Abstract
The first agricultural experiment stations in China were established at the beginning of the twentieth century by political reformers who sought to improve the country’s agriculture through scientific research. Inspired by institutional models of agricultural research in Japan and the USA, reformers and agricultural specialists used the experiment stations as testing grounds for new inputs and methods of cultivation. They took a special interest in trying to raise agricultural productivity by importing and experimenting with many new varieties of crops and by testing old and new fertilizers using new knowledge about soil and chemistry. The work of the central government’s experiment station in Beijing on plant propagation, acclimatization, soils, and fertilizers exemplified the research agenda of Chinese agricultural science in this era. In the 1920s, the prominence of the first experiment stations faded as the locus of Chinese agricultural research shifted toward universities and their work in plant breeding.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsNotes
- 1.
- 2.
One recent exception is Yuan (2012), pp. 110–129.
- 3.
- 4.
Eastman (1988), p. 66. China was, however, rich in landesque capital, the human-made land formations that are part of agricultural infrastructure and technology, such as irrigation works or terraced fields.
- 5.
- 6.
- 7.
- 8.
One historian has called Japan “China’s model and active partner” in the political and institutional reforms of the era. See Reynolds (1993), p. 5.
- 9.
- 10.
Luo published “Riben nongzheng weixin ji” (Japan’s agricultural policy reforms) as part of a longer treatise devoted to ideas for agricultural reform in China. See Luo (2010).
- 11.
- 12.
- 13.
Li (2008), p. 29.
- 14.
- 15.
Tao et al. (1973), p. 4, 5–6 (Jia Shumo, “Zhili sheng nongye qingxing” (Agricultural conditions in Zhili Province)).
- 16.
Nong gong shang bu (2007a), 2:4a, 13a–b.
- 17.
These provinces were Shanxi, Hubei, Sichuan, Shandong, Henan, Gansu, and Guizhou. (Nong gong shang bu 2007a, 2:4b, 5a, 5b; Nong gong shang bu 2007b, 2:5a, 5b, 6a, 7a). At an agricultural school established in Gansu Province in 1907, an experiment station with space for a forestry section and mulberry garden was set up to give students a chance to conduct field tests on crops with “the expectation of bringing the academic principles of the lecture halls and practical experimentation (shidi shiyan) into concordance” (Nong gong shang bu 2007b, 2:6a).
- 18.
Quoted in Li (2008), p. 55.
- 19.
Li (1956), p. 210, 216.
- 20.
- 21.
- 22.
Zhang (1979), p. 141.
- 23.
Nong shang bu (1914a), p. 1.
- 24.
Ye (1909), p. 17a.
- 25.
Ye (1909), p. 24a, 25b.
- 26.
Nong shang bu (1914c), p. 1b.
- 27.
Elvin (1975), p. 95, 101.
- 28.
Ye (1909), pp. 58a–59b.
- 29.
Nong shang bu (1914c), muci:1–6, fulu:43–48.
- 30.
Ye (1909), p. 10a.
- 31.
Ye (1909), p. 1b, 4a, 9a, 17a–b.
- 32.
Zhu Ying, “On late Qing economic laws and regulations, (ca. 1901–1911),” in Reynolds (1995), p. 124.
- 33.
In 1914, officials lamented the public’s general disregard for research taking place at the station. They decided to sell tickets for admission to the station, the zoo, and the exhibition halls to raise money for research, while continuing to encourage spectators to learn about new trends in farming and new agricultural products (Nong shang bu 1914c, pp. 1a–b; Nong shang bu 1914b, p. 2, 31–34).
- 34.
Nong shang bu (1914c), fulu:1, 4.
- 35.
Nong shang bu (1914b), pp. 91–99.
- 36.
- 37.
Nong gong shang bu (2007a), 2:14a-14b, 15a.
- 38.
Governor-General Zhang Zhidong’s decision in 1900 to switch from American to Japanese agricultural specialists, whom he employed as advisors, exemplified the spirit in which Chinese reformers more readily looked toward Japan in this period. See Stross (1986), pp. 42–49; Reynolds (1993), p. 108; and Zhang (1979), p. 140.
- 39.
- 40.
Nanyang quanye hui yanjiu hui (2002), 2:272 (Tao Changshan, “Mai lei zhi xin zhong shuru shuo” (Discussion of the importation of new varieties of wheat)).
- 41.
- 42.
Ye (1909), pp. 5a–b.
- 43.
Nong shang bu (1914c), fulu:5.
