214 Early Agriculture
Thoughts and practices from the Tang to the Yuan Dynasty
A well-known paper on comprehensive agriculture, Chen Fu Nong Shu (Agricul-
tural Treatise of Chen Fu), was completed in 1149 in the Southern Song Dynasty
(1127–1179). In spite of its small size (only 12,500 words), it is substantial in
content. This ancient treatise systematically discussed land utilization, giving pri-
ority to agricultural techniques of the rice-growing regions south of the Changjiang
(Yangtze) River. The author provides a general view of intercropping and preserva-
tion of soil fertility using comprehensive measures.
Multi-component systems were recorded in Wang Zheng Nong Shu (Agricul-
tural Treatise by Wang Zheng) in the Yuan Dynasty (1271–1368). Wang Zheng
was a local administrative officer in the area now called Anhui and Jiangxi, who
often visited rural areas for inspections and was very interested in agricultural pro-
duction. This treatise sums up the production practice of dry farmland cultivation
in the Yellow River plain and paddy-rice cultivation in the Yangtze River Basin. Its
present edition has about 110,000 words and is divided into three parts: Nong
Song Tong Jue (General Survey of Agriculture and Silviculture), Bai Gu Pu (Guide
to a Hundred Cereals), and Nong Qi Tu Pu (A Collection of Illustrative Plates for
Agricultural Implements). Wang Zheng summarized the various technologies and
experiences in farming, forestry, animal husbandry, sideline production and fish-
ery and discussed the fitness of season and soil. The farming chart is a praiseworthy
creation of Wang Zheng: ingeniously combining constellation periodicity, seasons,
natural signs and procedures of agricultural production into an organic whole, it
puts together all the main points of Nong Jia Yue Ling (Monthly Ordinances for
Farmers) and sums them up in a small chart which is clear, definite, handy and
very practical (Figure 9.1).
Another example is fishery in paddy fields. In Ling Biao Lu Yi, written during
the Tang Dynasty, it was described that ‘putting the eggs of grass carp into paddy
fields, when fish grow up, the roots of weeds were eaten up and the field is ferti-
lized. Consequently the rice can yield a good harvest.’
Another excellent example of Chinese people in development of traditional
ecological farming is the now world-famous dyke-pond system, or so-called inte-
grated agriculture–aquaculture system (Zhong et al, 1987). China has a long his-
tory of mulberry planting, silkworm rearing and silk reeling and weaving. The
integration of aquaculture and agriculture systems and silviculture is an old, wide-
spread and enduring practice in south and south-east China. According to the
literature, such systems existed in the Tang Dynasty (7th century AD), but did not
flourish until the 14th century of the Yuan Dynasty. In the Zhujiang Delta ponds
were dug to drain marshes and natural ponds in order to create arable land, and
the excavated soil was used to construct dykes. The first commercial crops grown
on the dykes were fruits, particularly litchi and longan, while the early artificial
ponds were utilized for breeding and rearing fish for sale. However, there was
apparently little or no conscious organization of an integrated fruit dyke–fishpond
system in terms of linked input and output of material and energy, although both