The Western European region with Britain, France and Germany as the core is at the same latitude as the Northeast region; The latitudes of Northern Europe and northern Britain are already on par with Siberia. Even the southern European regions of Spain, Italy, and Greece on the Mediterranean Sea are only about the same latitude as northern China.

To describe Europe as a cold place is not an exaggeration for us Chinese.

Although Europe is warmer in winter than East Asia at the same latitude, thanks to the warm current of the Atlantic Ocean, if there is any abnormality in this warm current (there have been several times), most of Europe will fall into a hellish ice cave of minus 40 degrees Celsius in the winter!

What's worse is that on the earth, different regions at the same latitude do not necessarily have the same temperature due to the influence of altitude, monsoon, and warm current, which is related to the specific geographical environment. But the higher the latitude, the greater the variation in the length of day and night, but it is an absolute truth - because it is a matter of the sun.

In Mohe, Heilongjiang, which is 53 degrees north latitude, the sun can only be seen for four or five hours in winter, and it should be a similar situation in Berlin, Germany, and London, England, which are about the same latitude. Further north, Moscow is already dark all day and night. …,

Therefore, everyone should understand that modern Europeans, weishenme will be so keen to run to the Mediterranean to bask in the sun.

In the summer, the situation is reversed, the sun hovers over the head for 17 or 18 hours every day without going down, and most of the night has to bask in the sun in the same way, making people dizzy -- in Germany, the temperature usually reaches 30 degrees in summer, and there are already people everywhere who suffer from heat stroke, not that the Germanic people are delicate and unable to bear the heat, but they really have to bask for 18 hours in a row, and no matter how healthy people are, they can't bear it!

Although winter and summer have their own troubles, for the ancient Europeans, the darkness was always more terrible than the light - the days were too long, and for the ancient people, the most was a matter of finding a dark place to sleep, but there was really no way, and it was not impossible to sleep in the sun; If the night is too long, ancient Europe is vast and sparsely populated, and there are poisonous insects and beasts everywhere that kill people, and many people suffer from night blindness because of malnutrition, so they really dare not go out at will in the dark night, otherwise it will be miserable if they encounter dogs, bears, jackals or something, and they can't even escape.

In those days, the lighting conditions were very backward, ordinary people could not light candles and oil lamps at all, and they could not do anything at home after dark, but shivered and prayed in the dark, while thinking about some terrible fantasy myths.

It is precisely because the length of the day changes so dramatically in winter and summer that Westerners in particular find winter precious.

Speaking of which, I have to mention once again the Western fantasy novel A Song of Ice and Fire, in which the mantra of the red-robed witch Melisandre is "The night is long, and everywhere is sinister; The day is bright and prosperous. In a sense, this does reflect the Western European view of the seasons.

In short, in the Middle Ages, before the historic changes, Europe was such a cold, ignorant, backward dark shijie.

Well, without further ado, if there are still people who want to venture into the European Middle Ages after reading the above, I can only admire your courage here and silently offer my blessings.