Historical Tales Xinjiang | agronomist Lu Mingshan Zhenren traveled to the west

"History of Xinjiang" series of micro-videos no. 45

Agronomist Lu Mingshan

As a country with a long history of agricultural civilization, the mainland has produced special agricultural works since the Han Dynasty, such as the "Book of Victory" in the Han Dynasty and the "Qi Min Zhi Shu" in the Northern Wei Dynasty. In just over forty years after the establishment of the Yuan Dynasty, three important agricultural books appeared, including the "Nongsang Jijiao", "Wang Zhennongshu", and the "Outline of Nongsang Clothing and Food" by Lu Mingshan, a Wu'er (Uyghur) agronomist.

Lu Mingshan, originally from Gaochang (present-day Turpan, Xinjiang), was a well-known translator of many languages, and his father, Garuna Dasi, was a well-known translator who was knowledgeable and had translated a number of Sanskrit and Tibetan Buddhist texts in Wu'er. During the reign of Kublai Khan, the ancestor of the Yuan Dynasty, Garuna Dasi entered Dadu (present-day Beijing) from Gaochang as an official, and the official became the Great Situ. Lu Mingshan was influenced by him from an early age, quite talented, and presided over the work of royal literature and history. However, the most important achievement of his life was the compilation and printing of the "Summary of Food and Clothing of Nongsang".

After Kublai Khan, the ancestor of the Yuan Dynasty, made the capital of Beijing, he deeply felt the importance of developing agriculture, and formally established the Si Nong Division, which was in charge of nongsang water conservancy, and ordered the si nongsi to extract theories and materials on agricultural production from ancient texts and compile them into a book called "The Collected Works of Nongsang" and promulgated it throughout the country; at the same time, he dispatched agricultural officials to inspect agricultural affairs and take the agricultural development status as the main basis for evaluating the political achievements of local officials.

Because the government attached great importance to agricultural production, the trend of private writing of agricultural books also arose. In 1314 AD, Lu Mingshan served as the inspector of Shouchun County, in order to reward Nongsang and facilitate the arrangement of one year of agricultural affairs, so he "repaired the agricultural book and personally advised the cultivation of crops", and compiled the book "Nongsang Clothing and Food Summary" on the basis of the official promulgation of the "Nongsang Jijiao".

"Summary of Clothing and Food of Nongsang" is an agronomic monograph that takes the "monthly order" as the guideline and arranges agricultural affairs in detail month by month. The Compendium of the General Catalogue of the Four Libraries describes it as "concise and easy to understand, so that the section of the art of seed collection is open and clear." The book contains more than 15,000 words, listing 208 agricultural affairs, mainly agricultural mulberry, combining horticulture, animal husbandry, bamboo, fruits and vegetables, the collection, storage, processing, production of various agricultural and livestock products, as well as meteorological and water conservancy that are closely related to agricultural activities.

The agricultural activities listed in the book are explained in detail, describing how agricultural affairs should be carried out. Such as "New Month." Plant mulberry trees, and the cultivated land should be ripe. When transplanting, the row must be wide, eight steps wide, and the long row is four steps away from the tree. The middle of the mulberry line can be cultivated by cattle, so the field is not wasted, and the mulberry is not deserted" "Grow watermelons." It is advisable to fertilize the land for planting. Digging the ground to make a pit is as large as a bucket, each pit contains four melon seeds, and many kinds are scattered. After the seedlings are produced, the bottom of the roots is used as an earthen basin... If the remaining vines are plucked, the melon is fattened."

The method of drying cheese contained in the book is to "put the good cheese in a pot, simmer it slowly, make it thick, remove its water, spread it on the board, dry it into small pieces, and wait for it to dry and store." Do not use raw water and wets", which is still popular in Xinjiang.

Lu Mingshan attaches great importance to agricultural production, believing that "the basis of the peasants' clothing and food, the farming and mulberry are enough to eat and clothe; if the people have enough food and clothing, the people can teach etiquette, and the people can teach etiquette, so that the country can be safe and long-term."

He is good at summarizing production experience, that is, in the "Summary of Nongsang Clothing and Food", there are many farmers' experience, such as "ten ploughing luo ト nine ploughing hemp" and "three months, three 卯 in the month, there are beans, no is suitable for wheat" and so on.

Lu Mingshan also absorbed the production experience of various ethnic groups in the northwest region, and in the "Summary of Food and Clothing of Nongsang", he included how to plant grapes, plant cotton, brew short wine, and dry cheese one by one, adding new content to mainland agronomy.

"Summary of Nongsang's Clothing and Food" is an important agronomic research monograph of the Yuan Dynasty and occupies an important position in the history of mainland agronomy.