- 44.
Nong gong shang bu (2007a), 2:14a.
- 45.
Nong gong shang bu (2007a), 2:13a–b.
- 46.
Tao et al. (1973), pp. 133–134 (Huang Qian, “Guangdong sheng nongye qingxing” (Agricultural conditions in Guangdong Province)).
- 47.
Fengtian nongye shiyan chang (1909a), 4:1:nongyibu:1a–2b.
- 48.
Nong gong shang bu (2007a), 2:12a.
- 49.
Ye (1909), pp. 4a–4b.
- 50.
- 51.
Nanyang quanye hui yanjiu hui (2002), 2:196 (Zhu, “Jia zhong lu”).
- 52.
Ye (1909), p. 17b.
- 53.
Nong shang bu (1914c), shuyike:12, 45, 56, 59, yuanyike:20.
- 54.
Regulations limited institutions to 2 l (sheng) of seed, 20 rings (quan) of silkworm eggs, and 8 tree saplings, and restricted individuals to receiving no more than one-fourth the allowances for institutions. Recipients of seeds were required to report to Beijing the sowing period, the transplant period, the harvest period, the average harvest per land area, the results of quantitative comparisons with previous harvests, and the existence of any insects, pathogens, or climatic irregularities or calamities (Nong shang bu 1914b, pp. 21–22).
- 55.
The National Federation of Agricultural Associations was organized by the Nanyang Industrial Exposition’s Research Group during meetings in Nanjing in the summer of 1910 (Nanyang quanye hui yanjiu hui 2002, 1:3, 5).
- 56.
Hubei nonghui (1910), vol. 1, no. 1 zhangzou:3b-6a. (“Nong gong shang bu zou ding nonghui jianming zhangcheng er shi san tiao” (The Ministry of Agriculture, Industry, and Commerce memorializes on setting concise regulations for agricultural associations in 23 articles), 20 October 1907. Zhu, “On late Qing economic laws and regulations, (ca. 1901–1911),” in Reynolds (1995), pp. 114–115.
- 57.
Three years earlier, Zhu Zurong had suggested establishing a seed association (miao zhong hui) with two branches, one each for northern and southern China, for the purpose of facilitating seed exchanges between different parts of the country. See Nanyang quanye hui yanjiu hui (2002), 2:171–172 (Zhu, “Jia zhong lu”). On the activities of the Federation, see Tao et al. (1973), p. 60 (“Ben bu tiyi tongguo ge an” (Proposals made and passed by this Ministry)).
- 58.
These three provinces were Shanxi, Henan, and Shandong (Nong shang bu 1914c, huayanke:33).
- 59.
Nanyang quanye hui yanjiu hui (2002), 2:172 (Zhu, “Jia zhong lu”).
- 60.
- 61.
Nong shang bu (1914c), yuanyike:56.
- 62.
Nong shang bu (1914c), yuanyike:40.
- 63.
Nong shang bu (1914c), yuanyike:69.
- 64.
Nong shang bu (1914c), shuyike:5.
- 65.
Ye (1909), p. 9a.
- 66.
- 67.
Nong shang bu (1914c), fulu:7, bingchonghaike:87–97.
- 68.
Bentley (Bentley 1894). The text was republished several times thereafter, in Liang (1897) and in Yuan (1901). Several years later, Bentley wrote another short tract suggesting that China establish a national department of agriculture along the lines of the US Department of Agriculture. (Bently 1903). See Stross (1986), pp. 18–20.
- 69.
- 70.
- 71.
- 72.
- 73.
Ye (1909), p. 27a.
- 74.
Nong shang bu (1914c), huayanke:5–6.
- 75.
Nong shang bu (1914c), fulu:6.
- 76.
Nong gong shang bu (2007a), 2:12a, 13a.
- 77.
Fengtian nongye shiyan chang (1909b), 1:15a–29b.
- 78.
Nong gong shang bu (2007a), 2:13a.
- 79.
Nong shang bu (1914c), fulu:7–8.
- 80.
Ye (1909), pp. 28a–30b.
- 81.
Nong shang bu (1914c), fulu:7.
- 82.
Tao et al. (1973), p. 105 (Wu Jun et al., “Gansu sheng nongye qingxing” (Agricultural conditions in Gansu Province)).
- 83.
Nanyang quanye hui yanjiu hui (2002), 2:232 (Sun Yue, “Yanjiu nongye yijian” (Ideas about researching agriculture)).
- 84.
