Every winter an official called the "iceman" would send people out to cut blocks of ice to be stored in the imperial icehouse, which had close to a hundred workers. Feudal kings such as Helu of Wu and Goujian of Yue also had their own icehouses.
周代的冰庫叫「凌陰」，每年冬天，專管冰藏的「凌人」就令人砍冰，藏入冰窖，冰窖工作人員就有近百人，諸侯如吳王闔廬、越王勾踐，也都有專用的冰窖。