1. Rice

Today, rice is the most important staple food for Chinese people. But before the Tang and Song Dynasties, rice was not the most important food crop. The rise of rice can be seen as the gradual transfer of Chinese civilization from the Yellow River region in the northwest to the Yangtze River region in the southeast. As the proportion of rice in the staple food of Chinese people increases, the economic center of gravity gradually shifts from the arid Loess Plateau to the humid middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River.

Compared with crops such as millet, beans and millet that are mainly grown in the north, rice has a higher and more stable yield per acre, and the agricultural potential in the south, with rice fields as its core, is more developed. With the large northern population brought by southern regimes such as the Eastern Jin Dynasty and Southern Song Dynasty to develop the fields south of the Yangtze River, the Jiangnan area gradually became the source of taxation for the world. "New Book of Tang" clearly states that Guanzhong is known as a fertile wilderness, and the output is not enough for the capital... to transfer grain from the southeast. The millet mentioned here obviously refers to the high-quality rice produced in the southeast.

2. Barley and Wheat

There is currently no clear conclusion as to whether wild barley and wheat were introduced from Central Asia. But what is certain is that the large-scale cultivation and processing technology of Shuangmai have a certain connection with Central Asia. Therefore, barley and wheat were not commonly cultivated in most areas of the north until the Han Dynasty.

The advantage of wheat is that it has a different growth cycle from that of millet and millet. It provides life-saving rations when grains such as millet and millet are in short supply. The development of production technology in the Han Dynasty solved the problems of irrigation and milling necessary for wheat cultivation, which led to the rapid spread of wheat cultivation. However, in the Han Dynasty, pasta was still exclusive to the rich, and ordinary people could only eat wheat rice made from cooked barley after shelling.

3. Soybeans

In prehistoric times, soybeans were mainly grown in Northeast my country. With the continuous selection and cultivation of humans, the oily components in soybeans continue to increase. By the Warring States Period, soybeans, which the ancients called "shu", began to replace millet and became an important crop alongside millet.

In the works of various scholars, whenever agriculture is mentioned, the existence of sudan millet is almost always mentioned. "Mozi" mentioned: Farming and arboriculture gathers Shu millet. "Xunzi" mentioned: Industry and commerce do not cultivate fields but gather millet. During the Warring States Period, Shu millet was synonymous with food.

4. Millet

Millet is the first important crop successfully domesticated by the Chinese, and its wild species is Setaria that is widely distributed in China. Today, millet and broomcorn millet are listed together in some history books. In fact, the two are not exactly the same. The seeds of millet have a hard shell and are called millet after shelling. The seeds of broomcorn millet are sticky when cooked and are commonly called yellow rice today.

Because millet is protected by a hard shell, it can be stored for a long time, which is of great significance to the primitive Chinese society with low productivity. The Yuan Dynasty's "Agricultural Book" records: Among the five grains, only millet is resistant to aging. The hard shell of millet can prevent mildew, insects, and rot, which is beneficial to long-term storage. Today's archaeological excavations often find millet stored in the Pre-Qin Dynasty and even the Stone Age.

5. Taro

The roots of potatoes, taro and other plants are only eaten as vegetables today. But they are indeed the earliest staple food in China, bar none. Before Chinese ancestors successfully domesticated foxtail grass into millet and wild rice, they had already learned to grow root plants as their staple food. In modern Taiwan, the aborigines made a living by growing taro before they came into contact with the Han people.

The larger one weighs seven or eight kilograms. When eating, the taro is buried in the ashes and simmered, and then the whole community gathers to share it. Among tribes across China who still maintain primitive living conditions, there are many examples of people living on root plants. Root plants have many benefits as crops, such as being easy to grow, convenient to cook, and containing more starch that can provide energy. The disadvantage is that China's native root plants contain more water and are difficult to store.