Qimin Yaoshu facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Qimin Yaoshu |
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| Traditional Chinese | 《齊民要術》 | ||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 《齐民要术》 | ||||||||
| Literal meaning | Essential Techniques for the Welfare of the People | ||||||||
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The Qimin Yaoshu is an ancient Chinese book about farming. Its name means "Essential Techniques for the Welfare of the People." It is the most complete old Chinese book about farming that we still have today.
A government official named Jia Sixie wrote this amazing book. He lived during the Northern Wei Dynasty in China. Jia Sixie was from a place called Shouguang in Shandong province, which was a big farming area. People believe the book was finished around the year 544 CE.
What's Inside the Qimin Yaoshu?
This book is very long, with ten volumes and 92 chapters. It shares farming knowledge from over 1500 years ago! It covers many topics, like:
- How to grow crops (agronomy)
- Gardening (horticulture)
- Planting trees (afforestation)
- Raising silkworms (sericulture)
- Taking care of farm animals (animal husbandry)
- Animal health (veterinary medicine)
- Breeding animals
- Making drinks like wine (brewing)
- Cooking food
- Storing food safely
- Tips for making poor land fertile again
The Qimin Yaoshu used information from almost 200 older books. Many important farming books from the Han Dynasty and Jin Dynasty are now lost. Because of this, the Qimin Yaoshu helps us understand how people farmed long ago. It even includes 280 different recipes!
Why Is This Book Important?
For a long time, Chinese governments thought this book was very important. It also became famous in other countries. People used it to study how different plants and animals changed over time.
Even Charles Darwin, who developed the theory of evolution, knew about this book! In his famous book, On the Origin of Species, he mentioned an "Encyclopedia of Ancient China." He was talking about the Qimin Yaoshu!
The name "Qimin Yaoshu" can mean "techniques for common people to make a living." It can also mean "techniques to help people's lives." Either way, it shows how much this book cared about helping ordinary people.
