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)

Research Notes On Farming