Pre/historic Migration, Historic War, and the Occurrence of Rice Farming and Consumption in South China

10.6641/PICCFC.91012.2011.12.12

Tracey L-D Lu

rice expansion ； prehistoric migration ； South China

中華飲食文化學術研討會論文集

第12屆（2011 / 11 / 01）

239 - 251

英文

Today, rice (Oryza sativa L.) is the most important food ingredient of the dietary cultures in South China. It is consumed not only as staple food, but also as an essential ingredient for noodles, deserts, cakes, pancakes and dishes in urban and rural areas. This food ingredient is domesticated from its wild ancestor, the perennial wild rice (Oryza rufipogon Griff.). South China is one of the major habitats of wild rice, and domesticated rice is the major cultivar in this area today. However, recent archaeological studies indicate that the occurrence of rice cultivation and consumption in South China was a result of prehistoric migration and/or cultural expansion from the middle and lower Yangzi River Valley. Based on archaeological data, as well as results of neutron activation analysis of pottery, phytolith and isotopic analysis, it is argued that the cultivation and consumption of rice as food began by about 6500-6000 years ago in northern South China, and by approximately 4000 years ago in the Pearl River Delta and Hong Kong, both resulted from continuous migration and/or cultural influences from the Yangzi River Valley. However, rice cultivation was probably not a dominating economic, and rice was not a staple food for many people in this region in prehistoric period due to the local natural and cultural context. The introduction of new tools and migrants from the north as an aftermath of a war in 218 BC is an important turning point for the development of rice farming and consumption in South China. Thus both pre/historic migrations and a historic war have significant impacts on the food culture in this region.

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