Food and environment in early and medieval China / E. N. Anderson.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Anderson, Eugene Newton, Jr., 1941- author.

Series:

Encounters with Asia.

Encounters with Asia

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Food supply--China--History.

Food supply.

Food supply--Environmental aspects--China--History.

Agricultural systems--China--History.

Agricultural systems.

Agricultural systems--Environmental aspects--China--History.

China--History--Yuan dynasty, 1260-1368.

China.

China--History--Ming dynasty, 1368-1644.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (352 pages).

Edition:

1st. ed.

Place of Publication:

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania : University of Pennsylvania Press, 2014.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Chinese food is one of the most recognizable and widely consumed cuisines in the world. Almost no town on earth is without a Chinese restaurant of some kind, and Chinese canned, frozen, and preserved foods are available in shops from Nairobi to Quito. But the particulars of Chinese cuisine vary widely from place to place as its major ingredients and techniques have been adapted to local agriculture and taste profiles. To trace the roots of Chinese foodways, one must look back to traditional food systems before the early days of globalization. Food and Environment in Early and Medieval China traces the development of the food systems that coincided with China's emergence as an empire. Before extensive trade and cultural exchange with Europe was established, Chinese farmers and agriculturalists developed systems that used resources in sustainable and efficient ways, permitting intensive and productive techniques to survive over millennia. Fields, gardens, semi-wild lands, managed forests, and specialized agricultural landscapes all became part of an integrated network that produced maximum nutrients with minimal input—though not without some environmental cost. E. N. Anderson examines premodern China's vast, active network of trade and contact, such as the routes from Central Asia to Eurasia and the slow introduction of Western foods and medicines under the Mongol Empire. Bringing together a number of new findings from archaeology, history, and field studies of environmental management, Food and Environment in Early and Medieval China provides an updated picture of language relationships, cultural innovations, and intercultural exchanges.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

Preface

Usage

Introduction

Chapter 1. Prehistoric Origins Across Eurasia

Chapter 2. China’s Early Agriculture

Chapter 3. The Origins of Chinese Civilization

Chapter 4. The Development of China’s Sustainability During Zhou and Han

Chapter 5. Dynastic Consolidation Under Han

Chapter 6. Foods from the West: Medieval China

Chapter 7. The Mongols and the Yuan Dynasty

Chapter 8. Shifting Grounds in Ming

Chapter 9. Overview: Imperial China Managing Landscapes

Appendix I. Conservation Among China’s Neighbors

Appendix II. An Introduction to Central Asian Food

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780812290097

0812290097

OCLC:

891846668