Qimin Yaoshu (Important Methods for the People's Welfare)
Qimin Yaoshu (Important Methods for the People's Welfare), a monograph of agriculture-related topics in ancient China, was written by Northern Wei Dynasty agriculturalist Jia Sixie, between the late years of the Northern Wei Dynasty (386-534) and the early years of the Eastern Wei Dynasty (534-550). Qimin Yaoshu is the earliest agricultural text that is completely preserved in China, and it is crowned as "the encyclopedia of ancient Chinese agriculture."
Qimin Yaoshu comprises 10 scrolls, 92 chapters, with a total of over 70,000 Chinese characters, plus over 40,000 characters of annotations. The book emphasizes the importance of agriculture; it comprehensively summarizes the experience of peasants living in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River before the 6th century, including agricultural production experience, processing of agricultural products and methods for their storage, the way to open up wasteland and so on. The book tells how season, climate and soil affect the growth of crops, and emphasizes that different varieties of crop should grow in the right season, on right land and with right farming methods. In addition, the book sheds light on the comprehen- sive analysis of agricultural production, science and technolo- gies as well as how more economic benefits can be created. It advocates improving technologies and production tools, and provides knowlege about fighting a drought, recovering land fertility, and seed selection and breeding.
This book not only tells about the advanced level and leading position of China's agriculture at the time but also has a far-reaching influence on the development of agriculture and agricultural science and technology. As one of the earliest agricultural monographs in global agriculture history, Qimin Yaoshu spread to other parts of the world including Japan and Europe, becoming a classic in the study of species variation.
《齐民要术》
中国古代综合性农学专著《齐民要术》，由北魏农学家贾思勰撰写，约成书于北魏末年（533—544），是中国现存最早的一部完整的农书，被誉为“中国古代农业百科全书”。
《齐民要术》全书共10卷、92篇，正文7万多字，注释4万多字。这一著作强调农业的重要性，全面总结了6世纪以前黄河中下游地区劳动人民长期积累的农业生产经验、农产品加工和贮藏以及治荒的方法等，详细介绍了季节、气候、土壤与农作物的关系，强调农业生产要因时因地，因作物品种而采取不同办法。此外，书中重视对农业生产、科学技术和经济效益的综合分析，提倡改革生产技术和生产工具，总结了抗旱、恢复提高土壤肥力、选种育种等生产技术知识。
《齐民要术》不仅反映了古代中国领先于世的农业发展水平，而且对后世农业发展和农业科学进步产生了深远影响。作为世界农学史上最早的专著之一，《齐民要术》先后传至日本、欧洲等地，成为海内外研究古物种变化的经典。
