China is not the origin of pumpkin. Southerners first introduced it and gradually spread it to the north. Northerners don't know the origin of this melon and mistakenly think that it is produced in Japan, so it is called "Japanese melon". Some people don't know the spelling of "Japanese" and write "Wogua". At the same time, pumpkins spread to Japan, and the Japanese mistakenly thought that they belonged to China, so they were called "Tang Eggplant".

It was not until the mid-Qing Dynasty that this melon went northward in large quantities through the Grand Canal. Northerners thought it was a "southern melon" and changed its name to "pumpkin".

Actually, this melon was introduced to China from Nanyang. Southerners have always called it "pumpkin" or "square melon", which is recorded in Compendium of Materia Medica.