The Study On The Cotton Planting In The Yuan Dynasty

Cotton is one of the most important cash crop in China today. G.arboreum and G.herbaceum were grown in ancient China, but now G.hirsutum that was introduced in Modern Times from Americas is the most widely cultivated in China. After cotton was introduced into China, it was cultivated in a handful of border areas—today’s Hainan Island, Yunnan and Xinjiang, so the cotton’s tools and methods were. Cotton planting developed rapidly in Fujian and Guangdong ares in Song. In the late thirteenth century, cotton generally began to cross the Yangtze River Basin, further spread into the Central Plains region.The Song-Yuan period is a important period that cotton began to spread gradually into China. This artical is based on the study about cotton planting in the Yuan Dynasty. And it transversely researches cotton cultivation in various regions, cotton-growing technology and the causes of the rapid development of cotton-growing in the Yuan Dynasty. In addition, the article longitudinally researches the time, ways, introducing routes, records about "cotton" in ancient documents and the generation and evolution of the word "mian".The booming of cotton industry in Yuan Dynasty necessarily made the importance of silk and flax drop and using scope expand, and made cotton goods become important source of clothes and quilt. Yuan Dynasty also is important period that Chinese ancient cotton culture developed. In short, the cotton industry in the Yuan Dynasty has important worth to the research of development of agriculture and cotton textile industry, along with socio-economic conditions in Yuan Dynasty.