Asian Rice Cultivation

Timeline

1. c. -7000–-2000Neolithic site clusters of the middle-lower Yangtze · Middle-lower YangtzeArchaeological evidence indicates that Asian cultivated rice had been domesticated in the middle-lower Yangtze during the Neolithic, forming an early farming pattern coexisting paddy and upland rice, and spreading along rivers to South China and other East Asian regions.
2. c. 618–1127Jiangnan and the Lianghu plain · JiangnanDuring the Tang and Song periods, ponds, dikes, polder fields, and the curved-shaft plow became widespread, shifting Jiangnan rice cultivation from extensive to intensive farming and forming a fiscal and demographic foundation of 'nourishing the state with rice', laying agricultural conditions for the later southward shift of the economic center after the court's move south.
3. 1141–1150Southern Song Liangzhe Circuit and Jin Huai River region · ChinaAfter the 1141 peace agreement, the Southern Song made Lin'an its capital, with rice cultivation in Liangzhe, Fujian, and Jiangxi supporting grain tribute and maritime trade; the Jin state maintained rice-wheat rotation on the north bank of the Huai to supply garrison grain. Within this window, rice cultivation remained the foundational production system of population and finance for both north and south.