When was sweet potato introduced into China?

In different places, "sweet potato" refers to different plants, including both cold potatoes and potatoes, usually sweet potatoes, that is, sweet potatoes and sweet potatoes. Like peppers and corn, sweet potatoes are not native to China, but come from the United States. After the modern Spanish colonists discovered America, they spread all over the world in the footsteps of the Spanish, and were introduced to China in the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

Sweet potato was introduced into China and popularized rapidly because of its high yield, drought tolerance, waterlogging tolerance and salt tolerance. During the Qing Dynasty, a series of high-yield crops, such as sweet potato and corn, also contributed to the sharp increase of population at that time, and some even called it "the prosperous time of Kanggan". In addition, sweet potato is also a kind of food with high nutritional content. Besides being edible, it can also be used for sugar making and wine making, and it is a high-quality crop with a wide range of uses.

As for when sweet potato was introduced into China, it is generally acknowledged that it was in the middle and late Ming Dynasty.

During the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, Chen Zhenlong, a Fujian native who felt hopeless about the future of the imperial examination, was influenced by the prevailing commercial atmosphere in the southeast coast at that time and began to engage in lucrative overseas trade, running between Fujian and Luzon.

At that time, Luzon Island had become a Spanish colony, and the Spanish on the island often went to the Ming Dynasty to purchase a large number of raw silk, tea and porcelain, and the silver from America poured into the Ming Dynasty. In Fujian, located on the southeast coast, many people are engaged in the trade between Fujian and Luzon. There are a large number of Chinese in Luzon Island, and Fujian is a "middle-class child, living away from home". While making money in Luzon, Chen Zhenlong also tasted sweet potatoes.

The sweet potato that Chen Zhenlong saw in Luzon is not only drought-resistant and easy to live, but also can be eaten raw and cooked. It tastes delicious and has high economic value and the function of saving the world. So I came up with the idea of bringing it back to the Central Plains. If it succeeds, it will be a wonderful thing and can benefit everyone.

However, the Spanish who occupied Luzon at that time prohibited the spread of sweet potatoes. Chen Zhenlong tried twice and failed. On the contrary, it caught the attention of the Spanish. Until the third time, Chen Zhenlong coated the sweet potato vine with soil and wrapped it around a cable. Finally, he successfully brought them back to Fuzhou. However, when he first arrived in Fujian, Chen Zhenlong was afraid that sweet potatoes would be "unearthed" and only planted them in his own open space, and did not promote them immediately.

Compared with rice and wheat, the yield of sweet potato is simply amazing.

According to historical records, in ancient times, the yield per mu of wheat in the north was only 300 Jin, and the average yield per mu of rice in the south was 577 Jin, which was obtained after a series of water conservancy construction and agricultural technological progress in the Ming Dynasty.

Comparatively speaking, the yield of sweet potato can be described as touching. In the late Ming Dynasty, sweet potato was widely planted, and it could be planted twice a year. The yield per mu in spring can reach 2000 Jin, and in summer 1000 Jin, which is 6000 Jin.

To put it more bluntly, the yield of sweet potato is ten times that of rice and wheat. A field that can only feed one person. If you replant sweet potatoes, you can feed ten people. Sweet potatoes are very adaptable. Many lands that are not suitable for growing conventional food crops such as rice and wheat can grow sweet potatoes, which makes the cultivated land area expand rapidly.

Sweet potato was first popularized in the southeast, but its popularization in Jiangnan was full of twists and turns.

According to the records of Zhangzhou Prefecture in Wanli period of Ming Dynasty, Fujian suffered from drought and its grain output dropped sharply shortly after Chen Zhenlong brought back sweet potatoes. Chen Jinglun, Chen Zhenlong's son, presented the sweet potato seedlings to the government and began to promote them everywhere. Because of the convenience of life and high yield, sweet potato spread rapidly, saving many lives, and soon became an important food crop for the people in Fujian and southern Zhejiang.

While Chen Zhenlong brought back sweet potatoes from Luzon, Zhejiang merchants also brought back sweet potato vines from Japan and planted them in temples in Zhejiang, but only as ornamental plants. Until the early Qing Dynasty, when Chen Jinglun's grandchildren went to Jiangsu and Zhejiang to promote sweet potatoes, they found that the rich in the south of the Yangtze River were dismissive of sweet potatoes.

With the relocation of the ocean and the flow of immigrants, sweet potatoes have spread all over the country.

After the establishment of the Qing Dynasty, the "order to move to the sea" was officially issued, and all coastal people were moved to inland mountainous areas, and all coastal ships, houses and rice fields were destroyed. During the decades-long migration to the sea, a large number of people were forced to go up the mountain, so people died everywhere, and those who survived by luck could only survive in barren mountainous areas.

The land in the inland mountainous areas is barren, the cultivated land is scarce, and few crops can be planted, especially the land that can grow traditional crops such as rice and wheat. In this case, sweet potato has become a life-saving crop and has been popularized.

In addition, in the early Qing dynasty, in order to fill the population vacancy in Sichuan, a large-scale Huguang movement was carried out again. Among the immigrants, in addition to a large number of Huguang people, there are many immigrants from Jiangxi, Guangdong and Guangxi, as well as millions of Hakkas. It was this large-scale migration that brought sweet potatoes to the inland Sichuan.

During the Qianlong period, sweet potatoes basically spread all over the Yangtze River basin and its south. Due to several droughts at that time, sweet potatoes spread to the north. With the efforts of Chen Zhenlong's descendants Chen Shiyuan and others, sweet potato was first introduced to Shandong and Henan, and then began to spread throughout the north. By the late Qianlong period, sweet potato has become a very common crop in the north.

Sweet potatoes, that is, sweet potatoes and sweet potatoes, were introduced into China not from one direction, but from different directions. Chen Zhenlong is just one of them, but the time when sweet potato was introduced into China was roughly in the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty.