Study On The Introduction Of Watermelon Into China And Its Localization

China has been the largest producer and consumer of watermelon of the world for a long time.The history of watermelon introduction and transmission has always been quite concerned in academic circles,as well as contentious.With the help of existing research results and archaeological excavations,the origin of watermelon and its worldwide spread were discussed,and it was clear that the genus watermelon originated in the African continent,edible sweet watermelon was native to Sudan and Egypt in northeastern Africa.The ancient Egyptians domesticated the wild species of watermelon into cultivated species first,and in the 2000 BC or earlier,Citrullus lanatus and Citrullus colocynthis appeared in the Nile basin.Before 13th century BC,watermelons had been widely cultivated in ancient Egypt,and the main edible part had been changed from seeds to flesh.The spread of Watermelon was started in the Mediterranean region,and watermelon cultivation appeared in ancient Greece 3 000 years ago,Ancient Rome introduced watermelon around the Christian Era.It spread to West Asia,Central Asia,South Asia,Southern Europe and other places afterwards.At the beginning of 8th century AD,watermelon appeared in Spain,and there was a record of watermelon cultivation for the first time in 961.After the 17th century,watermelon had become a common horticultural crop all over Europe.In the 16th century,watermelon was cultivated in America,and in the 17th century,watermelon was rapidly popularized throughout the Americas.In the Eastern World,watermelon had long been a common fruit or melon in the Arab Region.Watermelon cultivation had already appeared in India in the 7th century.Watermelon was first introduced to Japan in 16th century and began to be cultivated.There were three main sources of watermelon in Southeast Asia:one was the introduction from India or Persia in earlier time,and the second was the introduction of Arab and Persian Muslims when they went into business and settle after the 13th century,and the third was the bringing in by overseas Chinese from Going South Sea(???).The process of watermelon introduction to China is the focus of the research.The Xunzhi(??)melon in the State of Molu(??)contained in the book of Jingxingji(?????)was watermelon,Du Huan(??)of the Tang Dynasty was the first Chinese to see,eat and record watermelon in historical,and the first to have a well-documented Chinese to complete the land and maritime Silk Road.However,Hu Qiao(??)of the Five Dynasties was still the first person to eat watermelon in the Chinese mainland and recorded in the history books.Hu Qiao ate watermelon for the first time in autumn August 15th of lunar calendar,Datong(??)the first year(947)of the Liao Dynasty,and the specific location was the present Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Chifeng Ar Horqin Banner Government station near Tianshan Town.In a punitive expedition against Huihe,Qidan got seeds when they conquered Futu City in Tianzan the third year(924)of the Liao Dynasty.The watermelon of Futu city,directly or indirectly,came from Gaochang(now Turpan),the capital of the Uighurs of Xizhou.The method of cultivating watermelon with cow dung and cover of Qidan(Liao)originated from Han land,which was a kind of cultivation method combining wind barriers and greenhouse covering,which migrated and developed the cultivation technology of traditional vegetable conservation land,and the melon growers were the Han Chinese people.Hong Hao(??)introduced watermelon into south of the Yangtze River successfully first.And the date was August in the lunar calendar Shaoxing the 13th year(1143)of the Emperor Gaozong of Song,instead of Huangtong the second year(1142)of the Emperor Xizong of Jin that contained in the History of Jin(????).The watermelon seeds that Honghao brought to Lin'an(Hangzhou)came from Yanjing(Beijing).Watermelon was grown and harvested for the first time in southern China in Shaoxing the 14th year(1144).The Dashi melon(???)recorded in the unearthed Xixia literature Zazi(????),written in Chinese,was watermelon from the so-called Dashi Kingdom,which is the Qara Khanids.It is homologous with the watermelon obtained by Qidan,which was introduced from the Samanids to the Qara Khanids between 893 and 915.On the source of watermelon,the viewpoint in the literature after the Song Dynasty is mainly summed up as 8 kinds of judgments,that is,the viewpoint of existence in the Three Generations,the viewpoint of introduction in the Western Han Dynasty,the viewpoint of existence in the Caowei Kingdom,the viewpoint of introduction in the Northern and Southern Dynasties,the viewpoint of introduction in the Five Dynasties,the viewpoint of introduction in the Jin Dynasty,the viewpoint of introduction in the Southern Song Dynasty,the viewpoint of introduction in the Yuan Dynasty.However,China's introduction of extraterritorial watermelon had gone