Southern Rice Farming Technology

Timeline

1. c. 800–1279Taihu Lake basin · Taihu Lake basinDuring the Tang and Song, Jiangnan developed an intensive rice farming model, with the curved-shaft plow, waterwheel, polder fields, and pond systems becoming widespread, laying the framework for later double-cropping and the tax base.
2. c. 1291–1300Jiangsu-Zhejiang Province · Jiangsu-Zhejiang ProvinceAfter the Yuan established its capital at Dadu, demand for grain tribute by sea and canal transport was strong, and the Jiangsu-Zhejiang rice region bore the main tax grain supply. Local governments and village compacts repaired ponds and embankments and dredged waterways to safeguard seedling transplanting and summer-autumn harvests.
3. c. 1300–1500Fujian and Lingnan rice regions · South ChinaAround the Yuan-Ming transition, some southern regions adopted continuous early and late rice cropping; iron farm tools and ox-plowing spread further, and rice farming techniques spread to Lingnan and the southwest, forming regional differences in multi-cropping patterns.