In China's Hunan Province, archaeologists have discovered grains of rice from as long ago as 6000 B.C.
Agriculture in China has a history of over 10,000 years. As part of the three major centers for the development of agriculture in ancient times, China is notable as one of the first countries to cultivate rice. Because only 10 percent of land in China is suitable for farming, even the earliest Chinese agricultural techniques were designed for maximum efficiency to support its large and growing population.
Row Crop Farming
China was the earliest civilization to farm by planting in rows rather than broadcasting, or scattering seeds at random in a field. This orderly technique allowed farmers to irrigate more effectively and produce a higher crop yield.
Irrigation Control
Because irrigation and wet-farming techniques were crucial for cultivating rice, a staple of the Chinese diet, the Chinese developed superior irrigation techniques.
One ancient innovation, the Dujiangyan irrigation system, is still around today. Its ingenious design has made it into a modern tourist attraction. Invented over 2,200 years ago, the Dujiangyan system was built to control flooding in the plains around the Minjiang River, but unlike even most modern dams, the one at Dujiangyan still allows water and aquatic life to flow through. This control over water is superior to that of even most modern dams, which block the flow of water (See References 3).
Farming Tools
Iron plows were a significant early farming tool in Chinese agriculture. In the third century B.C., improved casting techniques and abundant iron supplies led to the design of iron plowshares called kuan. During the same era, the Greeks and Romans were still using flimsy designs of wood and rope. The iron plows used in China made furrowing fields and planting crops in rows much easier.
Waterwheels were also important tools in early Chinese agriculture. Waterpower was used to grind grain, and large rotary waterwheels developed at around the same time as in Europe, sometime in the second century B.C. China relied on water power for milling grain much more than Western civilizations, which tended to use human or animal labor to power their mills. Chinese workers used water power to operate billows and operate hydraulic hammers for hulling rice and crushing ore.
Related posts
Chinese dance can be divided into the broad categories of folk and classical.Chinese dance existed even before the earliest written Chinese characters. Ceramic artifacts dated from 4000 B.C. depic...
Chinese fans are more than 3,000 years old.Fans date back over 3,000 years to the Shang dynasty (1600 to 1046 B.C.) of ancient China. Used for shelter from the elements and cooling, a prop in dram...
Folding fans were invented by the Japanese and brought to China through Korea.Chinese fans are thought to have originated in the 11th century B.C. King Wu of the Zhou Dynasty may have invented the...
A Chinese-American restaurant phenomenon is the monumental culinary display of meats, dumplings, soups and veggies served banquet-style.Chinese restaurants continue to shape-shift. The mid-1900s s...
Because of their small size and pleasant nature, Chinese button quail, known interchangeably as Chinese painted quail, are a popular choice as pets. An adult Chinese button quail has blue-gray or...
