Zhao Rong-guang
School of Humanities, Zhejiang Gongshang University
China is a country with a long history of agriculture production. From "the fundamental element for the country" at the time of monarchies to today's "basic national policy", agriculture production plays an important role in food production for the Chinese people. Chinese primitive agriculture originated in the basins of the Yellow and Yangtze Rivers about 10,000 years ago and because of the establishment and development of a feudal political system, as well as a patriarchal social system, a self-sufficient natural economy of agriculture experienced intensifying growth over three to four thousand years.
Chinese agricultural life is closely related with food production and accords well with the traditional 24-solar-term system, and, hence, derives various seasonal foods of special implication. Seasonal foods usually bear seven basic characteristics: particular time, particular area, particular materials, particular techniques, particular form, particular way of eating and particular implications. Generally speaking, the influence of seasonal foods enjoys a long history and covers a relatively spacious area, the existence of which deeply effects the psychology and culture of the Chinese people even today. However, with the change of many vital factors in our daily life, and changes to our traditional observation of the 24-solar-term system, the same goes with related seasonal foods. Since the 24-solar-term-related seasonal foods have a long and brilliant history and culture, important practical significance should be attached to related research and promotion efforts.
(Presented in the 2012 Asian Food Heritage Forum: Harmonizing Culture , Technology and Industry, 20-21 August 2012, Imperial Queen’s Park Hotel, Bangkok, organized by Institute of Thai Studies, Institute of Asian Studies, Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts, Chulalongkorn University, Chinese Dietary Culture Institute, Zhejiang Gongshang University, and Ministry of Culture, Thailand)