Four years after Columbus discovered the “New World” in 1492, corn made its way to Europe in 1496. The first written record of corn in China appeared in 1551 in Henan during the Jiajing era of the Ming Dynasty. By 1555, corn brought by a chieftain from Yunnan was documented in Henan as it passed through the area on its way to Beijing.
Historians identify three main routes for corn’s introduction to China: the southeast sea route, the southwest land route, and the northwest land route. The earliest records suggest that corn likely entered China through Yunnan, arriving via Myanmar.
Li Shizhen, a prominent scholar traveling from 1552 to 1578, noted corn’s cultivation in the Yangtze River area but remarked that it was “rarely planted” at that time. By 1758, over 200 years after its initial arrival, the prefecture records of Hunan indicated that corn was widely cultivated.
Although corn was introduced early via the southwest and northwest routes, it didn’t spread significantly during the Ming Dynasty. Its real expansion in China began along the southeast sea route through Fujian.
In 1575, missionary Herrera noted corn cultivation in Zhangzhou and Quanzhou. Fujian’s mountainous terrain, which became densely populated by the Song Dynasty, helped corn and sweet potatoes spread to the Jiangxi region.
After the Ming Dynasty’s collapse in 1644, China faced a turbulent period until 1681, when Emperor Kangxi quelled the Three Feudatories Rebellion. This paved the way for corn to flourish across the nation.
In 1661, the Qing Dynasty had a population of only 19.2 million. However, after the Yongzheng period abolished head taxes and implemented land allotments, the population surged: it reached 143 million by 1741 and 296 million by 1795. By 1849, it exploded to 412 million.
To address the population and land pressure, the Qing government began relaxing restrictions in 1742, encouraging farmers to reclaim mountainous areas and exempting these lands from taxes. Residents of these areas were also given quotas for imperial examinations. These measures promoted the reclamation of mountainous regions, allowing drought-resistant corn to flourish.
As early as the late Ming Dynasty, increasing land annexation and frequent natural disasters prompted many farmers to move into mountainous areas. During the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, farmers moving into mountainous areas engaged in various occupations, including farming, iron smelting, charcoal burning, mushroom cultivation, and mining. The chaos of large-scale wars prompted many residents from plains to seek refuge in the mountains.
This influx led to significant gatherings of farmers in border areas, such as Hunan, Jiangxi, Hubei, Anhui, Fujian, Zhejiang, and Guangdong. The demographic boom during the Yongzheng and Qianlong periods intensified this movement, especially after the Qing government lifted restrictions on mountain reclamation in 1742.
Traditional crops like rice, wheat, and millet require specific water and soil conditions, which made drought-resistant crops like corn, sweet potatoes, and potatoes, introduced from the Americas, more suitable for cultivation in these regions. Farmers typically planted sweet potatoes in the lowlands, corn in the higher elevations, and potatoes in colder, high-altitude areas. These American crops thrived in local conditions and were rotated to ensure a steady food supply, supporting both the shed dwellers and the growing population.
In places like Enshi, Hubei, corn became a staple food alongside rice. Local records from the Jiaqing era (1796-1820) noted that farmers burned their homes to cultivate various grains, particularly corn.
As reclamation efforts continued, corn spread throughout the Fujian-Jiangxi-Huguang region, eventually reaching Guizhou and Yunnan. The influx of refugees from Hubei, Hunan, Fujian, and Guangdong during the Jiaqing and Daoguang periods further intensified corn cultivation in Yunnan. Lin Zexu, a prominent Qing official, noted that corn was widely planted in Baoshan County and became a staple in regions like Shunning and Xuanwei Prefecture, where it was used to make sugar, brew wine, and grind flour.
With the end of conflicts in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, corn’s spread in China accelerated. Following the Qing government’s suppression of the Three Feudatories Rebellion in 1681, Sichuan’s population plummeted from 6 million in 1578 to under 500,000 due to the war’s devastation. In response, the Qing government encouraged mass immigration from Huguang to Sichuan, resulting in over 6 million migrants settling in the province from the Kangxi to the Jiaqing reigns, revitalizing its population and agricultural development.
Reports from the Qianlong period noted that barren areas transformed rapidly into fertile lands, as inhabitants cultivated corn alongside other grains. Corn’s adaptability and high yield were highlighted in local chronicles, indicating a newfound reliance on it as a staple food, which drastically improved food security for many families.
During this time, several counties in Shaanxi depended heavily on corn and coarse grains, with some communities relying on it as their primary sustenance. The introduction of American crops like corn and sweet potatoes initiated a second agricultural revolution, significantly enhancing grain production and contributing to population growth. Historians like Ge Jianxiong and Jiang Tao emphasized the role of these crops in both increasing food availability and fostering demographic changes during the Ming and Qing Dynasties.
However, the surge in corn cultivation had profound environmental implications. The aggressive deforestation and land reclamation efforts by new settlers led to severe soil erosion and ecological degradation, particularly in mountainous regions. By the Daoguang era, the adverse effects of these practices were evident, with reports indicating widespread erosion and loss of fertile soil, exacerbated by heavy rains and floods. As soil fertility diminished, tensions between the indigenous populations and settlers escalated, resulting in derogatory labels for the newcomers and highlighting social strife.
The interplay of environmental degradation and social unrest culminated in events such as the White Lotus Rebellion, which was fueled by the discontent of impoverished settlers struggling to survive in increasingly harsh conditions. This rebellion, along with the subsequent Opium War, further disrupted the Qing Dynasty, leading to significant challenges for rural populations, particularly as ecological disasters became more frequent.
By the late Qing Dynasty and into the Republic of China, the ecological crises—marked by floods, droughts, and locust infestations—significantly impacted agricultural practices. As traditional crops like rice and wheat became less accessible due to rising poverty, farmers increasingly turned to corn and sweet potatoes, which were more productive and affordable. This shift was not just a response to economic necessity but also a reflection of broader social changes.
Source: rmdfsy, South China Morning Post, Nature, National Geographic