According to the station’s technicians, such a heavy reliance upon human manure was due to the shortage of phosphoric acid (Nong shang bu 1914c, shuyike:2).
- 85.
Nong shang bu (1914c), shuyike:5–6.
- 86.
Nong shang bu (1914c), shuyike:2, 66.
- 87.
Note that Zhu used the Japanese weight measure kanme (guanmu, approximately 3.75 kg) to discuss these fertilizers. See Nanyang quanye hui yanjiu hui (2002), 2:175, 178 (Zhu, “Jia zhong lu”).
- 88.
Nanyang quanye hui yanjiu hui (2002), 3:60–81 (“Guangdong nongshi shiyan chang ren zao feiliao shuoming shu” (The Guangdong Agricultural Experiment Station’s explanatory booklet on manmade fertilizers)).
- 89.
The Pratas Islands were brought under Qing control in February 1910 after having been settled and mined for guano by Taiwan-based Japanese entrepreneurs several years earlier. See Rhoads (1975), p. 141.
- 90.
See the following two sources in Nanyang quanye hui yanjiu hui (2002): “Guangdong quansheng huafen kuangzhi suo kuang chanpin shuoming shu” (Explanatory booklet of the chemical ore products mined in Guangdong Province), 3:25–28; “Guangdong nongshi shiyan chang ren zao feiliao shuoming shu,” 3:60–81; see also Tao et al. (1973), p. 115 (Huang, “Guangdong sheng nongye qingxing”).
- 91.
Nanyang quanye hui yanjiu hui (2002), 2:180 (Zhu, “jia zhong lu”) and 4:95–96 (Lu An, “Ouzhou zhongzhi zhitang luobo xinfa” (Europe’s new methods for cultivating the sugar beet)).
- 92.
From 1915 to 1918, political authorities established experiment stations for cotton in Hubei, Jiangsu, Hebei, and Henan provinces. By 1920, there were more than 20 experiment stations devoted to cotton in the city of Tianjin and the surrounding region. See Zhengli mianye choubei chu (1921), p. 1; Shen (1970), p. 211; and Pomeranz (1993), p. 97.
- 93.
H. L. Russell, Log Two, China and Philippines, 7, Rockefeller Foundation Archives, International Education Board, quoted in Stross (1986), p. 146.
- 94.
Shen (1970), pp. 212–213.
- 95.
- 96.
- 97.
- 98.
- 99.
- 100.
On the experience in the USA, see Kimmelman (1987).
- 101.
Even after 1915, Japan continued to have a measured degree of influence on the ideas of Chinese scholars and politicians. See Lu (2004), p. 253.
References
Anonymous. 1909. Nongshi shiyan chang quanjing (Panorama of the agricultural experiment station). Tokyo: Hironobu dō.
Bai, Hewen, Fuquan Du, and Zongdian Min. 1995. Zhongguo jindai nongye keji shigao (Draft history of modern Chinese agricultural technology). Beijing: Zhongguo nongye keji chubanshe.
Bentley, William Preston, (Bei-de-li). 1894. Nongxue xin fa (New methods for agriculture). Trans. Timothy Richard (Li Ti-mo-tai) and Tiesheng Zhu. Shanghai: Guangxue hui.
Bentley, William Preston. 1903. Guojia zhuan she nongbu yi (Proposal for a national department of agriculture). Shanghai: Commercial Press.
Bray, Francesca. 1984. Science and civilisation in China. Vol. 6, pt. 2, Agriculture. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Dong, Kaichen, and Chuyu Fan, eds. 2000. Zhongguo kexue jishu shi: nongxue juan. (The history of science and technology in China: Agriculture). Beijing: Kexue chubanshe.
Dongnan daxue nongshi shiyan chang mian zuo gailiang weiyuanhui (Committee for the improvement of cotton at the agricultural experiment station of Southeastern University). 1925. Mei mian yuzhong baogao: shi er nian, shi san nian (Report on the breeding of American cotton: 1923, 1924). N.p.
Eastman, Lloyd E. 1988. Family, fields, and ancestors: Constancy and change in China’s social and economic history, 1550–1949. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Elvin, Mark. 1975. Skills and resources in late traditional China. In China’s modern economy in historical perspective, ed. Dwight H. Perkins, pp. 85–113. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Fengtian nongye shiyan chang (Fengtian Agricultural Experiment Station). 1909a. Fengtian nongye shiyan chang baogao shu (Report of the Fengtian Agricultural Experiment Station). Fengtian nongye shiyan zongchang.
