History of Science
Jia Sixun was an agricultural scientist in the Northern Wei Dynasty, who created the epoch-making agricultural book "Qi Min Zhi Shu". There is no record of Jia Sixun's life in the history books, so we know very little about his life, and we can only know exactly from the ten words signed by the Qi Min Zhi Shu "Later Wei Gaoyang Taishou Jia Sixun Writing", that is, he once served as the Taishou of Gaoyang County of Northern Wei, which is today's Zibo City, Shandong Province. In addition, his other information is based on scholars. Scholars believe that Jia Sixun was born during the reign of Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei and was a native of Yi County, Shandong, which is today Shouguang County, Shandong Province.
Jia Sixun experienced the decline of the Northern Wei Dynasty and believed that agriculture was very important and the foundation of the economy. In order to develop agricultural production and improve the technical level of agricultural production, he "collected the scriptures and songs, consulted the old masters, and examined the deeds", that is, summed up the production experience of his predecessors from the biographies of the scriptures and folk songs, and also asked experienced people for advice, and through his own practice, he wrote the "Qi Min Zhi Shu". "Qi min" means the common people, and "qi shu" refers to an important method of making a living, so the content of the book "Qi Min Zhi Shu" is in short, some production and life techniques and experiences summed up by Jia Sixun for the survival of the people.
The book "Qi Min Zhi Shu" is a complete book of ten volumes, ninety-two articles, more than 110,000 words, this book "from the cultivation of farmers, and finally to the end of the brewing of sauce and vinegar" from the beginning of farming in the field to the end of brewing sauce and vinegar, the content includes the cultivation of the field, fertilization technology; the selection and collection of seeds; grain crops such as grain, millet, sorghum, beans, wheat, as well as the cultivation and planting experience of various vegetables, melons, fruits, flowers, plants and trees; cattle, horses, donkeys, sheep, pigs and other kinds of livestock, geese, ducks, chickens and poultry, as well as fish and other feeding techniques and disease prevention; as well as wine, sauce, vinegar, tempeh and other spices , the production of preserved meat, caramel, etc.; also includes food cooking, processing, pen and ink, glue, etc., in short, as Jia Sixun said, "the industry of Shisheng, jing is not complete", that is, all the technologies that are useful for people's livelihood, Jia Sixun has made detailed records, so this book is often called the "encyclopedia" of ancient Chinese agriculture.
The Qi Min Zhi Shu contains Jia Sixun's important theory of production, that is, it emphasizes that in agricultural production, we must attach importance to "time, place, and people". The so-called "heavenly time" means that agricultural production should be planted according to different seasons, climates, and the growth laws of crops; the so-called "geographical advantage" means that it is necessary to examine the quality of the soil, plant suitable crops according to the situation of the land, and carry out reasonable layout and management; "people" is to give play to people's subjective energy. Only by "measuring the geographical advantages when the weather is favorable" can we save manpower and harvest more grain. Conversely, if you violate the laws of nature, you will not get it. At the same time, Jia Sixun also believes that people play a decisive role in farming compared with the time and place. As long as people work intensively and diligently, they can get a bumper harvest even if they encounter floods or droughts. Guaranteeing agricultural production from the three aspects of "heaven and time", "geographical advantage" and "people" is one of the main ideas of the Warring States peasant family, Jia Sixun considers the time, place, and people in a comprehensive way, and highlights the role of manpower, which is not only the inheritance of the warring states peasant family's thinking, but also has a certain impact on the agricultural production of later generations.
The Qi Min Zhi Shu is more about the agricultural production technology and experience records, through these records, we can clearly see that the agricultural production technology at that time has been relatively developed. Many technologies are not only much more advanced than the Han Dynasty, but also have high value even in modern times. For example, it advocates not growing the same food crop on the same piece of land for years, as this can easily lead to the depletion of nutrients and the spread of pests and diseases on the land. This is a certain development compared with the fallow farming method advocated before; for example, it also introduces the grafting method of fruit trees in great detail, believing that compared with fruit trees cultivated with seeds, the use of grafting methods can make fruit trees bear fruit ahead of schedule; and in terms of livestock breeding, how to select seeds, as well as various measures such as breeding, management, disease prevention and control of livestock, are very detailed. Much of the agricultural knowledge in the book, even if judged from the perspective of modern science, is mostly correct.
In general, the "Qi Min Zhi Shu" introduces in detail and systematically the agricultural production technology and experience accumulated by the ancestors before the 6th century AD in China, which not only reflects that the development level of China's agriculture at that time was already in the leading position in the world, but also had a profound impact on the development of agricultural technology in later generations. Many later agricultural books, such as the Yuan Dynasty's "Nongsang Jijiao" and "Wang Zhennong's Book", the Ming Dynasty Xu Guangqi's "Complete Book of Agricultural Administration" and the Qing Dynasty's "Time-granting Examination" all drew on the results of the Qi Min Zhi Shu.
(Author Affilications:Party School of Jinan Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China)