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Text: Peng Yibin
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introduction
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, European scientists generally believed that the origin of rice came from India.
In 1928, Japanese scholars named japonica rice and indica rice as "Japanese type" and "Indian type", and these studies were recognized by Western academic circles.
At that time, China was still weak, and could only let others say what was what, and even the "nationality" of the rice that our ancestors had cultivated for thousands of years was changed.
They completely excluded China from the origin of rice, when in fact China was the real origin of rice.
(Rice)
1. Denying that rice originated in India
The Swiss botanist Alphonse said in "The Origin of Cultivated Plants" that although the history of rice is recorded in Chinese literature is very long, a large amount of rice has been found in India, so India is the birthplace of rice.
Alphonse's statement was quickly accepted by the Western world, because at that time, China was undoubtedly backward in the eyes of Westerners.
In China, ancient books such as "Shuowen Jie Zi" and "Zi Lin" all mention a naturally growing rice plant, and in the "Southern History", it is directly recorded that "in the third year of Datong, Wu Xingsheng wild rice".
In the "New Tang Dynasty Book", it is also mentioned that Yangzhou grows rice, and even in the "Classic of Mountains and Seas", it is mentioned, "between the black waters of the southwest...... Love has ointment and ointment, and the grains are self-......"
(Ancient people cultivated rice)
From these, we can see that wild rice has existed on the continent at least 2,000 years ago and has been recorded.
However, this could not stop the Europeans from coming, and after Alphons, there were many Europeans who believed that the varieties of rice cultivated in India were the most diverse, and that rice must have originated in India.
In 1928, Japanese scholars named rice "indica" and "japonica", which are Indian and Japanese.
(Japonica and Indica)
Western scholars believe that Asian rice is divided into two subspecies, one is the slender indica rice and the other is the short round japonica rice, one from India and the other from Japan, but their names have been lacking archaeological evidence.
In 1957, Ding Ying, the father of rice science in mainland China, published an article clearly pointing out that the origin of rice came from southern China, and denied the claim that rice originated in India.
What really confirms this statement is the direct results of archaeology.
(Rice grown in India)
In the 70s of the last century, the mainland excavated the Hemudu site and found a large number of golden grains and carbonized rice grains, which gave great shock to the archaeologists at that time. The discovery of the Hemudu site, which dates back 5,000 to 7,000 years, completely overturns the theory that rice originated in India.
Less than 7 kilometers away from Hemudu, more than 10 boxes of rice remnants were found in the Tianluoshan site, some of which have been carbonized and those that have not been carbonized, all of which have been completely preserved. The ruins of rice fields have also been found in the surrounding area, and the appearance of rice fields has added more evidence to the emergence of rice in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River as the birthplace of rice.
(Hemudu ruins rice)
2. Rice originated in China
In Hunan, which has been 15,000 years ago, we have also found carbonized rice, and we can clearly see the traces of artificially cultivated rice, so the appearance of the Yuchanyan site has refreshed the record of the earliest cultivation of rice by human beings.
At the site of the Xianren Cave in Jiangxi, we found phytoliths from rice. In the rice phytolith here, we can see the details of the transformation of wild rice into cultivated rice, which has been 12,000 years ago, which shows that human beings at that time have already cultivated rice and domesticated rice.
In 2000, the Shangshan cultural site on the mainland was discovered, from 11,000 to 8,500 years ago, and in the archaeological excavation, we were surprised to find 10,000 years of cultivated rice! In addition, we have found a variety of tools for harvesting, processing and eating rice, and there is a relatively complete chain of evidence.
(10,000 years of rice)
For example, the stone sickle used for harvesting, the stone grinding disc used for threshing, the grinding rod, etc., and even the remains of rice husks in the pottery unearthed locally, the Shangshan site was confirmed to be the earliest domestication site of rice in East Asia in 2022, which directly overturns the rumor that rice came from India.
11,000 years ago, the Shangshan cultural site domesticated rice and cultivated wild rice into cultivated rice. Their small step, a giant leap for all of humanity, marks the origin of rice farming.
