What is the earliest crop cultivated by the Chinese

Rice and millet are the earliest crops cultivated by the Chinese. According to current archaeological findings, rice and millet were planted in China as early as the early Neolithic period.

1. Millet

Now we call it millet, and after shelling it is called millet. It is cultivated by a wild Setaria angustifolia. Millet is one of the most important crops in the loess area of the Yellow River basin because of its strong drought tolerance and autogenic ability. Carbonized corn grains and shells have been found in Neolithic cultural sites such as Banpo in Xi'an, Jiangzhai in Lintong and Beishouling in Baoji. It shows that millet has been widely planted in the north of China five or six thousand years ago.

2. Rice

Commonly known as rice, it is artificially cultivated from wild rice. In the Hemudu cultural site more than 7,000 years ago, a mixture of rice, rice husk, rice stalk and rice leaves was found, with an average thickness of about 40 to 50 centimeters. This is the earliest cultivated rice in the world. Indica rice and japonica rice grains have been found in Neolithic cultural sites in Jianghuai and Jianghan regions, Taihu Lake and Dianchi Lake in Yunnan, and in Jianmen and Haimen in Guangdong Province. It shows that the original residents in the Yangtze River Basin and the south of China at that time have mastered the rice planting technology, indicating that China is one of the earliest areas in the world to cultivate rice.