The Chinese first started cultivating rice because it could feed a generous amount of people and help with population growth. The more families there were usually meant more fields and/or more field workers. They then started to build mini-dams to help control the water flow during times of flooding since most rice field were near coastal wetlands. These dams helped the crops survive by taking water to them sort of like an irrigation system. They help the population size increase because the crops were no longer damaged by huge heavy floods or die so there was more food. They also used crop rotation because they wanted the land to be rich in nutrients each time they planted new crops. Manure was also used as a fertilizer to help in rich the crops and fields.
What process was used to implement and develop this food production system?
What drove them to this food production system?
Ancient Chinese
(Growth of rice.)
Background Information
The ancient Chinese are known for growing things such as rice, millet, wheat, soybeans, cabbage, and more but I am going to focus on two of their most well-known crops; pure rice and wheat. Chinese culture is sometimes called or seen as a ‘Rice Culture’ due to the fact that rice has been grown in china for thousands of years. Rice became an important contribution and well known food for Chinese daily diet and people came to accept the importance of rice quickly. The production of grains brought settlement to china.
The Chinese developed tools to help them get planting done. They used plows made from iron to place seeds and the ground and then cover then by dirt. This helped speed up the planting process. They also used animals by domesticating them and having them carry the large plows through fields. As population grew, more and more people began working in the rice fields once again increasing the production levels or rice and the population size along with it.
What are the impacts of this food production system on humans and the environment?
Rice production brought a lot more work as the population size seemed to increase. More fields had to be planted in order to meet the demands of the growing population. A lot of big families started to own and work in their own rice fields to help their economical status and bring jobs for their family. However, rice use to take about 180 days to be ready to be cultivated. Also because of crop rotations, only two-thirds of the fields were planted since one was getting ‘recharged’. The crop rotation however, was very good for the environment and it have the soil time to replenish itself with natural minerals and other thing that were needed in order to have a good outcome from the planting.
Is this food production system sustainable?
I believe that this was a sustainable food production system. It was used for thousands of years and some of the things that were used back then are still being used in the rice fields today. I think the cultivation of rice brought a lot of change into china and also had a lot to do with the overall population growth through the years since rice was used as a main meal or even a festive meal. Another thing is that this was not only a sustainable system but it was also a healthy system for both humans and for the environment. This food prduction system also helped the enviornment because, they used crop rotation to make sure the land was always rich in nutrients so the rice would grow each time it was planted.
