Chapter 4 Chapter 2 Important Fruits Originating in China

People often use "peaches and plums all over the world" as a metaphor for the many disciples cultivated by a teacher, who spread all over the country and become useful talents.Peaches and plums belong to the same family and are native to China.They are highly adaptable and are now known all over the world. There is a saying in "Historical Records" that "the peaches and plums do not speak, but they form a path [xixi]".This shows the high status of peaches and plums in people's minds. Prunus (Prunus Persica Batsch), of the genus Prunus, is both a fruit tree and a pleasing ornamental plant in the Rosaceae family.Peach is called fairy fruit longevity peach. The fruit is gorgeous in shape and sweet in taste. Peach blossoms bloom in spring, magnificent and colorful, and peach blossom forests attract tourists from all over the world.In the "Zhou Nan" chapter of the famous collection of ancient Chinese poems, there is a poem "The peach is so young, its flowers are scorching", which means, "The peach tree is so lush, with fiery red flowers."In "Han Feizi Wai Chu Shuo Bottom Left", there is a story that Duke Ai of Lu gave Confucius peaches.The "Qi Min Yao Shu" of the Northern Wei Dynasty described the characteristics, reproduction and cultivation management of peach trees in great detail. From these documents, it can be known that peaches had been valued and cultivated in China three to four thousand years ago. By the Qin and Han Dynasties, Various important varieties of peaches have been bred. The gold peaches grafted with persimmons have continued to multiply into today's populations of yellow-fleshed peaches, such as the famous winter peaches still preserved in the Northwest.The round and blue silver peach is the ancestor of today's southern peach.Peach trees growing in the land of China not only have a long history, but also are widely distributed. Peach is originally produced in the northern and northwest mountainous areas of China.According to various investigations, so far, wild peach trees have been found in Shaanxi, Gansu, Qinghai, the eastern border of Tibet, southern Henan, Qinling, and western Yunnan. There are still wild peach forests in Qinling and Shaanxi.However, some Western scholars believe that "China has not seen wild peach trees", and based on speculation, they have concluded that "peach trees originated in Persia and spread to Europe from there", so they named peaches Persic. It means Persian fruit, and the Latin literary name of the peach tree is also derived from it.Modern Chinese archaeologists have studied at the Hemudu Neolithic site in Yuyao, Zhejiang (7,000 years ago), the Qianshanyang site in Wuxing, the Shuitianfan site in Hangzhou, the Songze site in Qingpu County, Shanghai, and the Neolithic site in Yunnan (all 5,000 years ago) Peach pits have been found.Archaeological excavations have confirmed the literature records, coupled with the field investigation of wild peach forests, it is strongly demonstrated that China is the hometown of peaches.Chinese peaches spread to Persia and Europe along the ancient Silk Road.In 630 A.D., Tang Dynasty eminent monk Xuanzang wrote "Da Tang Western Regions" which recorded the legend about the introduction of peach trees to India. Up to now, peaches are still called "Zhi Na Guo" in India, which means "Chinese fruit". Peach trees were brought to the Americas by European immigrants in the 16th century. In 1876, Japan began to introduce peach varieties from Shanghai and Tianjin. In 1878, Japanese Gangshan farmer Yamauchi Yoshio began to cultivate the fine variety Gangshan "White Peach". peach species.

Today, there are more than 800 varieties of peaches that originated in China. From Xinjiang in the northwest to Jiangsu and Zhejiang in the south of the Yangtze River, and from northeast to Lingnan, there are fresh peaches on the market all year round.This can be seen from the names of peaches based on the combination of regions and seasons, such as "April White" in Hubei, "Fresh in May" in Beijing, "Round in June" in Hebei, "Red in July" in Jilin, and "August Shou" in Nanjing. ", "September Chrysanthemum" in Shanxi, "October Honey" in Shaanxi, and winter peaches that ripen in November in Guanzhong, Shaanxi, and snow peaches in Mancheng, Tangxian, and Wanxian, Hebei, are full of branches when the heavy snow is flying , also known as "buried in the snow".Many excellent peach varieties are well-known both at home and abroad.Shandong Feicheng peach is famous in the north. It is famous for its huge fruit, which generally weighs 250-300 grams, and a large one weighs 500-900 grams. It is the largest peach in the world. It is juicy, thin and fragrant.Hebei Shenzhou big peaches are also of excellent quality.The Northwest mainly produces golden peaches, which are "as big as goose eggs, and their color is like gold, so they are called golden peaches".There are more than 30 golden peach varieties in Shaanxi and Gansu provinces.These peaches have golden-yellow flesh, dense, aromatic and juicy.Southern peaches are produced in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, such as Wuxi peaches. The fruit is oval, yellow-green, dark red on the sunny side, sweet and sour, with early results and high yields. Because most of them are concentrated near Shanghai, they are also called Shanghai peaches. .In addition, in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, peaches are also abundant. The fruit is oblate, with a hollow in the middle, soft and juicy, sweet and delicious.

Prunus (Prunus Salicina Lindl) Prunus, Rosaceae, is a fruit tree widely planted in my country.There are poems such as "flowers are like peaches and plums" and "throw me a peach and give me a plum".Plum cores were unearthed in the tombs of the Western Han Dynasty, which shows that plum trees have been cultivated in my country for a long time. The distribution of plum trees in my country far exceeds the range of peach trees. There are traces of plum trees in Heilongjiang in the north, Guangdong and Guangxi in the south, Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in the west, and coastal provinces in the east.Botanically, the Chinese native plum tree is called Chinese plum (P. salicina).In ancient times, it was introduced to Japan first, and then to European and American countries.Wild plum trees are still distributed in Sichuan, North China and Northwest China, and the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Wild plums have been domesticated for a long time with great variation.According to Wang Xiangjin's "Qunfangpu" in the Ming Dynasty: "The fruit has a core, a core, and no core"; the peel "has red, purple, yellow, and green, green outside and white inside, green outside and red inside"; fruit " The big ones are like cups and eggs, and the small ones are like bullets like cherry blossoms"; the fruity taste is "sweet, sour and bitter".

Today's fine varieties of plums in China include the plum [zuizui] plum from Tongxiang, Zhejiang, also known as drunk plum.The peel is purplish red, the pulp is orange-yellow, the pulp is sweet and fragrant.There are Jintang plums in Ningbo, Rouge plums, Furong plums, honey plums, and Huangya plums in Fujian, chicken heart plums, cinnabar plums, and chicken blood plums in Sichuan, and autumn plums, beef heart plums, and Dahongpao plums in Northeast China, each with its own flavor. .Apricot plum is a new variety produced by grafting plum trees and apricot trees. It is abundant in the mountainous areas of Hebei and Huairou in Beijing.The fruit is red in color, sweet and fragrant in taste, and is favored by northerners.