216 Boundaries and Beyond
Year Location Calamity
1548 Zhangpu βloods
1549 Whole prefecture earthquake
1557 Zhao’an damage from hailstorm
1558 Zhangpu & Haicheng damage from hailstorm
1560 Nanjing βloods
1561 Longchi & Nanjing drought
1562 whole prefecture drought
1563 Longchi & Nanjing βloods
1564 Nanjing βloods
1565 Nanjing damage from hailstorm
1566 Zhao’an droughtRemedy was sought by introducing new crops to suit the geographical
conditions. As a maritime province, Fujian beneβited from new knowledge
obtained through contacts with foreign lands. As early as the eleventh
century, a new crop—early ripening rice—had been introduced into
Fujian from Champa. It brought revolutionary economic consequences
such as double-cropping and terracing.^34 In the late βifteenth century, the
Zhangzhou people brought back another new rice variety from Annam.^35
The introduction of the sweet potato (fanshu), literally “foreign potato”
into Fujian was also an important event in Chinese agricultural history. It
came, it was said, from Luzon around 1594 when there was a widespread
crop failure in Fujian. Governor Jin Xuezeng issued pamphlets about how
it should be cultivated and exhorted its extensive cultivation in order
to stave off famine.^36 The many advantages of the sweet potato were
pointed out by both He Qiaoyuan, a scholar from southern Fujian, and the
Court minister-cum-agriculturist Xu Guangqi. These beneβits included
its unusually high yield per acre, its nutritiousness (in terms of calories
second only to rice), pleasant taste, preservability, value as an auxiliary
- Ho Ping-ti, “Early Ripening Rice in Chinese History”, Economic History Review 9
(1956–57): 200–18; also Yongchun xianzhi (1526 ed.), juan 1 “on products”. - Guo Bochang 郭柏蒼, Minchan luyi 閩產錄異 [The typical products of Fukien]
(1886 ed.), 1: 1a. - Ho Ping-ti, “The Introduction of American Food Plants into China”, American
Anthropologist 57, 2 (1955): 192.
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