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The Nongsang jiyao 農桑輯要 "Collection of important matters of agriculture and sericulture" is an agricultural treatise written by an official team of compilers during the Yuan period 元 (1279-1368). The 7 juan "scrolls" long book was compiled on order of the Supervisor of the National Granaries (sinong si 司農司), the highest central institution of agricultural politics of the Yuan empire. It had been established with the purpose to raise the agricultural output of the Yuan empire. In the preface of the Nongsang jiyao, Wang Pan 王磐 says that only a few years after its creation large amounts of lands had been reclaimed and cultivated. In order to continue and intensify this success the institution decided to search ancient texts that provided information about better ways of farming and silkworm breeding. The book was finished in 1273 and instantly distributed in the whole empire. It is divided into ten chapters that cover practically all aspects of farming. The text is concise and concentrates on the most important aspects, so that it was in fact of great help for the reconstruction of the economy in the Yuan empire after many decades of war. Between the first publication and 1332 it was six times republished, allegedly in more than ten thousand copies. It continued to be used after the downfall of the Yuan dynasty. During the Ming period 明 (1368-1644) it was included in many collectanea like the Gezhi congshu 格致叢書. It is also to be found in the imperial collectaneum Siku quanshu 四庫全書 and, as a print with moveable letters, among the Wuyingdian juzhenban shu 武英殿聚珍版書. It is also included in the Republican collection Congshu jicheng 叢書集成. In 1982 the Nongye press 農業出版社 published a modern, annotated edition, and in a new version in 1988 under the title Yuanke Nongsang jiyao jiaoshi 元刻農桑輯要校釋, with the commentary of Liao Qiyu 繆啟愉.
Source: Li Xueqin 李學勤, Lü Wenyu 呂文鬰 (1996). Siku da cidian 四庫大辭典, vol. 2, p. 1647. Changchun: Jilin daxue chubanshe.
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1. 典訓 Dianxun Introduction and evidence from ancient sources
2. 耕墾 Gengken Ploughing methods and working the fields
3. 播種 Bozhong The art of XXX Vermehrung
4. 栽桑 Zaisang The cultivation of mulberry trees
5. 養蠶 Yangcan Breeding silkworms
6. 瓜菜 Guacai Melons and vegetables
7. 果實 Guoshi Fruits
8. 竹木 Zhumu Bamboos and trees
9. 藥草 Yaocao Medical plants (including tea and plants for dyeing)
10. 孳畜 Zichu Cattle breeding
附 歲用雜事 Suiying zashi Miscellaneous matters through the year
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Chinese literature according to the four-category system
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