The history and present situation of agronomy and paleoagronomy research, and the domestic research situation

The history and present situation of agronomy and paleoagronomy research, and the domestic research situation

As mentioned above, Chinese traditional agriculture has a long history and profound accumulation. Future generations of agricultural books are developed on the basis of the previous generation of agricultural books. In particular, comprehensive agricultural books, from Qi Yaomin's Book to Agricultural Administration Encyclopedia, all quoted a large number of agricultural materials of the previous generation and added new achievements of the contemporary era, which made traditional agronomy snowball. But strictly speaking, in this inheritance relationship, the previous generation of agronomy is only historical data, not the research object, so it cannot be called the real study of ancient agronomy or agricultural history. In ancient times, traditional agriculture did not become a prominent school like Confucianism.

The germination of ancient agronomy or agronomy history research can be traced back to the textual research in Qing Dynasty. Garden scholars at that time not only studied classics, but also involved in the study of ancient agriculture. For example, Cheng's Notes on Gully River Regulation and Jiugujing are special textual research on ancient agriculture or agricultural history. At the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, when people of insight in the ruling and opposition advocated revitalizing agriculture and introducing modern western agronomy, Gao Runsheng put forward a plan to comprehensively sort out and inherit ancient agronomy, and planned to publish Liyuan Ancient Agronomy Series. His plan has not been realized, but his method is "saying agriculture with righteousness and proving agriculture with righteousness", which has not deviated from the scope of traditional textual research. Before liberation, some predecessors in the agricultural field noticed the importance of studying ancient agronomy, engaged in collecting and sorting out some agricultural historical materials, and conducted research from some aspects. Wan, the most successful person, began to collect and sort out the agricultural heritage of the motherland at Jinling University from 1924. It took him more than ten years to collect more than 30 million words of agricultural ancient books and other agricultural historical materials, and prepare to compile Farmers' Integration. However, under the difficult conditions at that time, their work scope and achievements were greatly limited.

The study of ancient agronomy or agricultural history in the true scientific sense began with the support of * * * and people * * * after the founding of New China. 1In April, 955, the Central Ministry of Agriculture held a "symposium on sorting out agricultural heritage" in Beijing, and made plans and arrangements for sorting out and studying the agricultural heritage of the motherland. Under the care and organization of the Central Rural Work Department, the State Council Agricultural Office and the Ministry of Agriculture, agricultural history research institutions such as the Agricultural Heritage Research Office of China Academy of Agricultural Sciences and the Ancient Agronomy Research Office of Northwest Agricultural College have been established one after another, bringing together some experts and agricultural history researchers, forming a research team that has begun to take shape. From the mid-1950s to the mid-1960s, the research on ancient agriculture centered on sorting out ancient agricultural books. Before the Cultural Revolution, the first batch of important achievements had been made. Among them, Shi Shenghan's achievements are the most outstanding. He combined the traditional exegetical research methods with modern agricultural scientific knowledge, and collated and studied the backbone agricultural books, such as the book of life, the four-person monthly order, the neat book, the convenient map compilation, the collection of agriculture and mulberry, and the encyclopedia of agricultural administration, especially the books published by Science Press in the late 1950s. On the basis of the above work, Shi Shenghan made a comprehensive study of ancient agricultural books and ancient agronomy, and wrote two books, Brief Introduction of Agricultural Heritage in China and Review of Ancient Agricultural Books in China, which made an incisive and simple exposition of ancient agricultural science and technology in China from the height of human historical and cultural development, which still has guiding significance for us to study traditional agronomy in China. During this period, the Agricultural Heritage Research Office of China Academy of Agricultural Sciences, located in Nanjing, organized considerable manpower, and collected 6,543.8+054,000 words of materials all over the country, and compiled them into 654.38+057 volumes of China Agricultural History Materials, of which 456 volumes were left by Jinling University, accounting for 665.438+03 volumes and 42 million words. They also extracted 36 million words of information from more than 8,000 local chronicles, and compiled them into 120 volumes of comprehensive local chronicles, 120 volumes of classified local chronicles and 449 volumes of local chronicles products. This material, with a total of 70 million words and nearly 1300 volumes, is a basic construction of agricultural history research. The laboratory has also done a lot of work in proofreading agricultural ancient books. Among them, Chen Hengli's "Research on Supplement of Agricultural Books" systematically sorted out and studied the book by combining field investigation and literature research, which provided important information for studying agricultural science and technology and agricultural economy in Jiangnan area in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties, and attracted the attention of academic circles at home and abroad. Agricultural History of China (the first volume was published by Science Press in 1959, and the second volume was not officially published until 1984 for various reasons), based on representative agricultural books, discusses the agricultural science and technology and agricultural production in various periods, which is a pioneering work in studying the agricultural history of China. Others, such as Lu Chunqiu Nong Ben, Guan Yuan Pian and China Nong Shi Zhi, are all important achievements of this period. Although the development process of ancient agronomy research was interrupted by the launch of the "Cultural Revolution" and suffered huge losses, this period laid the foundation for its further development.

In the late 1970s, the agricultural history garden, which was devastated after ten years of catastrophe, revived its vitality. The dissolved agricultural history research institutions have been restored one after another and new institutions have been added. More people are concerned about the research of agricultural history, and the research team of agricultural history is gradually growing. Publications and collections such as Agricultural Archaeology, Agricultural History of China, and Agricultural History Research were founded one after another, and the China Agricultural History Society was formally established on 1987. Since the end of 1970s, the research field of agricultural history has been greatly expanded, and the research of agricultural economic history, agricultural production history, agricultural thought history, agricultural science and technology history, departmental agricultural history, regional agricultural history, ethnic minority agricultural history, agricultural ancient books and agricultural old sayings has gradually formed independent branches. In addition to agricultural books and other documents, people widely use increasingly rich archaeological discoveries and ethnographic materials and combine them to promote the breadth and depth of research. All these facts show that the research of agricultural history in China has entered a new stage of comprehensive research on various branches from the stage of sorting out agricultural ancient books. Although the study of ancient agriculture is often confused with the study of agricultural history, in fact it only includes the study of agricultural books in the history of agricultural science and technology and agricultural history. In these two aspects, the achievements are also fruitful. The arrangement of agricultural ancient books is still going on, and some research results from the previous stage have come to Fu Zi one after another, and new research results have also come out at this stage. Miao Qiyu continued to advance on the basis of cooperative research with Wan in the previous stage, and constantly launched his own new books. Among them, Qi Yaomin's Notes on Books is the most perfect version so far, which concentrates the previous research results. The Notes on Nong Sang Carved in Yuan Dynasty is also a masterpiece with profound skill. Ma Zongshen completed the proofreading of the last masterpiece of traditional agronomy, "Giving Time to Pass the Examination". The most important achievement in the history of science and technology is the drafting of the History of Agricultural Science and Technology in China. This is a large-scale academic work organized by the Ministry of Agriculture, which mobilized almost all scholars in the field of agricultural history. From 1978 brewing to 1989 official publication. It lasted 12 years, with more than 900,000 words, including agricultural tools, water and soil utilization, production structure, farming system, soil fertilizer, cultivation, improved seed breeding and plant protection. China Rice Cultivation History, published by Agricultural Publishing House 1995, shows the characteristics of multi-discipline, multi-research methods and the combination of modern natural science and historical research, which reflects the development direction of ancient agricultural research to some extent.