Jia Sixie
Jia Sixie,an outstanding agronomist and the author of China's first agricultural encyclopedia (百科全書),
was one of the leading agronomists in Chinese history. In the late years of the Northern Wei Dynasty (386-534), he wrote Qimin Yaoshu(Important Arts for the People's Welfare). It is the earliest and most complete
agricultural encyclopedia still in existence in China. Jia Sixie was born in Yidu County (today's Shouguang
County)in China's Shandong Province.He completed the book amid (在……之中) chaos (混亂) caused by
wars during the years of 533 to 544. He saw the sufferings of the poor farmers in his hometown and other
places while traveling through North China's Hebei and Shanxi provinces and Central China's Henan Province.
With his profound knowledge on agriculture, he believed that the development of agriculture could help those
farmers out.
The book, which has 92 chapters in 10 volumes and nearly 120 000 characters, covers a wide range of
topics and records on production experiences and methods. It includes advice on farming, forestry (林業),
animal husbandry (農牧業), fishery and sideline occupations.
Qimin Yaoshu was first distributed mainly among common people. In the Northern Song Dynasty
(960-1127),it became an official guiding book on agriculture. In the late Tang Dynasty (618-907),the book was
introduced to Japan who now still has the earliest incomplete (不完全的) version of the Northern Song
Dynasty. Now, the book has been translated into several languages. Qimin Yaoshu is considered as an important summary of farming knowledge. At present, it is still studied by Chinese farmers and students majoring in
agriculture.
