History of rice in China

Archaeologists have confirmed that China initiated the sowing rice at least 3.000 to 4.000 years ago. In the 1970s, long-grain non-glutinous rice seeds were unearthed from Neolithic ruins in the Yuyao Hemudu, Zhejiang province, the earliest records of rice plantation in China, and the world.

By the time the western Zhou dynasty (c. 1100 BC - C 771 BC) was in power, rice has been well accepted and very important, as can be seen from the inscriptions on bronze vessels used as containers for rice storage. At this time, rice was a central part of aristocratic banquets.

During the Spring and Autumn Period (770 BC - 476 BC), rice became an important part of diets for the Chinese. Later, in southern China, especially with the development of intensive agricultural techniques meticulously during the Han dynasty (206 BC - 220 AD), rice rose to occupy an important position in Chinese culture.

Rice cultivation led to the development of an agricultural-centered economic life cycle: plowing in spring, weeding in summer, harvesting in fall, and hoarding in winter. In ancient China, large amounts of land, including the present-day central and lower parts of the Yangtze River region and northern China, were suitable for planting rice, with most Chinese working the land in a very small way. particular during the different seasons of the year.

Rice cultivation influenced many other aspects of the ancient Chinese economy. For example, Chinese agriculture depended on sophisticated irrigation techniques to be viable. The importance of irrigation is described in Histories Twenty-Four, a collection of 4.000-year-old chronicle books of Chinese history, which recorded dynastic histories from distant antiquity to the Ming dynasty (1368 - 1644).

China was built on agriculture. During the period before the Qin Dynasty (221 BC - 206 BC), rice had become a specially prepared food. It was also used to prepare wines and was offered as a sacrifice to the gods. What's more, rice was delicately made into different kinds of food, which played an important role in a number of traditional Chinese festivals.

First of all, rice is a central part of the Spring Festival (or lunar New Year) dinner on Christmas Eve. On this occasion, Chinese families that the New Year's cake and steamed cake made from flour turned from glutinous rice. The cake is called «gao» in Chinese, a homophony to another «Gao», which means stop. People eat these cakes in hopes of a better harvest and better condition in the New Year.

New Year's cakes and dinner symbolize people's wishes for a better future. Second, rice balls are made on the night of the 15th day of the XNUMXst lunar month. This is the first day you can see the full moon of each New Year. People eat rice cakes, known as Yuanxiao in the north and Tangyuan in the south ("yuan" refers to satisfaction in Chinese), all hoping it will come out when they want it.


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