L2030
Chinese Farming
The following are raw research notes on Chinese Farming
Early China was also a river civilization. In this area, much of the landscape
was covered with loess, which is a
fine yellow dirt. During the floods losses would
often clog irrigation ditches. The Chinese also began to build dikes to control
the annual flooding.
"The region was semiarid. In later historical times we know that a crop-fallow rotation was practiced. The fallow was primarily for storing moisture rather than a fertility restoring device as in shifting cultivation." (Pg. 210) (3F)
Later the Chinese began rice
farming. The rice field would be flooded and each plant would be planed by
hand in the soft soil of the planted field. Due to lack of animal manure,
farmers often used human waste to fertilize their fields. Their fertilizing
allowed them to used the fields year after year, without the need to allow it to
lay fallow. This type of rice farming flourished in
China. As a result the population of china also flourished. From 750
to 1100 the population in China doubled to 100 million. (16F)
Much of what we know about Ancient China's farming comes from
the "Book of Odes". "The Books of Odes (Chinese) assembled from bits and fragments from the
11th century to the middle of the 6th century BC botanically; it is the most
informative of early literatures and mentions about 150 plants. (3F)
