When was wheat introduced to China?

Wheat is a monocotyledonous plant of the grass family widely cultivated around the world, one of the three major grains, and is used almost entirely as food. After being ground into flour, it can be made into foods such as bread, steamed buns, biscuits, and noodles, and after fermentation it can be made into beer, alcohol, baijiu (such as vodka), or biofuel. Now let us take a look at when wheat was introduced to China.

When was wheat introduced to China?

Wheat originated in West Asia and was later introduced to China, where it gradually replaced the two kinds of millet, foxtail millet and broomcorn millet, and became the main crop of dryland farming in northern China, forming the present-day agricultural production pattern in China of "rice in the south and wheat in the north." Reports of archaeological discoveries related to early wheat remains have so far reached as many as dozens of cases. These newly discovered archaeological pieces of evidence show that wheat had already been introduced into what is now China by no later than 4000 years ago, and very likely as early as 4500 years ago.

How was wheat introduced to China?

There were at least two routes by which wheat was introduced to China, namely the grassland route and the oasis route. The transmission route of the grassland route was West Asia - Central Asia - the Bronze Age cultures of the Eurasian steppe - the cultural region of northern China - the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River. The transmission route of the oasis route was West Asia - Central Asia - the Pamir Plateau - the oases on the north and south sides of the Tarim Basin - the Hexi Corridor - the Loess Plateau region.

What wheat-producing regions are there in China?

1. Spring wheat region: The spring wheat region is mainly distributed in the areas north of the Great Wall and west of the Minshan Mountains and Daxueshan Mountains. Most of these areas are in high-cold or dry-cold zones, with severe winters, where winter wheat cannot safely overwinter, so spring wheat is grown.

2. Northern winter wheat region: The northern winter wheat region is China's largest concentrated wheat-producing and consuming region, mainly in the areas south of the Great Wall, east of the Liupan Mountains, and north of the Qinling Mountains and Huaihe River. Its sown area and output account for about 2/3 of China's total.

3. Southern winter wheat region: The southern winter wheat region is an important producing region for commercial wheat in China, located south of the Qinling Mountains and Huaihe River and east of Zheduo Mountain, with sown area and total output accounting for about 30%. Because the people in this region mostly use rice as their main staple food, the commercialization rate of wheat is relatively high.