First, the source and name of watermelon.
Watermelon was not tasted by ordinary people in ancient times. This is just a unique fruit of the royal family. Watermelon originated in Africa and finally crossed the ocean to the mysterious China in the East. But there was no watermelon in the pre-Qin period, and it was after the Western Han Dynasty. Watermelon in the Western Han Dynasty passed through Sri Lanka and Nanyang Pearl Island from the African continent by sea, and finally landed in China from Fujian. So watermelon crossed the ocean from this route and came to our country. Watermelon is called cold melon, which was described by Tao Hongjing, a medical scientist in the Southern Dynasties, in Compendium of Materia Medica, so watermelon was first called cold melon.
Second, mysterious 8424.
The name of Korean melon was changed to watermelon in the Song Dynasty. At that time, people thought that watermelon entered the Central Plains from the Tang Dynasty through the Silk Road, so it was renamed watermelon. Like "8424", which is common in the summer market, this is the birthday of one of the watermelon varieties. 8424 is a watermelon variety cultivated by Wu Mingzhu, an academician of the National Academy of Engineering and a breeding expert of Xinjiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences. In fact, in 1984, after dozens of experiments, 24 groups with the best performance were matched, also named 8424. So the mysterious 8424 authentic varieties are all from Xinjiang. Of course, there are other varieties besides 8424, and these varieties are also loved by the general public.
Watermelon is suitable for all ages and can be said to be the first choice for us ordinary people to cool off in summer. Watermelon is definitely our favorite in summer.