Raising silkworms to get silk is one of the examples of ancient China's development and utilization of insect resources and achieved remarkable results.Silkworms were originally wild on mulberry trees that grow naturally. Before sericulture was domesticated, people may have known how to use wild silkworm cocoons to spin silk.It is still difficult to determine when artificial silkworm rearing began.Silk sheets, ribbons and silk threads were unearthed from the Neolithic site in Qianshanyang, Zhejiang.Oracle bone inscriptions not only contain hieroglyphs such as silkworm, mulberry, silk, and silk, but also inscriptions on offering sacrifices to the silkworm god and sending people to inspect silkworm affairs.The production of sericulture in the Shang Dynasty has been quite developed, so it can be seen that artificial sericulture started before this.
In the Zhou Dynasty, mulberry planting and sericulture flourished in the north and south of our country, and sericulture and silk weaving were considered sideline labor that women must participate in.There are many chapters in the poem describing sericulture, and some poems vividly describe the busy scene of women picking mulberry and raising silkworms at that time. "Bin Feng · July" wrote:
The "picture of picking mulberries" on the unearthed bronze wares of the Warring States period more realistically depicts the scene of ancient working women picking mulberries (Figure 14).To develop sericulture, it is necessary to multiply mulberry trees and develop mulberry gardens. "The Book of Songs·Zheng Feng·Jiang Zhongzi" has such a verse: "Don't cross my wall, never break my mulberry tree (don't cross my wall, don't pick my mulberry tree)." "Among": "Between ten acres, the mulberry people are idle (between ten acres of mulberry fields, people picking mulberry come and go)." "Mencius · King Hui of Liang" also said: "A house with five acres , the trees are made of mulberry, and those who are fifty can wear silk." It can be seen that there were already large-scale artificially planted mulberry gardens in the Zhou Dynasty.There are two types of mulberry trees depicted in the mulberry-picking pictures on the bronze vessels of the Warring States period, tall and short.Regarding ground mulberry, ancient books say: Plant mulberry and millet together in the first year, and cut off the ground when the mulberry tree grows to the same height as the mature millet, and the mulberry tree will grow new branches from the roots in the second year.This kind of mulberry tree is not only easy to pick and manage, but also has high yield and high yield.The appearance of ground mulberry is also a great progress in the development of sericulture production.
Figure 14 "Mulberry Picking Picture" on the Warring States Bronze Ware
Emphasis on the development of sericulture technology is of great significance to the development of sericulture production. "Guanzi Shanquan Shupian" records: "The people's knowledge is connected with sericulture, so that those who prevent silkworms from getting sick will put a catty of gold and eat eight stones directly, and listen to their words and keep them for officials. Make the teacher travel. There is nothing to do.” That is to say, those who are proficient in silkworm farming technology among the masses will be invited to introduce their experience, and rewarded with gold and exempted from military service.It can be seen that great attention was paid to summing up experience at that time in order to improve the production level of mulberry planting and sericulture.
Preparation of silkworm eggs is an important link in sericulture production. More than 2,000 years ago, people knew that it was necessary to bathe egg noodles with clean water, and later developed to use cinnabar solution, salt water, lime water and other medicines with disinfection effects to wash and disinfect egg noodles.This is very important to prevent the occurrence of silkworm disease.
Silkworm farmers have paid attention to the selection of silkworm eggs more than 1400 years ago. "Qi Min Yao Shu" proposes to select cocoons "dwelling in clusters" as silkworm eggs.Since the Song Dynasty, people have further selected seed cocoons, moths, and eggs from various angles, such as the quality of cocoons, the time and location of cocoons, the time when moths emerge from cocoons, the health of moths, and the health of eggs. .In the Qing Dynasty, people paid more attention to silkworm selection.They know very well that only "silkworms are disease-free, and seeds are disease-free".Through strict seed selection layer by layer, a large number of weak and diseased silkworm eggs were eliminated, thereby improving the physical fitness of the second generation of silkworms, and at the same time, to a certain extent, it was beneficial to prevent the transmission of microparticle pathogens to offspring through embryos.
