"At this time, he told me to pull up the mask and cover my nose, so as to avoid flying flowers into my nostrils."

China is the first to use masks in the world. In ancient times, in order to prevent dust and breath pollution, people in the court began to cover their mouths and noses with silk scarves, such as the book of Rites: "cover your mouth, fear of touching people with gas." "Mencius · Lilou" records: "the west is not clean, then people all hide their noses." It is not hygienic to cover your nose with your hands or sleeves, and it is not convenient to do other things. Later, someone covered his mouth and nose with a piece of silk cloth. In his travels of Marco Polo, Marco Polo recorded his experiences of living in China for 17 years. One of them said, "in Yuan Dynasty palaces, people who offer food use silk cloth to cover their mouths and noses, so as to give them breath and not touch food." This kind of silk cloth is the original mask.

In the early 13th century, masks only appeared in Chinese courts. In order to prevent his breath from spreading to the emperor's food, the waiter used a kind of towel made of silk and gold thread to make a mask.

At the end of the 19th century, masks began to be used in the medical field. German pathologist ledge began to advise medical staff to use gauze masks to prevent bacterial infections

At the beginning of the 20th century, for the first time, masks became a necessity of public life. The Spanish flu, which has swept the world, has killed about 50 million people and ordinary people have been asked to use masks to fight the virus.

In the middle and late 20th century, the large-scale use of masks was obviously frequent. In the history of influenza, masks have played an important role in preventing and blocking the spread of pathogens.

In March 1897, German Medici introduced a method of wrapping the mouth and nose with gauze to prevent the invasion of bacteria. Later, someone made a mask of six layers of gauze, sewn on the collar, and turned over to cover the nose and mouth. However, this kind of mask has to be pressed by hand all the time, which is very inconvenient. Later, someone came up with a way to tie the belt to the ear, which became the mask that people often use now.

In 1910, the plague broke out in Harbin, China. At that time, Dr. Wu Liande, Deputy Supervisor of Beiyang Army Medical College, invented the "Wu's mask".

In 2003, the use and popularization of masks reached a new climax. A "SARS" almost made masks out of stock. There were long lines in front of major drugstores, and people scrambled to buy masks.

In 2009, after the "bird flu" in 2004, "A H1N1 flu" once again made the mask army appear in front of the cameras of the major news media all over the world.

In 2013, the appearance of PM2.5 air hazard concept caused the public to pay attention to air pollution, which made protective equipment such as masks very popular during haze weather.

On February 7, 2020, in the disinfection and supply center of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, more than 30 medical staff and volunteers made masks with medical packaging non-woven fabrics, absorbent paper for instruments, N95 melt blown filter cloth and other materials.