In ancient China, Liugu refers to six kinds of food crops: rice, millet, millet, sorghum, wheat and water chestnut. The corresponding names in ancient and modern times are: rice (rice, rice), millet (millet [shǔ], millet), millet (sorghum), beam (yellow rice), wheat (wheat) and water chestnut (sound gū, high bamboo shoot).

First, rice: there are rice and upland rice, of which rice is the most. It is rice after hulling. Rice is mostly white, and it also has red and black colors. Ancient and modern names are the same.

Second, millet: millet [shǔ] is still called millet in rural areas. After the seeds are shelled, they are called millet or small yellow rice, which is the millet with small particles in the market. It is yellowish in color and sticky, and is often used for steaming meat or cooking porridge.

Third, millet: sound [jì], millet was the staple food in ancient times. It can be used for both rice and wine. Therefore, millet is listed as "the length of a hundred valleys" and regarded as "the god of valleys" by emperors. Now it is called sorghum. After hulling, it is sorghum rice.

4. Liang: In ancient times, it refers to an excellent variety of millet, with a slightly higher yield than millet. It is now that the millet is large in particles but not sticky, which is suitable for cooking and eating, so it is commonly known as "rice millet". Yellow in color and bigger than millet. After the seeds are shelled, they are commonly called yellow rice or big yellow rice. Strictly speaking, beam is a kind of millet. Therefore, many people call the ancient "six valleys" the "five grains".

Five, wheat: wheat, there are many kinds of barley, wheat, oil wheat, etc., and now it refers to wheat. Is the main source of pasta. The seed coat of wheat is called bran and is often used as feed. The rest of the seed is ground into powder, which is called flour. Flour is made into strips, that is, noodles, or "noodles" for short. Wheat has become a common food for people. Same name in ancient and modern times.

Six, water chestnut: the sound of gū, also written as glutinous rice, is now called water chestnut or high bamboo shoot. In ancient times, it was a common thing for food and vegetables. Plants are like reeds when they bloom and seed. Its seeds used to be used as food in ancient times, and they were called glutinous rice. Because the seeds are black and slender (about 2cm), they are now also called black rice. Carving is especially fond of eating, so it was also called carving rice in ancient times. Its bamboo shoots can be used as vegetables, so it is called water bamboo because of its whiteness. Because it looks like a bamboo shoot, it is called a tall bamboo shoot. At present, it is still cultivated in some rural areas, but it is only used as vegetables, and its seeds are not eaten.

In San Zi Jing, it is reasonable for the author to call rice, millet, millet, sorghum, wheat and glutinous rice "six valleys". Because millet and Liang belong to the same category, there is not much difference, so the aforementioned six grains are actually five grains. The added valley is "glutinous rice".

Phragmites australis: the sound shū is a general term for beans. The ancients used beans as their main vegetables, so some people called them "valleys". Now beans are classified as vegetables and are no longer called "valleys".

In some places, corn is also called one of the six cereals, called "Bao Gu". However, corn is native to South America. In ancient China, corn had not been introduced. Therefore, even though corn is widely planted in China now, there was no corn in the ancient "Five Grains" and "Six Grains".

(The picture is from the Internet, thanks to the original author! )