As far back as the Qin and Han dynasties, people knew that proper high temperature and full food were beneficial to the growth and development of silkworms, and could shorten the age of silkworms. Therefore, all dynasties have paid great attention to the adjustment and control of the humidity and temperature of the sericulture environment.According to the records of "Qi Min Yao Shu": At that time, fires were placed around the silkworm room to adjust the temperature of the silkworm room.The Yuan Dynasty's "Must Use for Farmers" pointed out: When the silkworms are young, the silkworm room should be warmer, because the weather is still cold at that time; after the big sleep, it should be cooler, because the weather is already hot at that time.After long-term sericulture practice, ancient sericulture farmers have also accumulated rich experience in the prevention and treatment of silkworm diseases, such as cleaning and disinfecting silkworm rooms and silkworm tools with drugs, and improving the physical fitness and resistance of silkworms by adding food with drugs and fumigation.By the Ming Dynasty, people had a certain understanding of certain infectious silkworm diseases such as pus disease, softening disease and stiff disease, and actively adopted measures of elimination and isolation to prevent the infection and spread of silkworm diseases.
In order to develop silk production, in addition to raising spring silkworms in ancient times, summer silkworms and autumn silkworms were also raised, and even multiple batches of silkworms were raised a year. There is a record of "Yuan silkworm" in "Zhou Li", and "Yuan" means "re". "Original silkworm" is the silkworm raised for the second time in a year, that is, summer silkworm.According to the records of "Yongjia County Records" compiled by Liu Song Zheng, in the 4th century AD, in Yongjia (now Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province), eight batches of silkworms could be raised a year.We all know the difference between monomorphism, duality and polymorphism in silkworms.In tropical (such as Guangdong) regions, polymorphic silkworms can be used to naturally hatch multiple times in a year to raise multiple batches of silkworms.In addition, the eggs laid by dimorphic silkworms can also be used to accelerate greening at a suitable low temperature, so that the eggs laid can continue to hatch within the same year.Continue to maintain low temperature to accelerate greening, just can continue hatching again.In ancient times, Yongjia (now Wenzhou, Zhejiang) was able to raise eight batches of silkworms a year, which was realized by using low temperature to catalyze the duality of silkworms. "Yongjia County Records" records:
There are eight generations of silkworms in Yongjia: 蚖〔Yuan〕Zhen silkworm, harvested in March; At the end of the month; four silkworms, early September; cold silkworms, October.Those who are more familiar with silkworms are called "precious" by the predecessors.Those who raise "precious" should raise them less. Those who "love silkworms" are also the seeds of the silkworm: after the harvest in March, the moths will come out and the eggs will be harvested, and the eggs will be dissected and silkworms will be born in seven or eight days.If you want to be a "love", take the rare eggs, put them in the poppy [yingying] (you can use ten papers according to the size of the vessel), cover the mouth of the vessel, put them in the cold water of the kengkeng spring, and let the air-conditioning break Its momentum.It takes three to seven days, and then it is cut off to give birth, and it is raised less. It is called "Aizhen", also called "Aizi".It turns into a cocoon, moths come out, and eggs are laid.After seven days, the eggs are cut into silkworms again, and they are raised more, which means "love silkworms".When hiding the eggs... make the water high and low to be at the same level as the eggs. If the water outside is high, the eggs will die and will not come back;If you can't break its momentum, you won't be able to do it for three or seven days.Not for three or seven days, even if "failed" comes out. Those who "do not succeed" mean that they have become cocoons in vain.The moths lay eggs, and they will not be born again in seven days.Ears will not be born until next year.