Fengtian nongye shiyan chang (Fengtian Agricultural Experiment Station). 1909b. Fengtian quansheng nongye diaocha shu (Report on a survey of agriculture in Fengtian Province). 4 vols. Fengtian nongshi shiyan chang.
Francks, Penelope. 1984. Technology and agricultural development in pre-war Japan. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Greiner, Tuisco. 1892. Practical farm chemistry: A handbook of profitable crop feeding. New York: The Rural Publishing Co.
Greiner, Tuisco (Gu-lai-na). 1903. Nongwu huaxue jianfa (Practical farm chemistry: A handbook of profitable crop feeding). Trans. John Fryer (Fu-lan-ya) and Shushan Wang. Shanghai.
Guo, Wentao, ed. 1988. Zhongguo nongye keji fazhan shilüe (A brief history of the development of agricultural science and technology in China). Beijing: Zhongguo kexue jishu chubanshe.
Hara, Hiroshi. 1892. Hiryō hen (Fertilizers). Tokyo: Hakubunkan.
Hayami, Yūjirō. 1975. A century of agricultural growth in Japan: Its relevance to Asian development. Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press.
Hubei nonghui (Hubei Agricultural Association). 1910. Hubei nonghui bao (Journal of the Hubei Agricultural Association).
Ihara, Takushū. 2000. Wu nong hui zai wuxu bianfa yundong shi shang de diwei (The place of the Society for Agriculture in the history of the 1898 reform movement). In Wuxu weixin yu jindai Zhongguo de gaige: wuxu weixin yi bai zhounian guoji xueshu taolunhui lunwen ji. (The hundred days reforms and reform in modern China: Collected essays from the International Conference on the Hundredth Anniversary of the Hundred Days Reforms), ed. Xiaoqiu Wang, pp. 293–310. Beijing: Shehui kexue wenxian chubanshe.
Ikeda, Masakichi. 1894. Dojōgaku (Soil Studies). Tokyo: Yūrindō.
Jiang, Yasha, and Li Jing, eds. 2009. Zhongguo zaoqi nongxue qikan huibian (Compilation of early Chinese periodicals about agriculture). 40 vols. Beijing: Quanguo tushuguan wenxian suowei fuzhi zhongxin.
Johnston, James F. W. 1845. Catechism of agricultural chemistry and geology. 8th ed. Albany: Erastus H. Pease.
Johnston, James F. W. (Zhong-si-dun). 1899. Nongwu huaxue wenda (Catechism of agricultural chemistry and geology). Trans. Francis Huberty James (Xiu Yaochun) and Xiyong Fan. Shanghai.
Kargon, Robert. 2008. The U.S.-Japan nexus: Roots of the Japanese scientific enterprise. Historia Scientiarum 18:62–75.
Kimmelman, Barbara A. 1987. A Progressive Era discipline: Genetics at American agricultural colleges and experiment stations, 1900–1920. Ph.D. Diss., University of Pennsylvania, USA.
King, Franklin H. 1895. The soil: Its nature, relations, and fundamental principles of management. New York: Macmillan.
King, Franklin H. (Jin Fu-lan-ge-ling Xi-lan). 1900. Nongwu tu zhi lun (The soil: Its nature, relations, and fundamental principles of management). Trans. Edward Thomas Williams (Wei-li) and Xiyong Fan. Shanghai.
Kingsbury, Noel. 2009. Hybrid: The history and science of plant breeding. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Kloppenburg, Jack R., Jr. 2004. First the seed: The political economy of plant biotechnology, 1492–2000. 2nd ed. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.
Li, Chien-nung. 1956. The political history of China, 1840–1928. Trans. and ed. Ssu-yu Teng and Jeremy Ingalls. New York: D. Van Nostrand Company.
Li, Wenzhi, ed. 1957. Zhongguo jindai nongye shi ziliao (Historical materials about modern Chinese agriculture). 3 vols. Beijing: Sanlian shudian.
Li, Yongfang. 2008. Jindai Zhongguo nonghui yanjiu (Research on agricultural associations in modern China). Beijing: Shehui kexue wenxian chubanshe.
Liang, Jiamian, ed. 1989. Zhongguo nongye kexue jishu shigao (Draft history of Chinese agricultural science and technology). Beijing: Nongye chubanshe.
Liang, Qichao, ed. 1897. Xi zheng congshu (Compendium of books about Western governance). 32 vols. Shanghai: Shenji shuzhuang.
