Study On The Planting And Popularization Of Wheat In Prehistoric And Middle Han Dynasties In The Yellow River Basin

In the process of Chinese agriculture development, there was a significant change in the dry farming system which centered on the Yellow River Basin, namely, after a long time of evolution, wheat replaced millet and became the primary crop in northern China. As archeological evidence indicates, the exact time that wheat first appeared in the Yellow River Basin was Longshan era, nevertheless, since then wheat cultivating wasn’t the main part of agriculture production in this area until late Western Han Dynasty. Meanwhile, gradually, the social status of wheat also improved, which had profound impact on social economy, culture of ancient China.By using researching methods of archeology, history, etc., with analyzing the archeology data and historical documents about wheat accordingly, the paper studies the process, feature, factor, and influence of wheat cultivation and popularization in the Yellow River basin from prehistory to Han Dynasty. Based on the research above, the dissertation tries to discuss the steps of agricultural civilization’s evolution of ancient China and correlation between technological innovation and cultural communication. In general, the main content of this research includes four parts as follow:Part One divides the path of wheat cultivation and popularization in the Yellow River basin from prehistory to Han Dynasty into stage of trial, stage of encouragement, and stage of popularization. Stage of trial is from Longshan Era to Western Zhou Dynasty, when wheat planting was more popular in east China than it was in west and the cultivated area of wheat in downstream of the yellow river area and Huang-Huai plain was the largest. In this period, wheat occupied extremely limited proportion of crops, that is to say, human didn’t pay much attention to it. Stage of encouragement is from the Spring and Autumn Period to early Western Han Dynasty. On this stage, wheat cultivating area in downstream of the yellow river area and vicinity enlarged, but the situation of’unwillingness to plant wheat’in Guangzhong area was found at the same time; the conception of’five cereals’which emerged in this era indicates that people gradually recognized the importance of wheat, and the fact that authority ’encouraged to plant’wheat can also show the rising status of wheat. Finally, the period from middle and late Western Han Dynasty to Eastern Han Dynasty is the stage of popularization. Sequentially, in addition to rapid growth of wheat cultivating area in downstream of the yellow river area and vicinity, wheat planting also popularized in Guangzhong and Hexi area. Moreover, appearing in daily life and edict on agriculture frequently, wheat, at the stage of popularization, was an essential composition in agricultural production.Part Two discusses the factors that influence on wheat cultivation and popularization. Contradicting with the unbalanced precipitation in the Yellow River basin, wheat was not able to be planted generally in this region. However, in downstream of the yellow river area and Huang-Huai plain, climate and precipitation advantages to growth of wheat, which is the basis of the stage of trial. As the ability to adapt and transform the nature developed, farming techniques, tools, and irrigation system, etc. in the Yellow River basin promoted hugely, thus, techniques of wheat cultivation in such area also stepped forward. At the same time, the authority recognized the significance of wheat to agriculture and social stability, because of unique growing season of winter wheat and its superiority in complementation. Consequently, cultivating area of wheat extended rapidly. Before middle period of Western Han Dynasty, as a result of low popularity that mill had and backward technique of flour production, eating habit of wheat was so unacceptable that people didn’t have willingness to plant it. Whereas in late Western Han Dynasty and Eastern Han Dynasty, with the improvement of mill, sieving tools, the quality of flour enhanced, and with method of fermentation getting mature enough, processing technology of pasta made remarkable progress. Therefore, advantages of wheat could be fully expressed and accepted, and it spread in the Yellow River basin widely.Part Three, based on archeological data, summarizes the features of wheat planting and technology of pasta production in Xinjiang, and distinguishes it to technology in the Yellow River basin. With the prosperity of the Silk Road, the communication between Xinjiang and inner China improved greatly. During this process, technologies of food production from different regions interacted and learned from each other, thus, it promoted a distinctive wheat pasta system in the Yellow River basin, pushing wheat cultivating to popularize in such area. Generally speaking, this course of history reflects that cultural diversity and cultural complementarity have the positive meaning to the progress of development of human society.Part Four explores the history that wheat farming area enlarged from the Yellow River basin to other parts of China. Furthermore, the paper analyzes its influence to population growth of ancient society. Finally, it discloses the change of status of wheat farming in each period of history. With the development of technology of cultivating and processing, although popularization of wheat planting in Han Dynasty couldn’t shake the summit of millet, it laid a foundation of formation of wheat agriculture system. Gradually, the pasta-majority food culture established in northern China after middle period of Tang Dynasty, in the meantime, wheat achieved the same position as millet was.By using the research findings of archeology, history, agriculture, food engineering and the like, and comparing the evidence of technique and practice are research strategy of this dissertation. Besides, on a macro level, the thesis studies the general context of cultivation and popularization of wheat and discusses the internal interrelation amid each factor influenced it.