through a long period,including a number of key nodes,such as the Five Dynasties,the Jin Dynasty,the Southern Song Dynasty,the Yuan Dynasty,and so on.Therefore,in the above 8 kinds of views,especially the latter 4 points of view,it is unscientific to choose anyone,and multiple introduction is a relatively reasonable point of view to describe the history of the introduction of watermelon in China.During the Yuan Dynasty,watermelon was really introduced and popularized in China on a large scale.Han'gua(??) was one of the most commonly used aliases for watermelon.However,Han'gua had already appeared in the ancient Chinese books before the introduction of watermelon.The changing process of Han'gua's name had gone through a roughly five stages:First,Han'gua was a kind of melon which matured from late autumn to early winter before the Southern Song Dynasty;Second,watermelon coexisted with Han'gua during the Southern Song Dynasty(the Jin Dynasty);Third,Yuan Dynasty was the period of rapid development of watermelon in China,Han'gua began to become watermelon surrogate or elegant name.Fourth,in the Ming Dynasty,the Compendium of Materia Medica by Li Shizhen was widely circulated,making Han'gua officially become the alias of Watermelon;Fifth,from the Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China,Han 'gua was still the alias of watermelon,but in some areas it was also an alias for other melon crops,such as pumpkin and Chinese waxgourd,and was sometimes used to refer to autumn melons.Today,the name of Han 'gua has rarely appeared,people call watermelon more still use its original name,or go straight to the 'melon'.The propagation and popularization of watermelon in ancient China has the dual characteristics of process and systematicness.In terms of process,the introduction and spread of watermelon could be divided into four stages,that is,Foothold in Northland,Watermelon moving to the south of the Yangtze River,North-South keeping pace and all-round development.As far as the systematicness is concerned,the propagation evolution of watermelon presents a four-level and three-dimensional advanced mode of point,line,surface and body.The Watermelon Monument in Enshi City,Hubei province is currently the only remaining in the territory that can support the introduction of watermelon to promote the history of the inscription in kind in China.It is an important ancient agricultural inscription which is the local official persuasion of agricultural announcement notice.The north travel in Gengzi Jiaxi recorded in tablet inscription actual means the Battle of Dengrang that Meng Gong(??),military generals of the Song Dynasty,went north to attack the Mongolian army in Jiaxi the fourth(1240).The Huihui melon species was tossed brought to the south of the Yangtze River from the Hexi region by the Uighur Eli Baatur(Ai Zhongxiao)and his party who were attached to the Southern Song Dynasty.Watermelon planting has obvious regionalization characteristics,taking the cultivation zoning as the frame,through combing and analyzing the absolute order and relative order of watermelon in the category of property recorded in the local chronicles,we can describe its development and change trend in different historical periods in various regions.From the Five Dynasties to the Yuan Dynasty,watermelon production had begun to take shape.The local chronicles of Ming,Qing and the Republic of China are rich in literature,so that we can outline the development and change of watermelon in various regions of the country in detail.Watermelon cultivation area is divided into three main areas,under the main area there is also a number of sub-areas.The semi-arid region of the North comprises two cultivated sub-regions,namely,the warm temperate semi-arid region of North China(North China Region)and the northeastern temperate semi-arid region(Northeast Region).Watermelon cultivation in North China Region has a long history and has long been the largest watermelon growing area in China.Northeast District is one of the earliest watermelon-growing areas in China,but the cultivation area was small,watermelon field management was relatively extensive,the history of continuous cultivation of watermelon was relatively short.The Northwest Dry Region(Northwest Region)comprises two cultivated sub-regions in the eastern arid region and the western irrigation region.Northwest Region is a traditional watermelon production area in China,suitable for melon cultivation.Its cultivation area was large,and the distribution range was also very wide.The southern multi-wet region mainly includes three cultivated sub-regions in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River,the tropical multi-area in South China(Southern Region)and the Southwest humid zone(Southwest Region),and the Qinghai-Tibet Alpine area could also be subsumed into it.The mold rains area in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River was more suitable for watermelon cultivation