In the Han Dynasty, cattle had to be beheaded.

Chinese people seem to have a preference for cattle from their bones. Although it did not achieve the deified status of zebu in India, the image of cattle in Chinese culture has always been positive. Words such as diligence, perseverance and friendliness have been used generously on this kind of livestock.

The Chinese have been using and domesticating cattle for a long time. In the rice-growing areas of the south, common buffaloes are active; in the plateau, yaks are domesticated; and in addition, the Chinese cattle breed, which is unique to China, is more familiar to us.

Today's protagonist-Bos taurus. Photo by wikimedia

The origin of confusion

Although today we would regard yellow cattle as an integral part of the cattle family, the origin of this Chinese cattle breed remains elusive.

Available archaeological evidence points out that domestication of domestic cattle began as early as 10,000 years ago in West Asia and East and North Africa. At that time, mankind had entered an agricultural society, an adequate food supply raised more people, and the growing agricultural needs urgently needed a strong draft animal.

The native cattle, which were widely distributed throughout Eurasia, were domesticated and eventually formed today's domestic cattle. Like many exotic livestock and poultry in history, domestic cattle may also enter the eastern civilization along the transmission route from West Asia to Kazakstan to Northwest China to Central Plains.

The wild breed of domestic cattle-European cattle, the earliest domesticated domestic cattle by Western Asian civilization, is its offspring. Photo by wikimedia

However, the paradox is that there have been many domesticated organisms transmitted through this route in the past, and along this transmission route, there are also space-time connections between these species.

But for domestic cattle, almost no trace of them was found on the way from West Asia to China. From 10,000 years ago, domestic cattle were domesticated by ancient civilization of West Asia, to 4500 years ago, traces of domestic cattle appeared in Qijia cultural sites in Ganqing area and Longshan cultural sites in Central Plains area, it seems that domestic cattle suddenly stepped on the stage of eastern civilization.

Home cattle in Israel today. Photo by Zachi Eveno / wikimedia

What is even more puzzling is that in the ancient ruins of Yinsuo Island in Erhai Lake, Yunnan Province, even the bones of domestic cattle 5000 years ago have been unearthed. It can be imagined by simple logical judgment that if domestic cattle spread from West Asia to the Central Plains, then this tribe far away in southern Xinjiang should have contacted domestic cattle later than the Central Plains culture.

By visual comparison between Chinese yellow cattle and other domestic cattle populations in the world, we can also find some very significant differences: Chinese yellow cattle generally have short horns and even many hornless individuals; Chinese yellow cattle have poor lactation ability, so we have not evolved milk-related eating habits in history; and congenital defects such as hairless, single hoof and double muscle layer, which often appear in other domestic cattle populations, have basically disappeared in Chinese yellow cattle.

The origin of Chinese cattle confusion, lies in this.

Domestic cattle can vary greatly in appearance, sliding left and right to see, in turn, yellow cattle, Holstein cows, English longhorns and African domestic cattle. Photograph: Dave & Keith Weller / wikimedia;Richard Du Toit / mindenpictures

Maybe, it's a hybrid.

Some scholars believe that domestication of domestic cattle, like pigs and chickens, may have multiple independent origins. In the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, a red copper pot of Yan State in the Warring States Period was unearthed in Tangshan. The hunting pattern depicted on it clearly shows a variety of cattle with short horns that was once widely distributed in Asia.

The cattle remains unearthed in China have shown relatively mature evidence of domestication, which seems to indicate that the domestication of cattle was indeed not completed by China itself. But is it possible that there were civilizations closer to China that domesticated this short-horned variant of the original cattle and got domestic cattle, which then spread into Chinese culture?

During the Warring States Period, the red copper pot hunting pattern was engraved in Yan State, with a short-horned buffalo in the middle. Picture:

Some scholars also believe that the origin of Chinese cattle is more likely to be the result of crossbreeding among multiple domesticated species. A large number of zebu domesticated in India today were also distributed in China during the Pre-Qin period. In the inscriptions on bones and tortoise shells of Yin Ruins, there were a large number of descriptions about "white cattle", and the genetic characteristics of white can basically be judged as the genetic mutation of zebu cattle, which is also the direct evidence that zebu was domesticated in the Yellow River Basin.