This record shows that the silkworm farmers in Wenzhou, my country at that time knew that the "diapause" state of dimorphic silkworms could be broken at an appropriate temperature.We all know that the eggs laid by the second silkworm of the dimorphic silkworm are usually in a state of diapause in the same year. Even if the temperature is still high at that time, the eggs must wait until the next spring to hatch.Can this state be broken so that the eggs laid by the second silkworm can continue to hatch in the same year?Silkworm farmers in the Jin Dynasty said, yes.Their specific method is: store the eggs laid by the first silkworm of the dimorphic silkworm (that is, the newt silkworm) in a pottery called poppy and cover it, and then put it in the cold spring water in the mountains After 21 days, the silkworm eggs will hatch (under normal natural conditions, the eggs laid by the first silkworms will hatch in only seven or eight days, but at low temperature, that is, "air-conditioning" "Under the influence, the eggs will be extended to 21 days before hatching).This kind of silkworm is called "Aizhen silkworm".It is different from the second silkworm that hatched without the influence of low temperature. The eggs it lays can continue to hatch in the same year.This can be said to be the first time in the world that artificially using the influence of low temperature to interrupt the "diapause" of silkworms.In fact, silkworm farmers in the Yongjia area at that time used this low temperature effect to interrupt the "diapause" of dimorphic silkworms one after another, so that they could continuously hatch four generations in a year (see the schematic diagram), realizing one-year breeding. Multiple batches of silkworms are indeed a remarkable invention.Among them, the key is to master the temperature used to affect the hatching of silkworm eggs.Just as "Yongjia County Records" pointed out: When hiding eggs, the temperature must be appropriate. If it is too low, "the eggs will die and never come back", and if it is too high, it will not be able to delay the eggs until 21 days before hatching.If it cannot be postponed for 21 days, then the purpose of interrupting diapause will not be achieved.The above facts show that ancient Chinese scholars have deeply understood the important influence of temperature on the growth and development of animals.
Diagram of the relationship between the eight generations of silkworms in Yongjia
(Quoted from Wang Zichun's "An Important Invention in the Science of Sericulture in Ancient China - Low-temperature Acceleration of Greens to Produce Raw Seeds")
In addition to mulberry silkworms, in ancient my country there were also many species of silkworms such as tussah silkworms, cypress silkworms, and celestial silkworms, and many achievements have been made.Tussah, people often call it mountain silkworm or wild silkworm, it mainly eats oak leaves.my country's Shandong Peninsula is the birthplace of tussah silkworm breeding.According to ancient records, as early as 40 B.C., people in Penglai and Ye County, Shandong Province had harvested wild tussah cocoons to make silk floss.Later, people gradually knew to use tussah silk to weave silk.In the Ming Dynasty, the use of tussah cocoons to weave silk clothes has become popular all over the country.
In the Ming Dynasty, silkworm farmers in Shandong already had a relatively mature method of stocking tussah silkworms.In the early Qing Dynasty, Sun Tingquan, a native of Yidu County, Shandong Province, wrote an article "Theory of Mountain Silkworms", which specifically introduced the technology of raising mountain silkworms.The article says that tussah silkworms were stocked everywhere in the mountainous area of Jiaodong at that time, and soon tussah silkworm stocking gradually spread to other areas.As early as the early Qing Dynasty, the method of stocking tussah silkworms had been spread to the Liaodong Peninsula.Gradually, it became the second center of tussah silkworm breeding in my country.Soon the method of stocking silkworms spread to Henan and Shaanxi.Later, it spread to farther regions such as Yunnan and Guizhou.
In all sericulture countries in the world, the original silkworm eggs and methods of raising silkworms were directly or indirectly passed on from China.
From 138 BC to 120 BC, as well as Tang and Song Dynasties, Chinese silk fabrics and sericulture silk technology spread to Afghanistan, Persia, India, Egypt, Rome, France and Russia through the "Silk Road"; He went to Korea and Japan to add brilliance to world civilization and made outstanding contributions to cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries.
Both bee pupae and honey are excellent food for human beings.It can be inferred that our ancient ancestors dealt with bees very early.But there are no records of beekeeping until the 3rd century AD.According to Huang Fumi's "Biography of Gao Shi", during the Yanxi period of the Eastern Han Dynasty (AD 158-167), there was a man named Jiang Qi who "lived in seclusion, raised bees and hogs as livestock, taught people all over the world, and did business. There are more than a hundred and three people." It can be seen that beekeeping has become a job for people before 1800.People in the Jin Dynasty already knew that bees are a kind of social insects.The Song Dynasty had a considerable understanding of the internal organization of bee colonies.Wang Yucheng (Zi Yuanzhi) wrote "Recording Bees" in "Xiao Hu Ji", and described the living habits and colony organization of bees as follows in the form of dialogue with monks:
Shangyu Rabbit and Temple Duofeng.The monks in the temple are more than words, and the things are very specific.Yuyin asked: "A bee has a king, what does it look like?" Said: "Its color is blue. The difference is bigger than that of ordinary bees." Asked: "Husband to subdue the crowd?" Said: "The king is not poisonous. I don't know others " Asked "Where is the king?" Said: "When the nest begins to operate, a platform must be built, which is as big as a millet, and it is commonly called the king's platform. The king lives on it, and he has children among them, three or five, not often. The king's sons will all be kings again, and they will be divided into their families at the age of age. The mountain gangster [Meng League] is also divided into bees, and they will thorn the king's platform with thorns, and all the king's sons will die, but the bees will not tear them down." The bees are also divided into groups, or they are clustered like poppies, or they are assisted like a fan. They embrace their king and go away. Where the king is, bees dare not sting. If they lose their king, there will be chaos. Bees are hungry but not busy. And they are indispensable, if there are few bees, they will fall (lazy) and not work."
