Download GU97

ORIGIN AND SPREAD OF CHINESE WATERMELON
(Abstract)
GU, Wenbi
Wuxi City, Jiangxi Province, PR China
(Paper given at Second International Agricultural Archaeological Conference, Nanchang,
October, 1997. Translated/interpreted by W. Tsao, Ph.D., 13-4-01, edited by Bryan Gordon)
1. While not originating in China, watermelon is a favorite melon here and elsewhere. For the past 600
years since the beginning of Ming Dynasty, scholars have raised the question of its origin, an unsolved
puzzle in material cultural growth. Post-1948 endeavor by scholars in history, archaeology, agronomy,
ethnography and natural history now make a solution tenable.
2. The term xi gua (western melon or watermelon) first appeared in China in the Xian Lu (Liao) Ji (Liao
aboriginal life), by Hu Qiao of Five Dynasties Epoch (907-960 AD). Going east, he began at Shangjin in
Liao State (now Boluo City, south Lindong Township, Balinzuoqi, Inner Mongolian Autonomous
Region) in the 10th year 7th month of Huitong (947 AD): “I first tasted watermelon in Pingcuan, a place
covered with grass and woods, where I was told Kitan Tartars got their seeds from conquered Uigurs and
planted them under trellisses and cultivated with cow manure….This melon is about the same size of
dong gua (winter melon) but sweet”. This was confirmed in 1995 by the 1000+ year-old Liao Dynasty
murals excavated at Sijiazi site in Chifeng City, Aohanqi, Inner Mongolia.
3. From research on “Kitan Tartars obtaining their seeds after conquering the Uigurs”, ancient Xinjiang
(Tibet) Uigurs were the first watermelon cultivators in China. It was introduced to Xinjiang from Central
Asia around Late Tang Dynasty and possibly by Uigurs in the 9-14th centuries.
4. Xinjiang watermelon spread along eastern and southern routes. In 924 AD, Liao State (907-1124 AD)
emperor Yeli Abaoji began conquering the west, entering Xinjiang’s Uighur area and getting melon
plants from them. After growing in Xilamuluan and Laoha basins in local Kitan country, melons spread
south to Yan (Beijing) and Yun (Datong) areas, north of Hebei and Shanxi provinces; and north to
Songhua basin where the Nuzhen (Manchu ancestors) lived. It spread south on two routes to
Zhongyuang about the time of the war between Song (960-1205 AD) and Jin (1115-1234 AD) States: (1)
on Song-Jin border to Huai basin after peace around 1141 AD, but before Fan Chengda was sent as Jin
State emissary in 1170 AD; (2) imported directly from Jin to Linan (Hangzhou City) and other places by
South Song emissary Hong Houzi around 1143 AD. More and more watermelon records exist for Song,
Yuan and Ming Dynasties and all agree on its southern spread at that time.
5. Suggestions by three basic Ming Dynasty groups on the theory of watermelon import and spread after
Yuan Dynasty and long after first import are unfounded: (1) Ye Ziqi and Wang Shimao believed it came
from Xi Yu (west China border) as late as Jin and Yuan Dynasties, but did not have Hu Qiao’s book; (2)
Yang Sheng and Zhao Yi (Qing Dynasty) did not know Hu Qiao brought seeds to Zhongyuan because
they also did not have his book, and (3) Lu Shen and Li Shizhen thought it originated locally in Han-Wei
Dynasties and not from the Uigurs. All arguments are unsubstantiated and remain unclarified.
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6. After 1948, archaeologists found seeds in late Neolithic Han burials, supporting Lu Shen and Li
Shizhen’s view of local origin, but new agronomical and botanical research proves them unreliable.
7. While watermelon cultivation spread ended in Ming and Qing Dynasties, qualitative differences in
south and north varieties suggest it went through an adjustment period. Careful cultivation and selective
breeding by diligent farmers improved the seed for local conditions.
8. Watermelon history vividly illustrates the labor of Uighur, Kitan, Nuzhen, Han, etc., working together
in the motherland.
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