What was the earliest food crop in ancient China?
2. China is one of the oldest civilizations in the world and one of the largest centers of origin of crops in the world. Now many crops were first cultivated from wild plants by working people in China. According to archaeological findings, as early as the early Neolithic period, China planted millet and rice.
3. Xiaomi: Now we call it Xiaomi, and we call it Xiaomi after hulling. It is cultivated by wild green bristlegrass. Millet is one of the important crops in the loess area of the Yellow River Basin, which has strong drought tolerance and self-growth ability. Carbonized millet grains and shells have been found in Neolithic cultural sites such as Banpo in Xi, Shaanxi, Jiangzhai in Lintong and Beishouling in Baoji. It shows that millet was widely planted in northern China five or six thousand years ago.
4. Rice: commonly known as rice, artificially cultivated from wild rice. A mixture of rice, rice husk, rice stalk and rice leaves was found in Hemudu cultural site more than 7,000 years ago, with an average thickness of about 40 to 50 cm. This is the earliest cultivated rice in the world so far. Indica and japonica rice grains have been found in Neolithic cultural sites in Jianghuai and Jianghan areas, around Taihu Lake and Dianchi Lake in Yunnan, and Jianmen and Haimen in Guangdong. It shows that the original inhabitants of the Yangtze River valley and southern China had mastered the rice planting technology at that time, which shows that China is one of the earliest rice planting areas in the world.