Food and Environment in Early and Medieval China (Encounters with Asia)

Chinese food is one of the most recognizable and widely consumed cuisines in the world. Almost no town on earth is without a Chinese restaurant of some kind, and Chinese canned, frozen, and preserved foods are available in shops from Nairobi to Quito. But the particulars of Chinese cuisine vary widely from place to place as its major ingredients and techniques have been adapted to local agriculture and taste profiles. To trace the roots of Chinese foodways, one must look back to traditional food systems before the early days of globalization. __Food and Environment in Early and Medieval China__ traces the development of the food systems that coincided with China's emergence as an empire. Before extensive trade and cultural exchange with Europe was established, Chinese farmers and agriculturalists developed systems that used resources in sustainable and efficient ways, permitting intensive and productive techniques to survive over millennia. Fields, gardens, semiwild lands, managed forests, and specialized agricultural landscapes all became part of an integrated network that produced maximum nutrients with minimal input—though not without some environmental cost. E. N. Anderson examines premodern China's vast, active network of trade and contact, such as the routes from Central Asia to Eurasia and the slow introduction of Western foods and medicines under the Mongol Empire. Bringing together a number of new findings from archaeology, history, and field studies of environmental management, __Food and Environment in Early and Medieval China__ provides an updated picture of language relationships, cultural innovations, and intercultural exchanges. Cover 1 Half-title 3 Title 5 Copyright 6 Dedication 7 Contents 9 Preface 11 Usage 13 Introduction 15 Assembling a Food System 15 Why Study the Chinese Food System? 18 The World-SystemModel 20 Diffusion, Cultural Choice, and Chinese Distinctiveness 24 Chapter 1: Prehistoric Origins Across Eurasia 29 China Before Agriculture 29 A Bit About Physical Ancestry 31 A Bit About Languages 35 The Origins of Agriculture 44 Chapter 2: China’s Early Agriculture 49 The Dawn of Domesticated Grain 49 Early Farming in China 50 The Later Neolithic 56 Animals 59 Meanwhile in Central Asia . . . Another Neolithic 61 Chapter 3: The Origins of Chinese Civilization 69 Civilization? 69 The Earliest Dynasties 75 Later Zhou and the Warring States 91 Conclusion 104 Chapter 4: The Development of China’s Sustainability During Zhou and Han 105 Ideology and Behavior 105 Cosmology 109 Philosophy and Politics: Origins of Chinese Traditions 118 Concepts of Nature 123 Words for Knowing 128 Morality 130 The Systematization of Environmental Management in Han 132 Chapter 5: Dynastic Consolidation Under Han 150 A Summary of Han History 150 Han Foodways 154 Han Food and Medicine 157 Han Central Asia 158 Chapter 6: Foods from the West: Medieval China 166 Three Kingdoms and Northern and Southern Dynasties 166 Sui and Tang 172 Tang Environment and Farming 175 Tang Food 177 Tang Culture and Poetry 179 Central Asia in Tang Times 181 Definitive Shaping of the Food System: Song Its Neighbors 185 Liao and Jin 192 Chapter 7: The Mongols and the Yuan Dynasty 196 The Mongol Empire and Knowledge Flows Within It 196 Mongol Rule in China 213 Food Under the Mongols 216 The Huihui Yaofang 216 Medicinals: Numbers and Classification 232 Places of Origin of Major Medicinals 234 The Moral: Chinese and Western Medicines United 237 The Yinshan Zhengyao 243 During and After . . . 251 The End of the Mongol Information Superhighway 254 Chapter 8: Shifting Grounds in Ming 257 Ming and Impossible Rule 257 Ming Fails in the West but Thrives in the Southeast 258 Ming Learning and Development 263 Chapter 9: Overview: Imperial China Managing Landscapes 269 Patterns and Pasts 269 Environmental History 272 Explaining Foodways 283 Forests 284 Modern Folk Views Continued Much of the Old Ideology 287 A Summary of the Old Ways 293 Appendix I: Conservation Among China’s Neighbors 297 Appendix II: An Introduction to Central Asian Food 303 Bibliography 313 Index 345

Chinese food is one of the most recognizable and widely consumed cuisines in the world. Almost no town on earth is without a Chinese restaurant of some kind, and Chinese canned, frozen, and preserved foods are available in shops from Nairobi to Quito. But the particulars of Chinese cuisine vary widely from place to place as its major ingredients and techniques have been adapted to local agriculture and taste profiles. To trace the roots of Chinese foodways, one must look back to traditional food systems before the early days of globalization.

Food and Environment in Early and Medieval China traces the development of the food systems that coincided with China's emergence as an empire. Before extensive trade and cultural exchange with Europe was established, Chinese farmers and agriculturalists developed systems that used resources in sustainable and efficient ways, permitting intensive and productive techniques to survive over millennia. Fields, gardens, semiwild lands, managed forests, and specialized agricultural landscapes all became part of an integrated network that produced maximum nutrients with minimal input—though not without some environmental cost. E. N. Anderson examines premodern China's vast, active network of trade and contact, such as the routes from Central Asia to Eurasia and the slow introduction of Western foods and medicines under the Mongol Empire. Bringing together a number of new findings from archaeology, history, and field studies of environmental management, Food and Environment in Early and Medieval China provides an updated picture of language relationships, cultural innovations, and intercultural exchanges.

Food and Environment in Early and Medieval China traces the development of the food systems that coincided with China's emergence as an empire. Before extensive trade and cultural exchange with Europe was established, Chinese farmers and agriculturalsits developed systems that used resources in sustainable and efficient ways, permitting intensive and productive techniques to survive over millenia. Fields, gardens, semiwild lands, managed forests, and specialized agricultural landscapes all became part of an integrated network that produced maximum nutrients with minimal input--though not without some environmental cost--Jacket. Introduction -- Prehistoric origins across Eurasia -- China's early agriculture -- The origins of Chinese civilization -- The development of China's sustainability during Zhou and Han -- Dynastic consolidation under Han -- Foods from the west: medieval China -- The Mongols and the Yuan dynasty -- Shifting grounds in Ming -- Overview: Imperial China managing landscapes -- Appendix I: Conservation among China's neighbors -- Appendix II: An introduction to Central Asian food. E.N. Anderson. Includes bibliographical references (pages 299-330) and index. Food and Environment in Early and Medieval China provides an account of the development of food systems, agriculture, and trade in China's imperial era, connecting those foodways to the global phenomenon of Chinese cuisine today.