When was wheat introduced to China?

Wheat was introduced into China at the latest in the Yin and Shang Dynasties around 3300 years ago.

In historical documents, Zuo Qiuming in the pre-Qin Dynasty wrote in Zuo Zhuan's Eighteen Years of Duke: "Zhou Zi has a younger brother but no wisdom, so he can't distinguish bran from wheat, so he can't stand." Explanation: Zhou Zi's brother is an idiot. He can't even tell what beans are and what wheat is, so he can't be king.

As can be seen from this story, as early as the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, wheat was widely planted in northern China, so that ordinary people at that time should be able to distinguish between soybeans and wheat.

Of course, the words "Lai" and "Mai" also appeared in Oracle Bone Inscriptions of Yin Ruins, in which "Lai" refers to wheat and "Mai" is interpreted as barley. The word "lai" is a hieroglyph, and its original meaning should be especially wheat.

Under the background of the tradition of ancient granular food, wheat, like rice and millet, may be cooked and eaten, which is difficult to swallow. Therefore, the yield and planting area in the north are not large. It was not until the Qin and Han dynasties that wheat was ground into flour and steamed into steamed bread, and the area and yield were greatly improved, eventually replacing millet and millet. Different from the western tradition of baking bread, steamed bread is the representative of China steaming tradition, which is as popular as noodles.

Extended data:

The origin of mankind, agriculture and civilization are the three themes of world archaeology. After years of research, the contribution of the four agricultural origins to the world has been basically concluded. For example, West Asia contributed wheat and barley, Central and South America contributed corn, potatoes and peanuts, Africa contributed sorghum, and China, as a major agricultural producing area, contributed rice, millet and soybeans.

According to the archaeological progress in recent years, the origin, formation and development of dry farming in northern China can be roughly divided into four stages. The first stage is the initial stage. Archaeologists floated a small amount of carbonized millet particles at the site of Donghu Forest in Beijing about 10,000 years ago, indicating that millet had been planted at that time.

A large number of carbonized millet and millet were found in the ruins of Xinglong ditch in Inner Mongolia about 8000 years ago, and similar plants were also found in Cishan in Wu 'an, Hebei Province, Peiligang in Xinzheng, Henan Province, Laoguantai in Hua County, Shaanxi Province, and Dadiwan in Qin 'an, Gansu Province.

This non-agricultural stage is the second stage, and it is also a crucial period to explore the origin of agriculture in China. The origin of agriculture is not a revolution, but a long and gradual process.

By the time of Yangshao culture from 7000 to 5000 years ago, dry farming was basically established, and farming replaced gathering and hunting. After the formation of the dry farming system in the north, it gradually changed from a single crop planting system to a multi-variety crop system from 5000 to 3000 years ago, laying an economic foundation for the origin of Chinese civilization.

In the end, wheat from West Asia replaced traditional millet as the main crop of dry farming in the north, forming a big pattern of rice in the south and wheat in the north.

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