Agriculture
3 min readAncient Chinese agricultural production and development were revolved around the following four themes：
（I）The Cultivation and Introduction of Crops
The successful cultivation of crops marked the birth of agriculture.Ancient Chinese began to grow such dry crops as millet and broomcorn millet 7，000 to 8，000 years ago along the Yellow River Valley，but wheat was grown 5，000years ago in the same regions.The Chinese ancestors first experimented with paddy growing in the Yangtze River Valley about 10，000 years ago.
Millet，an annual grass herbal crop，was domesticated from the wild green bristlegrass，mainly grown along the Yellow River Valley.Suited to the conditions of dryland in the north of China，broomcorn millet，like millet，was also an annual grass herbal crop，the main grain crop of the northern Chinese.Wheat growing was much later，about 4，000 years ago.Paddy，an annual grass herbal crop，was domesticated from the wild paddy which was grown along the Yangtze River Valley about 10，000 years ago and extendedto many other places of the south and even to some places in the north about 5，000 years ago and became the main food of the people in the south.Besides these grain crops，our ancestors also had vegetables，melons and fruits，such as bottle gourd，muskmelon，lotus seed and so on，which were wild with no human cultivation.In their gathering of fruits，tea plants were identified，differentiated from other plants for drinking to refresh people，gradually used by more and more people，and even exported to foreign countries.
The domestic and foreign exchanges，usually bidirectional or even multidirectional，had greatly enriched people’s food supplies，increased not only in quantity，but also in variety of food.From the early time in history，Chinese rice had already spread to theKorean Peninsula and Japanese Archipelagoes，and，at the same time，many crops，some very significant，had been introduced to the Central Plains and the south of China from Western Regions of China，central，south，and west Asia，and even from then newly discovered Americas.
The important fodder for raising best horses，and this was of strategic importance as the successful introduction and cultivation of alfalfa had promoted the animal husbandry，and with it，agriculture had tremendously been pushed forward.Walnut，pomegranate，flax，cucumber，pepper and so on were also introduced from Iran，which became the important sources of fruits，dried fruits，vegetables，seasoning and oilbearing crops.Grapes，introduced from the Western Region to the Central Plains，had been one of the major fruits of the people there.
since the Western Han Dynasty，crops，fruits，and vegetables had been introduced to China by each dynasty，such as lettuce and spinach in the Sui and Tang dynasties，Zhancheng rice from Vietnam in the Song Dynasty，carrot in the Yuan Dynasty，and in the Ming and Qing dynasties；and also from Americas，were introduced such drought-enduring and barren-tolerant grain crops as sweet potato，corn，potato，peanut，and such vegetables as pumpkin，chilli，tomato，kidney bean，onion，and fruits，such as mango，pineapple，papaya，sweetsop，introductions and cultivations of which had met with the demands of growing population.
With needs of food being satisfied，people began to think of the question of clothing.
With animal skins and tree leaves at the start，people made their clothes，and，little by little，learned to grow kudzu and jute for making fibrous clothes.Our ancestors discovered the making of cocoons by silkworms while gathering mulberry and then began to domesticate and raise the silkworm；they later mastered the silk reeling technology，wovesilk cloth and made exquisite garments，which proved to be an innovation of epoch-making significance in human history.