and has a long history of planting;Most of southern China could grow two-season watermelon,but the rain is heavy,the disease is serious,the annual output was very unstable;South West District watermelon production was relatively weak,cultivation area was small,however,in some plain valleys there were still stable output,the quality was also fair.After successful introduction,watermelon gradually spread around China,and at the same time opened its localization process,mainly including watermelon variety resources,cultivation techniques and processing and utilization skills localization and so on.Many kinds of watermelon resources had sprung up in the process of localization in China.Variety resources are the main material basis in the process of watermelon production and management,and also an important index to characterize the localization of watermelon.Each watermelon variety is selected in a certain ecological environment,which has its best environmental adaptation conditions.Few watermelon varieties can adapt to all natural conditions.According to the local records,literati notes and other literature on the historical period of watermelon varieties throughout China to organize.In addition to the many excellent varieties they have cultivated,during the Qing Dynasty,especially during the Republic of China,a number of new varieties were introduced from abroad,and their successful introduction and localization enriched the resources of watermelon varieties.Since the founding of the People's Republic of China,great achievements have been made in breeding fine varieties of watermelon.Watermelon cultivation technology had also experienced a long process of localization in China.The method of watermelon cultivation was recorded for the first time in The Fundamentals of Agriculture and Sericulture(??????)which was an agricultural book of Yuan Dynasty,but the method was relatively extensive at that time.By the Ming Dynasty,seedling transplanting method had been appeared.The cultivation techniques of watermelon in the Qing Dynasty developed further and matured gradually,and different watermelon cultivation methods were created by melon farmers suit their measures to local conditions.During the period of the Republic of China,many regions used modern agronomic breeding techniques for seed selection and breeding,and elaborated on the cultivation techniques of Chinese watermelon in this stage by systematically combing the contents of the chronicles,agronomic journals and related textbooks in this period.The interaction between watermelon and Chinese society,economy and culture mainly includes two aspects:The influencing factors of the process of introduction and localization of watermelon,and the important influence of watermelon localization on China's social,economic and cultural aspects.In addition to the advantages of sweet taste,rich nutrition,antipyretic and relieving heat,watermelon is also a cash crop with short planting cycle,quick yield and high output value in terms of the factors affecting the process of introduction and localization of watermelon.Therefore,we can analyze the impact of watermelon introduction and localization process of the motivation in the four aspects of the natural ecology,economic benefits,quality of life,cultural identity.Among them,natural ecology is a prerequisite,economic efficiency is the driving engine,quality of life is the basic guarantee,production technology is necessary support,cultural identity is an important supporting.The localization of watermelon had also a great impact on China's agricultural economy.First of all,watermelon is a good crop of the front stubble,which can generally significantly improve the yield of the posterior stubble crops.The row and plant spacing of watermelon is large,whose seedling growth is small.And the whole reproductive period of watermelon is short,suitable for intercropping in the melon field to improve the multiplexing index.Watermelon planting could optimize the farming system obviously.Secondly,the post-harvest watermelon can be sold directly as commodity,which plays a positive role in promoting the economic development of urban and rural areas.Thirdly,all kinds of watermelon processing products can also participate in commercial circulation,promote trade prosperity.The influence of watermelon localization on Chinese society and culture mainly includes four aspects at least:Watermelon increases Chinese people's dietary interest,watermelon processing and utilization skills of Chinese characteristics,watermelon elements in Chinese literary works,the intergration of watermelon and Chinese traditional folk culture.Traditional Chinese agriculture is a comprehensively open system with multiple intersections,and the process of watermelon introduction to China and localization is also the result of multiple factors,such as the combination of Chinese and foreign exchanges,north-south communication and national amalgamation,and so on.