China is one of the ancient civilizations in the world, which once attracted the world's attention and yearning with its splendid civilization. The developed agriculture, handicrafts and commerce in ancient China provided a solid economic foundation for the emergence and development of civilization. To understand the reasons for the glory of China's ancient civilization, we must understand the basic structure and characteristics of China's ancient economy. This leads to a new lesson.
First, from slash-and-burn to iron plow Niu Geng.
1. slash and burn
Zhuangzi says: "In the world of Shennong, ... we lived with elk, plowed the fields together, ate together, knitted sweaters together, and dressed together without hurting each other. This is the ultimate virtue. ..... "Shennong" in the ancient history of China was a figure when the original planting industry took place. Agriculture in China has been centered on planting from the beginning. In the long-term collection life, the utilization value and cultivation methods of various wild plants have been widely tested, and cultivated plants suitable for human needs have been gradually selected. From "tasting a hundred herbs" to "sowing grains" and "planting millet" is a vivid reflection of this process; The so-called "Shennong tastes a hundred herbs and encounters seventy poisons a day" precisely reflects the difficulty and risk of this process. Shennong's "suit the time, divide the land, control the land, and teach the people to cultivate." Become the ancestor of agriculture. To establish agricultural economy, we must create corresponding tools, which is reflected in the legend that Shennong created the golden axe "plowing grass". The legend of "Shennong" is the reflection of China agriculture in this era.
Primitive agriculture first simply imitates the growth process, sowing and harvesting of plants in nature. Later, the most primitive farming method "slash and burn" began. What is "slash and burn"?
The so-called "slash-and-burn" means that in the early spring, the trees in the mountains are cut down first, and then the night before the spring rain comes, they are set on fire and used as fertilizer. The next day, they are planted by soil heat and can be harvested without any field management. Generally, after two or three years, the soil and fertilizer have been exhausted and can no longer be planted. It is necessary to open up wasteland alone. The primitive slash-and-burn is similar to it, but the tools are simpler. According to some objects unearthed from archaeology, the tools used in primitive agriculture mainly include stone knives and axes, which are used to cut down trees.
When people slash and burn, the first thing they have to face is the choice of land. Slash-and-burn is generally not fertilized or cultivated, so after two or three years of planting, it is necessary to find another place to cut and burn, which is called "fallow cultivation" by agricultural historians. However, judging from some physical objects unearthed in the Neolithic Age, it seems that primitive agriculture in some areas of China has long been separated from the early slash-and-burn stage and entered the so-called "stone hoe cultivation" or "ploughing" stage of "mature and barren cultivation system".
This situation is reflected in the ancient legends of China. According to legend, "Zhu Yue, the son of Shanshi Lie, is a millet man and has worshipped him since the summer." "Fierce Mountain" is to release Yamakaji, and "column" is actually a sharp stick for digging holes and planting trees-it later developed into a wooden lei. These are two interrelated main operations in primitive agriculture, but they are personified by legends.
Nowadays, "slash and burn" means that people cut down trees, dry them, then set them on fire, and then sow crops such as dry valleys. It is a way to develop production by using mineral nutrients accumulated in tropical rain forests, and it is also a way to eliminate weeds and pests with fire. In the ecological environment of Xishuangbanna, which is sparsely populated and has contiguous forests in history, "slash and burn" is nothing more than opening a small forest window in the vast forest. After planting millet for two or three years, it was abandoned, and the forest was quickly restored, which did not affect the survival of various creatures. It is a good "forest farmer" rotation method. In modern times, the population doubled, the forest was difficult to recover, and the soil erosion in mountainous areas was serious, resulting in the degradation of the ecological environment. Therefore, in recent years, it is wise for local governments at all levels to make a decision to ban "slash and burn" in mountainous areas.
During the slash-and-burn period, with the appearance and widespread use of farm tools, China agriculture entered the stage of "stone hoeing".
Step 2 hoe the ground with stones
The development level of ancient agricultural productivity in China can be divided into three stages: before ploughing, during ploughing and after ploughing. "slash and burn" belongs to the early stage of ploughing. With the use of a large number of bones and stones, people broke away from slash-and-burn farming and entered the stage of "ploughing" agriculture.
What are the advantages of "ploughing" over "burning"? (High land utilization rate; What are the disadvantages? (Lack of fertilization, three or four years of planting have to be abandoned, and people have to find new land)
3. Iron Plow Niu Geng
The primitive agricultural production mode in the period of "ploughing" and "burning" is very simple. This kind of agricultural production has only two links: planting and harvesting, and it is only taken from nature for free. The balance of soil nutrition depends entirely on the self-recovery of natural vegetation. This is predatory production that only takes and does not pay. Because of the small population at that time, people's demand for nature was not high and productivity was low, so the production of primitive agriculture did not exceed the load capacity and recovery capacity of nature, and people did little damage to the natural ecosystem.
However, with the increase of population, the demand of human beings for nature and the improvement of agricultural production tools, China entered the traditional agricultural stage, that is, the period of adopting "iron plow Niu Geng". During the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, bronze farm tools appeared. It was rarely used in agriculture at that time. However, due to the understanding of fertilization technology, fertile land can be cultivated continuously by turns, and barren land can also be cultivated after a year or two of fallow. With the use of iron farm tools in the Spring and Autumn Period and the extensive use of iron farm tools in the Warring States Period, the level of agricultural productivity has also made a qualitative leap. The emergence and initial popularization of Niu Geng in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, coupled with the new progress of irrigation and fertilization technology, greatly improved the agricultural production level in ancient China. Since then, the iron plow Niu Geng has become an important farming method in China.
Through soil preparation, seedling raising, weeding, fertilization, irrigation and other technical measures. While demanding agricultural products from nature, it also gives certain compensation to the agricultural ecosystem (mainly using organic fertilizer). The Chinese nation has created brilliant ancient agricultural science and technology and is a well-deserved model of traditional agriculture. The production mode of traditional agriculture embodies the combination of man and nature for the first time, which has certain ecological rationality. Because traditional agriculture relies on the internal circulation of agriculture to maintain balance, its dependence on nature cannot be fundamentally improved. Due to the decentralized management and small scale of traditional agriculture, it is difficult to make full use of natural resources reasonably.