Here, the internal organization of the hive, grouping habits, especially the method of controlling grouping are described in detail, which is very valuable.At that time, it was known that bees had a queen bee, which was green in color, larger than other bees, and non-toxic.The king gave birth to the young king in Taichung; when the king was divided, the crowd swarmed the queen bee and flew away.If there is a queen bee, the bee will not sting, and if there is no queen bee, the bee colony will collapse.At that time, all beekeepers knew that in order to prevent the bees from separating the nest, they only needed to close the crown with thorns, so that the princes in the nest would die, and the bee colony would not be dismantled.It can be seen that there was a deep understanding of the habits of bees at that time.At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, in "Lingqiu Zhangren" in the volume "Yu Ion", through the comparison of the father and son who are good at beekeeping and those who are not good at beekeeping, Liu Ji described the cleanliness, warmth, and sunshine of the bee colony by the beekeepers. The thoughtful care in terms of drying, drying and preventing predators, as well as the material selection, production, discharge, and management of beehives show that the beekeeping technology at that time had reached a very high level.Yuan Dynasty "Nongsang Jiyao", Wang Zhen's "Nongshu", and Ming Dynasty "Nongzheng Quanshu" all studied beekeeping as a science.Hao Yixing in the Qing Dynasty also wrote a monograph on beekeeping called "Small Notes on Bee Yamen".As for the medicinal use of honey, it has already been listed as a top grade for use.
White wax worms White wax is the secretion of male white wax worms, and it is a farm by-product in my country since ancient times.In the Song Dynasty Zhou Mi's "Guixin Miscellaneous Knowledge" there is a record about raising white wax worms.It is said that Jiangsu and Zhejiang did not produce white wax in the past. Later, someone brought white wax worms from Huaibei to sell. The shape of the species is like a small citrus fruit. Leaves), hundreds of insects will emerge from each seed in May, leaving white feces on the branches, this is white wax. In mid-August, peel it and fry it with boiling soup to become white wax. And the seed is left between the branches, very thin at first, In the coming spring, when it grows bigger, collect its sons and disperse them as before.” The time and method of stocking white wax worms and harvesting white wax have been basically explained here.Later, Wang Ji's "Compendium of Materia Medica", Li Shizhen and Xu Guangqi's "Nongzheng Quanshu" all recorded the species of parasitic plants, places of origin, habits of white wax insects and wax picking methods. At the beginning of the 17th century, Jesuit priests spread the news about China's raising white wax worms to Europe. In 1853, Rockhart sent white wax samples and white wax worms from Shanghai to England for research.
Lac insects Lac insects secrete lac, which is called purple rivet, purple stem or red gum in ancient Chinese books.Zhang Bo recorded in "Wu Lu" in the 3rd century A.D.: "In Jiuzhen Yifeng County, there is soil that is as red as glue. People look at the soil and know that there are ants in it. Because they use wood to insert branches on it, the ants will grow up. , raw lacquer condenses, like mantis crocodile [piaoxiao Piaoxiao]. People fold lacquer to dye flocs, and its color is red, which is called ant lacquer and red gum." Xu Xiake, a famous geographer, inspected Yunnan. It is pointed out that Yunnan is the origin of lac in my country for the first time, and at the same time, it describes the morphology of the purple stalk tree, a parasitic plant of lac insects.Shellac was used as medicine and dye in ancient my country.
