210 Early Agriculture
husbandry have been developed and improved with appropriate facilities and
structures in accordance with local conditions, particularly in the Ming and Qing
Dynasties (14th–19th centuries) (Liang, 1983).
According to historical records, in the latter part of the New Stone Age (2500–
2100 BC), along with an increase in population, collapse of the clan society and the
appearance of slavery, agriculture developed rapidly. Slash-and-burn was no longer
the main farming system except in less-populated but abundantly forested and
underdeveloped areas. Instead of nomadic farming, the slave owners allotted a por-
tion of their land to each slave. The slaves no longer moved to forested land for
cultivation but settled in one place where they engaged in farming permanently.
The forests on hilly land were preserved as pasture or hunting sites. Settled farming
in the Xia and Shang Dynasties (2000–1100 BC) became a force pushing agricul-
tural development. By that time, people began to make and improve bronze and
wooden agricultural tools; to use animal labour in farming; to grow different crops,
such as rice, wheat, millet, sorghum and beans; to raise domestic animals such as
horses, cattle, sheep, chickens, pigs; and to cultivate fruit trees, vegetables, mul-
berry trees (Morus alba) and flax. Thus appeared the embryonic form of manage-
ment of multi-component farming which included agriculture, silviculture, animal
husbandry and sericulture and laid the foundation for small self-sufficient house-
hold economy.
During the West Zhou Dynasty (1100–700 BC), the slavery system gradually
collapsed, and a land tenancy system, the ‘nine squares’, was widely adopted, par-
ticularly in the northern China Plain, as described by Mensius (400 BC). Under this
system, a large portion of land was divided into nine equal square areas, of which
the eight on the edges were allotted to serfs, while the central one belonged to the
landlord and was managed by the eight serfs for him. Thus private land ownership
was gradually established and resulted in further development of self-sufficient
small farmers in which the family was the production unit. In this unit, agriculture,
animal husbandry, silviculture, sericulture and domestic handicrafts were developed
simultaneously and formed the so-called ‘man-farming, woman-weaving’ rural
economy. This scenario was recorded in the Book of Songs (800 BC): ‘trespass not on
my lane, break not my willow trees; leap not over my fence, pick not my mulberry
leaves; intrude not into my garden, cut not my sandwood trees’ (Li, 1993).
Agricultural policy during these periods advocated and encouraged compre-
hensive production for multiple purposes as an effective way to prosperity. Men-
sius (400 BC), in praise of the self-sufficient small farming economy, emphasized ‘if
a family owns a certain piece of land with mulberry trees around its house for
breeding silkworms, domesticated animals raised in its yard for meat, and crop
fields cultivated and managed properly for cereals, it will be prosperous and will
not suffer from starvation’ (Tang, 1986). He also said that ‘If the forests are timely
felled, then an abundant supply of timber and firewood is ensured, if the fishing
net with relatively big holes is timely cast into the pond, then there will be no
shortage of fish and turtle for use’ (Zhang, 1992). These present a picture of a
prosperous, diversified rural economy and a vivid sketch of pastoral peace.