Where does sweet potato come from?

Chen Zhenlong twisted the sweet potato vine into a water rope and smeared sludge on the rope surface to escape the inspection of the checkpoint, and returned to Xiamen, Fujian, China by boat. During the period of 1594, there was a severe drought in Fujian, and crops were not harvested. Chen Zhenlong asked his son to write to Jin, the governor of Fujian Province, and suggested trying to grow sweet potatoes in Fujian. Jin Zengxue agreed. So Chen Zhenlong and his son tried planting in an open space in Shamaochi, Nantai, Fuzhou. Four months later, sweet potatoes were harvested. Small as an arm, big as a fist, tastes like pears and dates, and can satisfy hunger.

During the Wanli period, Chen Zhenlong and Chen Jinglun, a Fujian father and son, decided to take advantage of the opening of the maritime ban by Emperor Wanli to operate seagoing vessels and engage in transnational trade. To this end, they came to Luzon Island, the then Southeast Asian trade center, to purchase and ship, and it was here that they came into contact with the sweet potatoes planted by the Spanish. They saw that it could flourish on barren land and its fruit was sweet and delicious.

Considering that China has a large population and food shortage since ancient times, the idea of bringing sweet potatoes back to China came into being. I believe that if this thing is brought back to China, it will definitely make a lot of money and solve the domestic food problem, killing two birds with one stone.

After entering China, sweet potato, because of its high yield, strong adaptability to the environment, moist and edible, or boiled or ground into powder, raw food such as pueraria lobata, cooked food such as honey, and taste like water chestnut, has spread rapidly all over the country, becoming the key food crops in the dry land in the north and mountainous areas in the south.

During the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, the court encouraged the people to plant sweet potatoes in the official name, and Emperor Qianlong personally ordered them to be planted in Zhili. With the active promotion of the government and the public, sweet potato soon spread widely throughout the country, becoming the fourth largest food crop in China after rice, wheat and corn.