|
|
|
1.5–0.5
million years ago
|
• Homo
erectus living
in China near Beijing, Lantian, Yuanmou and other
sites.
|
|
|
• Peking
Man may have known cooking (roasting meat).
|
|
|
• Homo
sapiens, modern
man, appears in China.
|
|
|
• Beginnings
of agriculture.
|
|
|
• First
rice grown (Yuchanyan, Hunan).
|
|
|
• Millet
grown in north China.
• Wine making in Jiahu, Henan – world's oldest
(fermented from rice, honey and fruit).
|
|
|
|
|
|
• Fish
Farming: carp
in ponds.
|
|
|
• Widespread
cultivation of several plant & animal species.
|
|
|
• Agriculture
common in easily cultivated areas; social stratification;
large villages; moves towards civilisation.
|
|
|
• Wheat
and barley introduced from the Middle East.
|
|
|
• Shen
Nong, the "Divine
Farmer," father of agriculture, medicine, and discoverer
of tea.
|
|
|
• Yellow
Emperor (legendary) reign
begins.
|
|
|
• Yu
the Great controls the great flood.
|
|
|
• Chinese
Bronze Age begins. First written records from this
period.
|
|
|
• Civilised
society in North China & Manchuria.
• Noodles (made from millet flour)
|
|
|
• Wooden
chopsticks dug from graves from this era.
|
|
|
|
|
|
• Strong
ale (e.g. rice wine).
|
|
|
• The
iron plough.
• Row cultivation.
• Intensive hoeing.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
• Efficient
horse harnesses.
|
|
|
• The
rotary winnowing fan.
• The modern seed drill.
• Steel production from cast iron.
• Ice used for refrigeration.
|
|
|
• Confucianism
becomes state philosophy.
|
|
|
|
|
|
• Buddhism
arrives in China, though its influence is not widely
felt until the Tang Dynasty (618–907).
|
|
|
• Soy
milk and tofu processing.
|
|
|
• Tea
drinking begins to spread throughout China.
|
|
|
• The
fishing reel.
• Porcelain.
• Biological pest control.
• Understanding
of deficiency
diseases.
|
|
|
• Ginger grown
on ships. Ginger contains vitamin C, which guards against
scurvy. (Whether Chinese understood this at the time
or not, they gradually came to see a correlation between
diet and shipboard health. The ships of Zheng He's
voyages in the early 15th century had vegetable patches.
Ginger is also effective against sea sickness).
|
|
|
• Grand
Canal completed
(linking the Yangtze with the Yellow River), allowing
mass shipment of food from the south to the north.
|
|
|
• Golden
era of Chinese Buddhism. Vegetarianism and new attitudes
to other creatures prevalent.
• Tea drinking elevated
to an
art.
|
|
|
• Publication
of Lu Yu's Classic
of Tea,
the first comprehensive handbook on tea. It described
the cultivation, processing, and use of tea.
|
|
|
|
|
|
• Soy
sauce becomes a common flavouring.
|
|
|
• Flooding
changes the course of Yellow River.
|
|
|
• Mongol
conquest of north China complete.
|
|
|
• Marco Polo abroad
(including 17
years in China).
|
|
|
• Khubilai
Khan completes Mongol conquest of China.
|
|
|
• Grand
Canal rebuilt & extended to Beijing.
|
|
|
• The
Ming voyages of Zheng He.
|
|
|
• Gradual
introduction of New World food: sweet potatoes, maize,
potatoes, peanuts, peppers, tomatoes etc.
|
|
|
• Portuguese
ships reach China.
|
|
|
• Maize
first mentioned in literature, after arriving sometime
earlier in the century via the Philippines.
|
|
|
|
|
|
• Chinese
food arrives in America with the first Chinese gold
prospectors.
|
|
|
• Flooding
changes course of Yellow River, emptying the northern
section. River falls into disuse.
|
|
|
• The
Great Leap Forward, collectivisation of all agriculture
into large communes – greatest famine in human
history.
|
|
|
• Cultural
Revolution, many culinary traditions dispensed with.
|
|
|
• Coca-Cola
re-enters China market after a 30-year enforced absence.
|
|
|
• Deng
Xiao Ping's Open Door Policy.
|
|
|
•
American fast food arrives in China: KFC.
|
|
|
|