"History of Xinjiang" series of micro-videos no. 46

Real people travel west

In 1220, a 73-year-old man and 18 disciples set off from Laizhou, Shandong Province, to the Western Regions, thousands of miles away, to meet Genghis Khan on his western expedition. This old man who tried to persuade and influence Genghis Khan to "strike away and cause peace" was Changchun Zhenren Qiu.

Qiu Chuji, a native of Qixia, Dengzhou, Shandong, was the head of Quanzhen Taoism, and changchunzi, a famous religious thinker, religious leader, and poet at the time of the Jin Yuan.

Genghis Khan heard that Qiu Zhiji had the secret of longevity, so he sent someone to extend the invitation, hoping to teach the art of immortality.

Haotian temple, located in the Taoist Valley of Daji Mountain in Laizhou, Shandong, is a well-known Taoist holy place. At that time, it was from here that Qiu Chuji set off and embarked on a long road of westward travel.

Qiu and his party first stayed in Yanjing (present-day Beijing) for a long time, and then left Xuande (present-day Xuanhua, Hebei) in the spring of 1221 and traveled westward through Mobei. Crossing the Mongolian plateau, crossing the Altai Mountains, along the eastern edge of the Junggar Basin, south to the lost Bali City (present-day Jimsar, Xinjiang), then following the northern foothills of the Tianshan Mountains to the west, crossing Luntai (present-day Urumqi, Xinjiang), Changbala (present-day Changji, Xinjiang), Alima (present-day Ilihuo City, Xinjiang) and other places, in April 1222 AD, at the palace of the Daxue Mountains outside tiemenGuan (present-day Kush Mountain, Xingdu, Afghanistan), he met Genghis Khan.

During his six months in the Snowy Mountains, Yau was asked to teach Genghis Khan the "Way of Hygiene" three times. He told Genghis Khan that in order to gain "eternal life and long-term vision," he should "take purity of heart and widowhood as the key"; he also took the opportunity to expound the idea of "respecting heaven and loving the people", which subtly influenced Genghis Khan's concept of governing the country.

In October 1222, Qiu And his disciples returned east to the Central Plains, and after returning to Yanjing in the spring of 1224 AD, he lived in Taiji Palace (present-day Baiyunguan, Beijing) and was appointed to take charge of The Taoist Religion in the world.

The westward journey to the east lasted three years and traveled tens of thousands of miles. The doorman Li Zhichang traveled all the way, and based on what he saw along the way, he wrote a book called "Changchun Zhenren Journey to the West". The book is divided into upper and lower volumes, the first volume records the westward journey of the hill to meet Genghis Khan, and then return to Samarkand (present-day Samarkand, Uzbekistan) to wait for the official sermon; the second volume records the course of the church and the journey of returning to the east, and at the same time has a lot of detailed accounts of the folk customs and customs along the way, "The dangers in the mountains and rivers, the difference between water and soil and wind, and the difference between clothes, food, fruits, grass, trees, birds and insects... It's not enough".

In the "Journey to the West of the True People of Changchun", it is recorded that when Qiu Chuji and his party arrived at the city of Bali, there were not only "hundreds of Monks and Monks of the King of Wang, who were taoist and had a great prestige to greet them", but also "the Hui clan persuaded Pu Tao to drink wine, offering the name of exotic flowers and fruits, and the list of dwarf tricks, all of whom were Zhongzhou people", and "the attendants had monks, Taoists, and Confucians", and the Zhongzhou people, that is, the Han people of the Central Plains.

At that time, the Wu'er (Uyghur) people in Xinjiang mainly lived in Hami, Turpan, Beifu Bali and other places, and they mixed with the Han Chinese, and their customs were gradually infected. According to records, in the city of Alimari (northwest of present-day Huocheng County, Xinjiang), "farmers also decided to drain the fields", which was generally the same as in the Central Plains. Qiu Chuji and others saw the "Central Plains Ji Ji" here, and could not help but sigh that "everything in the peach blossom stone is coincidental". The simultaneous "sitting" of monks, Taoists, and Confucians shows the phenomenon of the coexistence of various religions in Xinjiang during the Yuan Dynasty.

"Changchun Zhenren Journey to the West" details the mountains and rivers along the westward journey of Qiu Chuji, social economy and customs and folk customs, and truly reflects the exchanges and exchanges and integration between the various ethnic groups in the western region and Central Asia during this period.

History Xinjiang | Episode 1 - Episode 18

Source: Propaganda Department of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Committee of the Communist Party of China

Kuitun Rong Media Center

Editor: Qian Wang

Editor-in-charge: Chen Shijian, Wang Qian

Editor-in-Chief: Xu Zhong

Director system: Zhang Daiwei