Of course, with the change of climate in the later period, rhinoceros, elephant and tumorous cattle in the Central Plains gradually declined, but it is very likely that domestic zebu cattle have already crossed with domestic cattle, and finally produced distinctive Chinese yellow cattle. Today, the southern breeds of Chinese yellow cattle still have the unique shoulder features of zebu cattle.

The shoulder of a zebu. Photo by Scott Bauer / wikimedia

Beef has always been eaten.

Although the origin of cattle is still unclear, its importance to the Central Plains civilization is beyond doubt.

Like many domesticated animals, cattle were domesticated primarily to provide meat. For a long time before the Western Zhou Dynasty, the main function of cattle was meat.

In the Zhangdeng cultural sites of the early Shang Dynasty, the proportion of cattle bones was still at a low level of 16.9%, while in the Huanbei Shangcheng site of the middle Shang Dynasty, it climbed to 35.78%; in the late Yin ruins, the proportion of cattle bones even exceeded 40%. Since the meat output of a yellow cattle is three times that of domestic pigs, it can be concluded that beef has become the largest meat food category in the middle and late Shang Dynasty.

Beef, how do you like it? Photo by Jon Sullivan / wikimedia

We often say that to judge whether ordinary people live a good life, we should first look at their vegetable basket. Unlike domesticated pigs and chickens, cattle have a long breeding cycle and a very low feed to meat ratio. However, in the pre-Qin period, people's choice of meat could reach such a "luxury" height, which shows the prosperity of the Shang Dynasty.

In addition to eating, the diversity of cattle functions before the Western Zhou Dynasty was also amazing. At that time, cattle were regarded as important "benevolent animals" and were often used in sacrificial activities before important projects started. In contrast, pigs, dogs and other livestock habits are fierce, so they are mostly used in burial links. Cattle were also important riding and camel-bearing animals before domestic horses spread to China.

In some areas, cattle are still used as camels. Photo: Juan Cristóbal Hurtado /behance.net

Killing cattle is treason

However, since the Western Zhou Dynasty "ceremony" recorded that "princes do not kill cattle for no reason", until September 1984 allowed to slaughter and sell cattle, the edible value of cattle was strictly restricted. Why is that? The clearest answer is given in Tang Law Shu Yi: "Official private horse cattle are used heavily: cattle are the root of farming, and horses are used far away to the army." In order to ensure sufficient livestock for agricultural production, the cattle protection system based on the principle of prohibiting private killing of cattle was included in the legal system of successive dynasties.

This cattle protection system, which lasted for more than 2000 years, was measured by different standards.

The Tang, Song and Five Dynasties dynasties were the most strict in protecting cattle. No matter whether they were big cattle or calves, they were not allowed to be slaughtered. Only after they died naturally could they be eaten. In contrast, Han, Ming and Qing officials believed that cattle in their youth played the greatest role, and once they were old, they could still flow into the market for food with the permission of the government. Of course, whether the cattle are old or not is not up to the owner of the cattle himself. In the work of the grass-roots government at that time, judging whether the cattle are old or not is probably also an important content.

A newborn calf. Photo by wikimedia

If someone kills cattle privately, or even kills other people's cattle, he must be punished by the iron law: In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, it was stipulated that if one killed one's own cattle privately, he would be given a hundred sticks; If you kill someone else's cattle, you will be exiled 3,000 miles away. In contrast, the Han system was non-discriminatory-as long as you killed the cow, whether it was your own or someone else's, you would not want to live.

For nearly a hundred years after the overthrow of the feudal dynasty, Chinese cattle were still protected by such policies. From the Republic of China to liberation, cattle were still an important force in agricultural production for a long time. It was not until the 1980s that agricultural machinery gradually became popular, and in order to encourage the development of beef cattle, this cattle protection system finally entered history.

The image of old cattle farming is a microcosm of China's traditional agriculture. Photo: xuehua.us

Looking back at how far we have come from East Africa to the world, to this day, our identities have changed multiple times in the torrent of history, and the creatures who have accompanied us have played different roles as the years have passed.

The story between us Chinese and cattle is just such a vivid example. From confusing origins to carnivorous cycles to long-standing legal systems, the importance of cattle in the past years is beyond doubt. And in the future, this kind of patient and docile benevolent beast will accompany us and continue to walk.

This article is the 170th article in the 4th year of the Species Calendar from Species Calendar Author @ A Man on the Wander.

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