Important Stages for the Development of Traditional Chinese Agriculture
4 min read1.The embryonic stage of agricultural technology:In the Neolithic Age（about 10，000-4，000 years ago），Chinese primitive agriculture，under the basis of fishing and hunting economy，originated 10，000 years ago.
2.The early stage of agricultural technology:In the Xia，the Shang and the Zhou dynasties（2100-771 B.C.），our ancestors invented smelting technology，and，for the first time in history，farm tools made of bronze had been employed in the agricultural production，which promoted the agriculture，and at the same time，people learned to control the flood by building water conservancy works.
3.The Stage of intensive cultivation:In the Spring and Autumn and the Warring States period（770-221 B.C.），this was not only an important age of social upheavals，where there were numerous schools of thought contending，but also a time of technological advancement，symbolized by the maturity of iron-smelting technology and its wide application.With both the use of animal power and farm tools made of iron，agriculture was pushed forward with a newly in jected vitality.
4.The forming stage of intensive cultivation technology in dryland of Northern China：from the Qin and the Han dynasties，to the Wei，the Jin and the Southern and the Northern dynasties（221 B.C.-589 A.D.），agricultural technology in dry-land of the north became mature，with the invention of such coordinated farming technology as ploughing，raking and leveling land in turns；and many more complicated farm tools were invented one after another and used in agricultural production for increasing the grain.
5.The forming stage of intensive cultivation of paddy field in Southern China:During the Sui，the Tang，the Song and the Yuan dynasties（581-1368 A.D.），with the economic focus of China shifted to the south，the coordinated technology was also invented，the use of which was popularized；and the growing of cotton was extended all over the country.
6.The higher stage of intensive cultivation technology:From the Ming Dynasty to the middle period of the Qing Dynasty（1368-1840 A.D.），with the over-population，the arable land became scarce，which made it necessary to develop further the technology of intensive cultivation to solve the problems resulted from the increasing population and the shortage of land.During this period，some new crops were introduced to China from the New World，which exerted strong impact on China’s crop structure.As a result，diversified economy and multiple cropping have become the main stream of Chinese agricultural production ever since.
Monumental Achievements of Ancient Chinese Agronomy Ancient China boasted a highly developed agriculture，and also produced many agronomists of world stature，who devoted their lifetime to the participation of field labour as peasants and distilled their experiences and experiments into theories for promoting agriculture and agronomy.Three greatest agronomists were selected and their masterpieces briefly introduced：
1.Important Artsfor the People’s Welfare was written by Jia Si-xie who was born and lived between 5th and 6th century A.D.in the Northern Wei Period.Jia Si-xie served as prefect of Gaoyang Prefecture and his agricultural book is a classic.This book was introduced to Japan in the Tang Dynasty and has now been translated into 20 languages.Its profound scientific content has influenced agricultural production for ages.
This was the most complete，the most systematic and the richest encyclopedic book on agricultural science completed in the 6th century in China，and also the earliest agricultural masterpiece in the agricultural history of the world.
2.Exploitation of the Works of Nature was written by Song Ying-xing（1587-1661 A.D.）in the Ming Dynasty，who was a distinguished scientist，also known as “Chinese Diderot”.His research interests were broad，ranging from agriculture to physics；his Tian Kong Kai Wu or Exploitation of the Works of Nature studied biology，and minutely recorded“breeding of new varieties of rice and barley”，and his research provided the theoretical basis for artificial cultivation of new varieties of crops.
Exploitation of the Works of Nature is an encyclopedia of technology with illustrations；the author，Song Yingxing，had written many books，of which Exploitation of the Works of Nature was the most influential.This was an encyclopaedia-type scientific work comprising 18 volumes with 123 drawings.This book summarized the achievements of China’s ancient agriculture and handicraft techniques and reflected the level of development of production in Chinese society at that time.
Complete Treatise on Agriculture：The author was Xu Guang-qi（1562-1633A.D.），a distinguished scientist in the Ming Dynasty，whose research interests werevery broad and whose achievements were immense.He studied astronomy，calendric system，mathematics，agronomy and so on，but his research attainments in agronomy and water conservancy were the most influential and everlasting.His masterpiece，“Complete Treatise on Agriculture”was the result of his personal farming experiments，and in-depth research，which included almost all aspects of ancient agricultural production and human life.The major theme running through this gigantic book was his basic concept of agronomy in governing the country.In comparison with the previous books which stressed techniques ortechnological aspect of agricultural production，he emphasized both agricultural measures or policies and agricultural technologies.The former was the guideline while the latter ensured the success of agricultural ideas or policies.
