Chapter 8 Chapter 2 Intensive farming and man's interaction between man and nature——Traditional Chinese agricultural science and technology
Our country not only has a long history of agriculture, but also produced and preserved a wealth of agricultural classics.According to the statistics of the "United Catalog of Ancient Chinese Agricultural Books" edited by the Beijing Library, before the introduction of modern Western agricultural science to my country, there were 634 kinds of agricultural books in my country, and more than 300 kinds (including lost ones) have been preserved to date.In recent years, many agricultural books that were previously unknown have been discovered.These agricultural books can be divided into two categories: comprehensive agricultural books and professional agricultural books.In each period of agricultural development in ancient my country, there are some representative agricultural books, which profoundly reflect the agricultural appearance and the level of agronomy at that time, and become the symbols of each stage of the development of ancient Chinese agronomy.
Among the hundreds of philosophers in the Warring States Period of our country, there were farmers.The source of the farm family is partly the agricultural officials of past dynasties, who were responsible for the tasks of persuading and supervising agricultural production, organizing the construction of ditches, etc., and the other part was civilian intellectuals who had more contacts with farmers. They all accumulated a lot of agricultural production knowledge and had focus on. "Hanshu·Yiwenzhi" contains nine farm works, among which "Shen Nong" and "Ye Lao" are works of the Warring States period, and none of them have been preserved.However, in the "Lushi Chunqiu" written in 239 BC, there are four chapters: "Shangnong", "Rendi", "Biantu", and "Shenshi". "Shangnong" talks about agricultural policies, and the other three are about agriculture. Technology, this is the earliest group of agronomy papers in our country. The three articles including "Ren Di" focus on how to transform the flooded saline-alkali land into a farmland with an acre structure. A brilliant summary of production techniques.It is the first time to clearly expound the dialectical and unified relationship among environmental factors, human factors and agricultural biology in agricultural production, and it is the foundation work of my country's intensive farming agronomy.In addition, the chapters "Shangshu Yugong" and "Guanzi Diyuan" written in the Warring States period are works of high level in agricultural geography and soil science.
The most important agricultural books from the Qin and Han Dynasties to the Southern and Northern Dynasties include "Fan Fan Fan Sheng Zhi Shu", "Si Min Yue Ling" and "Qi Min Yao Shu".
Fan Shengzhi was born in the late Western Han Dynasty. He served as Yilang of Emperor Cheng of the Han Dynasty, and once directed agricultural production in the Guanzhong area with outstanding achievements.The agricultural book he wrote has been lost, and only fragments have been preserved from other ancient books, with only more than 3,500 characters collected.It puts forward the general principle of farming and cultivation in the northern drylands of "time-trending, harmonizing the soil, manure management, early hoeing, and early harvesting", and records the district-field method of deep-plowing thin tubes on small areas of land and intensively using water and fertilizers to achieve high yields. , and specifically discussed the cultivation techniques of several crops.Rich content.
In the 2nd century AD (the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty), the famous political commentator Cui Shi [shi Shi] wrote "Si Min Yue Ling" and there is only a lost edition.It is a masterpiece of agricultural books of the monthly decree category, reflecting various production and management activities in the landowners' farms in the Yellow River Basin.
The most systematic and wonderful summary of agricultural production technology in the Yellow River Basin since the Han Dynasty is "Qi Min Yao Shu" in the 6th century AD (Northern Wei Dynasty).The author of this book is Jia Sixie [xie threat] from the Northern Wei Dynasty. In the process of writing the book, he extensively collected relevant materials in historical documents and agricultural proverbs, consulted old farmers and experienced intellectuals, and used his own practice (observation) and experiments) to test the experience and conclusions of predecessors and present.The whole book is rigorous, simple, precise and detailed, which can be regarded as a model of agricultural books for later generations. "Qi Min Yao Shu" covers the planting of grain, oil, fiber, dye, fodder, vegetables, fruit trees, and forest trees, as well as sericulture, animal husbandry, fish farming, processing of agricultural and sideline products, and cooking.As the author said, it "starts from self-cultivation and farming, and finally 醯 [xi 希] (vinegar) 醢 [hai sea] (meat sauce), a career of making a living, and the book is endless."The principles and methods summarized in the book, such as plow-harrow-pick-press-hoe, green manure planting, crop rotation and stubble selection, and breeding of improved varieties, mark the maturity of the dryland intensive farming technology system in northern my country.For more than 1,000 years since then, the development of dry farming technology in northern my country has never exceeded the direction and scope it pointed out.Many of these scientific principles are still valid today.Although this book focuses on agriculture in the Yellow River Basin, more than 100 tropical and subtropical plants with practical value are recorded at the end of the chapter, and it is also one of the earliest southern flora.In short, "Qi Min Yao Shu" is the earliest and most complete comprehensive agricultural book in China, and occupies an important position in the agricultural history of China and the world.Both Western and Eastern scholars have given high praise to the achievements of "Qi Min Yao Shu", and more and more people are studying it.For example, there is a so-called "Jia Xue" in Japan. "Qimin Yaoshu" has become the common wealth of people all over the world.
