The ''Qimin Yaoshu'' is the most completely preserved of the ancient Chinese agricultural texts, and was written by the

Northern Wei Dynasty Wei (), known in historiography as the Northern Wei (), Tuoba Wei (), Yuan Wei () and Later Wei (), was founded by the Tuoba (Tabgach) clan of the Xianbei. The first of the Northern dynasties, it ruled northern China from 386 to 535 during the ...

official Jia Sixie.Wenhua Li, 200
Agro-Ecological Farming Systems in China
Taylor & Francis, p. 26 -27 The book is believed to have been completed in the second year of Wu Ding of

Eastern Wei Wei (), known in historiography as the Eastern Wei (), was an imperial dynasty of China that followed the disintegration of the Northern Wei dynasty. One of the Northern dynasties during the Northern and Southern dynasties period, the Eastern We ...

, 544 CE, while another account gives the completion between 533 and 544 CE. The text of the book is divided into ten volumes and 92 chapters, and records 1500-year-old Chinese

agronomy Agronomy is the science and technology of producing and using plants by agriculture for food, fuel, fiber, chemicals, recreation, or land conservation. Agronomy has come to include research of plant genetics, plant physiology, meteorology, and s ...

horticulture Horticulture is the branch of agriculture that deals with the art, science, technology, and business of plant cultivation. It includes the cultivation of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, herbs, sprouts, mushrooms, algae, flowers, seaweeds and no ...

afforestation Afforestation is the establishment of a forest or stand of trees (forestation) in an area where there was no previous tree cover. Many government and non-governmental organizations directly engage in afforestation programs to create forests a ...

sericulture Sericulture, or silk farming, is the cultivation of silkworms to produce silk. Although there are several commercial species of silkworms, ''Bombyx mori'' (the caterpillar of the domestic silkmoth) is the most widely used and intensively studie ...

animal husbandry Animal husbandry is the branch of agriculture concerned with animals that are raised for meat, fibre, milk, or other products. It includes day-to-day care, selective breeding, and the raising of livestock. Husbandry has a long history, sta ...

veterinary medicine Veterinary medicine is the branch of medicine that deals with the prevention, management, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, disorder, and injury in animals. Along with this, it deals with animal rearing, husbandry, breeding, research on nutr ...

breeding Breeding is sexual reproduction that produces offspring, usually animals or plants. It can only occur between a male and a female animal or plant. Breeding may refer to: * Animal husbandry, through selected specimens such as dogs, horses, and rab ...

brewing Brewing is the production of beer by steeping a starch source (commonly cereal grains, the most popular of which is barley) in water and fermenting the resulting sweet liquid with yeast. It may be done in a brewery by a commercial brewer, ...

cooking Cooking, cookery, or culinary arts is the art, science and craft of using heat to prepare food for consumption. Cooking techniques and ingredients vary widely, from grilling food over an open fire to using electric stoves, to baking in vario ...

, storage, as well as remedies for barren land. The book quoted nearly 200 ancient sources including the ''

Yiwu Zhi The ''Yiwu Zhi'' or ''Record of Foreign Matters'', also known as the ''Jiaozhou Yiwu Zhi'' (交州异物志), ''Nanyi Yiwu Zhi'' (南裔异物志), ''Jiaozhi Yiwu Zhi'' (交趾异物志) and ''Yangyilang Zhushu'' (杨议郎著书) amongst others ...

''. Important agricultural books such as '' Fàn Shèngzhī shū'' (氾勝之書) and ''Sì mín yuè lìng'' (四民月令) from the Hàn and

Jìn Shanxi (; ; formerly romanised as Shansi) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the North China region. The capital and largest city of the province is Taiyuan, while its next most populated prefecture-level ...

Dynasties are now lost, so future generations can only understand the operation of agriculture at the time from this book. 280 recipes are found in the text. Since the publication of the book, historical Chinese governments have long attached great importance to it. Since the book spread overseas it has also often been considered a classic text to study changes in species. When

Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended f ...

was researching the theory of

evolution Evolution is change in the heredity, heritable Phenotypic trait, characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the Gene expression, expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to ...

he made reference to an "Encyclopedia of Ancient China". It is said that the book he referenced was in fact ''Qímín yàoshù''. The book's name "Qímín yàoshù" can be explained as "techniques by which common people make their livelihood", but can also be explained as "techniques to harness the people's livelihood".

References

{{wikisourcelang, zh, 齊民要術 Chinese classic texts 6th-century Chinese books Agriculture in China Agriculture books