(Clay pot of Kamiyama culture)
3. The conspiracy of Western cultural appropriation
Now whoever says that India is the origin of rice and Japan is the origin of rice, then we in China will not agree.
In the past, when we had no evidence, a large number of ancient books could clearly corroborate it, but Westerners ignored it.
Now that we have archaeological evidence, the West can no longer argue that China was the first to refuse, to say that rice originated in India and Japan.
More than 6,000 years ago, during the Majiabang culture period, we found a large number of plump cultivated rice, showing the fact that China is the origin of rice civilization.
(Rice)
India was first a British colony, and it was said that it recognized India, but it was just trying to pull it off from the West. At that time, China was poor and weak, and the Western powers attacked China as an inferior people, and it can be seen from the classification of races that they were discriminatory against Asia itself.
To say that rice has to be Indian, in essence, is to transfer China's culture and credit, obviously China is the earliest rice cultivation civilization, but they will not recognize it.
In essence, the West wants to erase China and its ancestors, and its contribution to the cultivation of rice can be said to be white as long as it is under the propaganda of the values of the United States and the West.
(Western Press)
Think about the reports on China in the foreign media, those negative and false reports, and think about if China's hybrid rice is renamed "American rice", then under the propaganda of the West, who knows that this is a Chinese thing?
So these things, which seem to be just a name, are actually cultural appropriations from the West.
The West does not dare to admit that many of them are now transmitted from the East, in fact, this is their cultural lack of confidence, China has always boldly recognized foreign things, but Western countries can't. So they would rather splash dirty water and name the origin of rice as India than admit that China is the source.
The conspiracies of the West deserve all of us to be vigilant, after all, these are the treasures of our Chinese culture, and they must not be taken away by foreigners.
（BBC）
There are many more things like this, and their cultural appropriation of China has permeated every aspect. Some time ago, the well-known brand Dior sold a skirt on its official website, and the design style of the skirt is exactly the same as the traditional Chinese Hanfu horse-faced skirt, but in the mouth of Dior designers, this is their original design.
After the incident caused a storm in China, Dior removed the dress from its website in China, but it was still on sale abroad. Apparently they were weak-minded, and later many Chinese students protested in front of the Dior brand in Paris.
What we see as cultural appropriation has become what the West calls "cultural borrowing".
(Dior plagiarized horse face skirt)
In fact, where is the reference, it is just the invasion of the weak by the strong side, why does the West do this? Are they going to say that the rice is Indian, and that the horse-faced skirt is not Chinese? It's essentially a conspiracy theory, and on Western websites, we can see a lot of people who are stereotypical about China.
For example, they asked if China has high-speed rail? Are there any highways? This is the idea that the Western world and the media have instilled in them, that they believe that China is backward and that the Chinese are inferior to themselves. That's why they are so derogatory about China, and even misappropriate Chinese culture and discoveries for their own use, which is really sad.
In the long run, if we don't pay more attention, our Chinese culture and history will be stolen from people, and how can the Chinese nation still have the opportunity to communicate with others on an equal footing? Will it once again become the inferior and bullied "inferior nation" in modern times?
Resources
[1] Against "cultural appropriation"! Chinese students dressed in Chinese costumes protested at the Dior headquarters in Paris. Central Committee of the Communist Youth League.2022-07-26
[2] Alternate Japan in "Isle of Dogs": Is it a Shadow Complex or "Cultural Appropriation"?.Jiemian News.2018-04-30
[3] "Rice" talks about the journey of rice in ancient and modern times. Ningbo Evening News.2024-05-21
[4] Walking into the "First Village of Ancient China" and tasting the mountain culture: from a grain of rice to the mountain "rice" road. Beijing Daily.2021-11-29
[5] Rice originated in India and Japan? China does not agree. Yangtze Daily.2022-08-22
[6] "Rice" says ancient and modern, revealing the "past and present life" of this grain of rice in the rice bowl.2023-01-20