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Studies in the History of Natural Sciences  2020, Vol. 39 Issue (4): 467-475    DOI:
ARTICLES     
Sumai or Xuanmai: Comments on Winter and Spring Wheat Planting Prior to the Han Dynasty
DU Xinhao
Institute for the History of Natural Sciences, CAS, Beijing 100190, China
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Abstract  Wheat can be divided into winter wheat and spring wheat according to different sowing times. Previous studies have tended to consider that all wheat grown before the Han Dynasty was winter wheat, while spring wheat was introduced from the West through the Silk Road during the Han Dynasty. By combing through and interpreting relevant historical sources, we find that spring wheat had been planted in China since at least the Western Zhou Dynasty. The latest archaeological results make it reasonable to speculate that the conversion of winter wheat to spring wheat occurred in high-altitude mountain areas via a direct route from the crescent zone to China. In the Western Han Dynasty, against the background of flood prevention and disaster prevention, crop rotation and multi-cultivation, and water conservancy construction, winter wheat (Sumai宿麦) increased in importance in agricultural production due to its own physiological characteristics. Its cultivation also increased due to individual behavior and government activity. The name xuanmai (旋麦) came into use only to distinguish it from sumai when officials persuaded the farmers to grow wheat in the autumn, and the term should not be regarded as evidence of the initiation of spring wheat cultivation in China.
   

Key words： lai (来)      winter wheat      spring wheat      sowing times      vernalization     
Received: 22 May 2020      Published: 17 June 2021
ZTFLH:  N092  
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DU Xinhao. Sumai or Xuanmai: Comments on Winter and Spring Wheat Planting Prior to the Han Dynasty. Studies in the History of Natural Sciences, 2020, 39(4): 467-475.

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http://www.shns.ac.cn/     OR     http://www.shns.ac.cn/Y2020/V39/I4/467

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