Description:
1, five grains means five kinds of grains. Books earlier than The Analects of Confucius, such as The Book of Songs and The Classic, have only "100 grains" but no "five grains". From 100 to 5 grains, has the variety of food crops decreased? No, people used to give several different varieties of a crop a proper noun one by one, so there were many lists. Moreover, the word "hundred" here is only used to refer to many meanings, and there is no real one hundred. The appearance of the word "five grains" shows that people have a clear concept of classification, and also reflects that there were five main food crops at that time.
When the term "five grains" was first coined, its actual meaning was not recorded. The earliest explanation we can see now was written by Han people. There are two main explanations of Han people and their descendants: one is rice, millet, millet, wheat and glutinous rice (that is, soybeans); Another way of saying it is marijuana, millet, millet, wheat and glutinous rice. The difference between these two statements is that there is rice without hemp and there is hemp without rice. Although hemp seed is edible, it is mainly used for textile. Grain refers to grain, and the former statement does not include hemp in grain, which is more reasonable.
On the other hand, at that time, the economic and cultural center was in the north, rice was a southern crop, and planting in the north was limited, so there might be hemp in the grain without rice. The crops mentioned in Historical Records, a book written by a historian, are wheat, millet, millet, glutinous rice and hemp, which belong to the latter statement. Probably for these reasons, Han people and people after Han people have two different interpretations of grain.
Combining these two statements, we can see that there are six main crops: rice, millet, millet, wheat, millet and hemp. There are four articles devoted to agriculture in the famous book Lu Chunqiu (written in the third century BC) in the Warring States period, among which the article Shenshi talks about the advantages and disadvantages of planting crops, such as millet, rice, hemp, rice and wheat. A grain is a millet. These six crops are exactly the same as the six mentioned above. These six crops are also mentioned in Lu Chunqiu.
Brief introduction of grain name:
1, "grain" originally refers to grain with shell; Like rice, millet (millet, that is, millet) and millet (also known as yellow rice), there are shells outside, so they are called valleys. The sound of the word Gu comes from the sound of shells. Grains were originally called grains in ancient China, and later referred to food crops.
2, millet: millet shell, that is, yellow rice, its son is sticky after cooking, and can make wine and cakes. Because it is not conducive to digestion, "millet" is basically not used as a staple food now.
3. Xiaomi: also known as Xiaomi, it is drought-tolerant and has many varieties. Commonly known as "colorful millet", including white, red, yellow, black, orange, purple millet and sticky millet. The earliest wine in China was also made from millet. Millet is suitable for growing in arid areas without irrigation. Its stems and leaves are hard and can be used as feed. Generally only cows can digest it. The staple food now is basically not "millet".
4. Cannabis: Cannabis is mainly used in agricultural production. His stem bark can be used as rope (hemp rope), hemp clothes, hemp paper and so on. After retting, it is very durable. Peeled stems can be used as firewood and build houses, which feels a little woody. At present, skins and stems can be made into various high-grade papers such as Xuan paper by refining fibers.
5, glutinous rice: the floorboard of beans, the old saying goes: "Glutinous rice is the strongest. It was called "Zi" in ancient times and "Dou" in Chinese, and now it is called "Zi". Losers are a general term for many beans. However, soybeans are called glutinous rice, bean seedlings are called Huo, and adzuki beans are called glutinous rice. " Bean products are also one of China people's favorite foods.
Extended data
Grain introduction:
Cereals refer to: rice, wheat, soybeans, corn and potatoes. At the same time, grains other than rice and flour are customarily called miscellaneous grains and also refer to food crops, so grains are also a general term for food crops.
In Huangdi Neijing, the five grains are called "japonica rice, adzuki bean, wheat, soybean and yellow rice", while in Mencius Teng Wengong, they are called "rice, millet, millet, wheat and oat", and in Buddhist sacrifices, they are also called "barley, wheat, rice, adzuki bean and flax". There is also a saying that grains generally refer to five crops, namely "hanging, rattan, root, horn and ear".
References:
Grains _ Baidu Encyclopedia Grains-Baidu Encyclopedia