Galla aphid Galla galla is the gall formed by the gallaphid aphid on the leaves of Salmonella.It is an important raw material for dyeing and tanning industries, as well as an important medicine.The life history of Gallaphid is very complicated and not easy to be known.Galla is named after being born in (wood (upper Lv lower corner)) (same times) wood.Although people in the Song Dynasty knew that gallnuts (worm galls) were born on salt skin trees, they didn't know that there were insects in them.It was not until Li Shizhen in the Ming Dynasty that he made a more detailed description.Li Shizhen said: "This tree (that is, the salt skin tree) grows in the forest. In May and June, there are small insects like ants, eating its juice, and when it gets old, it leaves seeds, which form small balls among the leaves... It was very small at first, and gradually grew stronger. , it is as big as a fist, or as small as a water chestnut, and its shape is round and long. It is green at first, and then red and yellow after a long time. [Meng]. Mountain people take it before the frost, steam and kill it. Otherwise, the insects will wear it out." Li Shizhen also realized that parasitism is different, and the insect galls (insect galls) are also different.However, limited by the times, he did not fully understand the life history of Gallaphid.
Insect white wax, lac, and gallnut are all achievements of the development and utilization of insect resources in my country since ancient times. These products are not only for domestic use, but also continuously exported to foreign countries.
There are many kinds of insects, some of which are nutritious and delicious, and have long been a delicacy on the dining table in ancient my country.
"Zhou Li" records "蚳醢 [chihai Chihai]", "蚳醢" is ant eggs, "蚳醢" is ant egg sauce processed from ant eggs, for "emperor feeding" and "sacrifice" use.
According to the "Book of Rites", the insects that were used as "food for humans and swallows" in ancient times also included "蜩〔tiaotiao" (cicada) and "Fan" (bee).The "Ode to Cicada" written by Cao Zhi during the Three Kingdoms period recorded all kinds of natural enemies that cicada encountered in its life, and said that its last "natural enemy" was the chef.Tangduan Road recorded in the "Beihulu" that people in Guangxi ate ant sauce.Tang Liu Xun also recorded in "Ling Biao Lu Yi" that the chief of Jiaoguang entertained officials and guests with ant sauce.In the Tang Dynasty, people included locusts in their food.Fan Zhongyan of the Northern Song Dynasty said: "Locusts can be steamed with vegetables." Ming Xu Guangqi recorded in "Tun Yanshu" that people in Tianjin area regarded locusts as delicious food and gave each other gifts.
Interestingly, ancient people also regarded insects such as bedbugs, dragonflies, and longhorns as "delicates from mountains and seas".For example, Jiannan Jiedu envoy Xianyu Shuming of the Tang Dynasty "loves bedbugs, picks up three to five liters of them every time, floats in lukewarm water, vents their gas, and eats them with crispy and five-flavored roll cakes, which are delicious in the world." ") Cui Bao in the Jin Dynasty recorded the situation of people eating dragonflies in "Gu Jin Zhu".Tao Hongjing recorded in "Shen Nong's Materia Medica Collection Notes": Grub [qicao Qi Cao] (chafer larvae) and pig's trotters are mixed and fried to make a soup, which is as white as human milk and attracts people's appetite.
Zhao Xuemin in the Qing Dynasty quoted "The Records of the Chieftains of Gedian in Southern Yunnan" in "Compendium of Materia Medica" and said: There is a kind of brown worm in the chieftains outside Tengyue Prefecture, which lives in the palm wood and eats its fat juice. It is shaped like a sea cucumber and as thick as an arm. The color is black, and the natives regard it as a delicacy.Toast is a must for distinguished guests.The soup tastes absolutely delicious, and the meat is absolutely like Liaodong sea cucumber. Eating it will strengthen the marrow and blood, especially for women to take it off.The brown worms mentioned here may be the larvae of longhorns.He also cited Fang Yizhi's "Little Knowledge of Physics" in the article "Dragon Lice": Dragon Lice can be smoked and oily, eaten without the beetles, or steamed with salt.In fact, it is still sold as raw food in the market in Guangdong, my country.
Most of the insects on the dining table of the ancients have disappeared in the human "recipe", but ant eggs, dragon lice, silkworm chrysalis, locusts, etc. are still people's delicacies.Abroad, insects are also commonly included in recipes.Due to the abundant insect resources, strong reproductive ability, and high nutritional value (some data prove that some insects contain high protein, as well as a variety of amino acids and vitamins), we should fully conduct research, carry forward the ancient traditions of our country, and regard insect development as the future. An ideal source of food, to make another contribution to mankind.
