''Fan Shengzhi shu'' ("Fan Shengzhi's book" or "Fan Shengzhi's manual") was a Chinese agricultural text from the

Han dynasty The Han dynasty was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China (202 BC9 AD, 25–220 AD) established by Liu Bang and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–206 BC ...

, written by Fan Shengzhi in the first century BC. The book was lost in the 11th- or 12th-century

Song dynasty The Song dynasty ( ) was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 960 to 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song, who usurped the throne of the Later Zhou dynasty and went on to conquer the rest of the Fiv ...

, possibly during the Jurchen invasion. Several fragments of the text have survived as quotations in other books including ''

Qimin Yaoshu The ''Qimin Yaoshu'', translated as the "Essential Techniques for the Welfare of the People", is the most completely preserved of the ancient Chinese agricultural texts, and was written by the Northern Wei Dynasty official Jia Sixie, a native of ...

'', ', '' Yiwen Leiju'', and '' Taiping Yulan''.

Author

Fan Shengzhi was a

official, possibly from

Shandong Shandong is a coastal Provinces of China, province in East China. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilization along the lower reaches of the Yellow River. It has served as a pivotal cultural ...

, who served in the

Guanzhong Guanzhong (, formerly romanization of Chinese, romanised as Kwanchung) region, also known as the Guanzhong Basin, Wei River Basin, or uncommonly as the Shaanzhong region, is a historical region of China corresponding to the crescentic graben str ...

region first as court gentleman for consultation (議郎), then as agricultural development commissioner (勸農使) and commissioner of charioteers (輕車使者). The highest office he attained was that of censor-in-chief (御史).

# "Ploughing" (耕田) # "Harvesting" (收種) # "Irrigation" (溲種法) # "Field usage" (區田法) # "Grain" (禾) # "Millet" (黍) # "Wheat" (麥) # "Rice" (稻) # "Barnyard grass" (稗) # "Large beans" (大豆) # "Small beans" (小豆) # "Nettle-hemp" (枲) # "Hemp" (麻) # "Melons" (瓜) # "Gourds" (瓠) # "Taros" (芋) # "Mulberries" (桑) # "Miscellaneous" (雜項)

References

* *{{cite web, url=http://www.chinaknowledge.de/Literature/Science/fanshengzhishu.html, title=Fan Shengzhi shu 氾勝之書 "The Book of Fan Shengzhi", last=Theobald, first=Ulrich, date=2010-07-06, website=

Chinaknowledge Chinaknowledge, with the subtitle "a universal guide for China studies", is an English-language hobbyist's web site that contains a wide variety of information on China and Chinese topics. The site was founded by and is maintained by Ulrich The ...

1st-century BC books

Author

Table of contents

References