The development of agronomy during this period was firstly reflected in the increase in the number of agricultural books.The number of known agricultural books is almost double that of the previous generation of agricultural books combined.The most important comprehensive agricultural books include "Four Seasons Collection" by Han E in the late Tang Dynasty; "Nongshu" by Chen Yu (fu Fu) in the Southern Song Dynasty; Agricultural Book", "Nongsang Clothing and Food Summary" written by Lu Mingshan, a Uighur, etc.
In the Tang and Song dynasties, professional agricultural books increased greatly, with more detailed subjects and more specialized content.The more important ones are "Lei Si Jing" by Tang Lu Guimeng, "Tea Classic" by Lu Yu, "Simu Anji Collection" by Li Shi, "Silkworm Book" by Qin Guan in Song Dynasty, "Sun Book" by Zan Ning, Chen Zhu [ Zhu Zhu]'s "Tong Pu", Cai Xiang's "Litchi Pu", Han Yanzhi's "Orange Record", Chen Jingyi's "Quan Fang Bei Zu", etc.There are also a batch of persuasive writings and plowing and weaving pictures, which introduce agricultural technology with popular words and images, or propose solutions to problems in agricultural production. They have the nature of agricultural promotion and are a new form of ancient agronomy in our country.All of these are difficult to describe.The following only focuses on introducing the two most important agricultural books.Their authors are Chen Tan and Wang Zhen respectively.
Chen Yan (AD 1076-1154) was born at the turn of the Northern Song Dynasty and the Southern Song Dynasty. He lived in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River.The "Nongshu" written by him in the 19th year of Shaoxing (AD 1149) is a regional agricultural book summarizing the experience of agricultural production and management in the Jiangnan area.His attitude in writing books is that he does not copy what others say, and does not follow suit. He only writes down what has been proved to be reliable by his own practice.Therefore, although the book is not large in length and scope, it is full of fresh experience and fresh ideas, which is almost unique among the comprehensive agricultural books after "Qi Min Yao Shu".Among them are incisive expositions on paddy field cultivation techniques and rational use of various types of land, marking the maturity of the southern paddy field intensive cultivation technology system.It and "Qi Min Yao Shu" can be regarded as a double star, reflecting the north and the south.The book puts forward propositions such as "stealing the heaven and the earth at the right time" and "the soil is always fresh and strong", which is of milestone significance in the development history of traditional agronomy.
Wang Zhen (unknown date of birth and death) was born in the Yuan Dynasty. He was originally from Dongping, Shandong. He worked as a county governor in Anhui and Jiangxi.The "Nongshu" written by him in the early 14th century included and compared the production techniques of the dry land in the north and the paddy field in the south for the first time.In particular, about 2/3 of the book is used to introduce 260 kinds of "agricultural implements" (mainly agricultural implements, but also some agricultural product processing tools and other agricultural-related facilities). Each agricultural implement has a picture and a text description. One piece, accompanied by poems, is really rich in pictures and texts, and it is magnificent. It is actually the oldest and most complete map of agricultural tools in our country.
The Ming and Qing Dynasties were the times when the creation of agricultural books flourished and the results were abundant.There are hundreds of Ming and Qing agricultural books that have been handed down to the present, accounting for more than half of the total agricultural books in my country.These agricultural books are rich in content and in various forms, and many of them are high-level masterpieces.This is a reflection of the continuous development of agricultural production and agricultural technology at that time.Among the large-scale comprehensive agricultural books in this period, the most important ones are "Agricultural Policy Complete Book" and "Shishi Tongkao".
"Nongzheng Quanshu" was published in the 12th year of Ming Chongzhen (AD 1639).The author Xu Guangqi (1562-1633 A.D.) was a great scientist in the late Ming Dynasty. Although he was an official to the Minister of Rites and a Bachelor of Dongge University, his official career was bumpy. He mainly focused on scientific research and had in-depth knowledge of astronomy, mathematics, and agriculture. He was the first person in my country to introduce Western natural science.Agronomy is the field where he works the hardest and gains the most.When he was young and middle-aged, he read and taught while participating in agricultural production. Later, he conducted extensive agricultural experiments in Shanghai, Tianjin and other places, and collected a large amount of agricultural materials from previous generations and the present. The book "Nongzheng Quanshu" is an imperial masterpiece with more than 500,000 words.The book is divided into farm book, field system, farming (centered on reclamation), water conservancy, agricultural implements, arboriculture (grain, horticulture), sericulture, sericulture broad categories (kapok, ramie, etc.), planting (cash crops), animal husbandry, manufacturing (Agricultural and sideline product processing, etc.), famine policy and other twelve items, the content is greatly expanded compared with the previous generation of agricultural books.It discriminatively collects the essence of agricultural books and literatures of past dynasties, supplements the missing links in previous agricultural books such as reclamation, water conservancy, and famine management, and summarizes the fresh experience in cotton and sweet potato introduction and cultivation since Song and Yuan Dynasties. For the first time, the "science of numbers and images" was applied to agricultural research. Through the statistical analysis of historical data and field observations, it correctly pointed out the breeding places of locusts. ", can be regarded as a masterpiece of Chinese traditional agricultural books, which is rich in content, rich in content, and a combination of inheritance and innovation.
"Shou Shi Tong Kao" was compiled in the seventh year of Qianlong (AD 1742), organized by the Qing government.The whole book is divided into eight categories: weather, soil, grain, merit, persuasion, storage, agricultural surplus, and sericulture. It collects and preserves a wealth of information, but there is no innovation in the content.
In this period, the comprehensive agricultural books and local small-scale agricultural books increased significantly.The most famous ones are "Shen's Agricultural Book" and "Bu Nong Shu" in Zhejiang, "Sannong Ji" in Sichuan, "Nongyuan Bianlan" and "Nongshen Jing" in Shandong, "Nong Yan Shi" in Shaanxi, Shanxi's "Mashou Nongyan", etc., many of them are written experience summaries by landlords, reflecting the development of agricultural production and agricultural technology in various regions.
Professional agricultural books also emerged in large numbers.Sericulture, animal husbandry and veterinary monographs are the most, and there are also many agricultural books on gardening, flowers, tea growing, and fish farming.Some contents are very specialized, such as "Rice Products" which records rice varieties, "Jiangnan Cultivation Course Rice Compilation" which advocates the promotion of double-cropping rice in the south of the Yangtze River, and "Tobacco Spectrum", "Kapok Spectrum", "Golden Potato Spectrum" which discuss emerging crops. There are special books on fungus breeding, beekeeping, stocking, and tussah silkworms.It was written by people to solve new problems in agricultural production and to sum up new experiences.It is also worth pointing out that, under the conditions of large population and little land, people are pursuing high yields in small areas, and have experimented with district planting methods one after another. As a result, there have been many agricultural books about district field methods in the name of "district field". They are included in "Ten Species of District".People summed up the experience of fighting against disasters and famine relief, and wrote a series of special books on locust control and famine relief plants.The above two types of agricultural books are not available in the previous generation.
There is another category of agricultural books that emphasizes theoretical analysis, such as Ma Yilong's "Nong Shuo" in the Ming Dynasty and Yang Qi (shen Shen)'s "Outline of Knowledge" in the Qing Dynasty. Further systematized, there is a fairly high level.However, they were still explaining agricultural production phenomena with relatively abstract philosophies. At that time, there was still a lack of scientific observation and experimental means such as microscopes, and it was difficult to deeply explore the inner mysteries of agricultural organisms and form a theory based on scientific experiments. It does not hinder the further development of my country's agronomy in the future.
Looking at the ancient agricultural books of our country, it far surpasses the contemporary Western Europe in terms of voluminous volumes, diverse genres, rich and profound content, and widespread and long-lasting circulation.This is the precious legacy left by our ancestors to us and to all mankind.
The main content of the ancient agricultural science system in our country will be introduced respectively below.
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