Liu, Guangding. 2002. Qingdai huaxue shuji mulu gao (Draft list of chemistry books from the Qing era). In Zhongguo kexue shi lunji (Collected essays about the history of Chinese science) Liu Guangding, pp. 201–222. Taipei: Guoli Taiwan daxue chuban zhongxin.
Lu, Yan. 2004. Re-understanding Japan: Chinese perspectives, 1895–1945. Honolulu: Association for Asian Studies and University of Hawai’i Press.
Luo, Zhenyu. 2010. Nongshi siyi (Personal ideas on agriculture). In Luo Zhenyu xueshu lunzhu ji. (Collection of Luo Zhenyu’s academic works), ed. Jizu Luo and Tongce Wang, vol. 11, pp. 294–345. Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe.
Nanyang quanye hui yanjiu hui (The Research Group of the Nanyang Industrial Exposition), ed. 2002 (reprint 1913). Nanyang quanye hui yanjiu hui baogao shu. (Report of the Research Group of the Nanyang Industrial Exposition). 4 vols. Beijing: Quanguo tushuguan wenxian suowei fuzhi zhongxin.
Nong gong shang bu (Ministry of Agriculture, Industry, and Commerce). 2007a (reprint 1908). Nong gong shang bu tongji biao: di yi ci (Statistical tables prepared by the Ministry of Agriculture, Industry, and Commerce: The first collection). Beijing: Beijing Yanshan chubanshe.
Nong gong shang bu (Ministry of Agriculture, Industry, and Commerce). 2007b (reprint 1909). Nong gong shang bu tongji biao: di er ci (Statistical tables prepared by the Ministry of Agriculture, Industry, and Commerce: The second collection). Beijing: Beijing Yanshan chubanshe.
Nong shang bu (Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce). 1914a. Nong shang bu linye shiyan chang yaolan (Overview of the forestry experiment station of the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce). Beijing.
Nong shang bu (Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce). 1914b. Nong shang bu nongshi shiyan chang yilan (Overview of the agricultural experiment station of the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce). Beijing.
Nong shang bu (Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce). 1914c. Nongshi shiyan chang chengji baogao (Report of results from the agricultural experiment station). Beijing.
Ogura, Takekazu, ed. 2000 (reprint 1963). Agricultural development in modern Japan. London: Routledge.
Pomeranz, Kenneth. 1993. The making of a hinterland: State, society, and economy in inland north China, 1853–1937. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Reardon-Anderson, James. 1991. The study of change: Chemistry in China, 1840–1949. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Reynolds, Douglas R. 1993. China, 1898–1912: The Xinzheng revolution and Japan. Cambridge: Council on East Asian Studies, Harvard University.
Reynolds, Douglas R., ed. 1995. China, 1895–1912: State-sponsored reforms and China’s late-Qing revolution: Selected essays from Zhongguo Jindai Shi (Modern Chinese History, 1840–1919). Trans. D. R. Reynolds. Armonk: M.E. Sharpe.
Rhoads, Edward J. M. 1975. China’s republican revolution: The case of Kwangtung, 1895–1913. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Sawamura, Makoto. 1900. Nōgei kagaku jikkenhō. (Methods of agricultural chemistry experimentation). Tokyo: Kōbunsha.
Schneider, Laurence A. 1988. Genetics in republican China. In Science and medicine in twentieth-century China: Research and education, ed. John Z. Bowers, J. William Hess, and Nathan Sivin, pp. 3–29. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Center for Chinese Studies.
Schneider, Laurence A. 2003. Biology and revolution in twentieth-century China. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield.
Shen, Tsung-han. 1970. First attempts to transform Chinese agriculture, 1927–1937. In The strenuous decade: China’s nation-building efforts, 1927–1937, ed. Paul K. T. Sih, pp. 205–232. New York: St. John’s University Press.
Stross, Randall E. 1986. The stubborn earth: American agriculturalists on Chinese soil, 1898–1937. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Tan, Jiazhen, and Gongmin Zhao, eds. 2002. Zhongguo yichuan xue shi (A history of genetics in China). Shanghai: Shanghai keji jiaoyu chubanshe.
Tao, Changshan, et al., eds. 1973 (reprint 1913). Quanguo nonghui lianhehui di yi ci jishi. (First record of the National Federation of Agricultural Associations). Taipei: Wenhai chubanshe.
True, Alfred Charles. 1970 (reprint 1937). A history of agricultural experimentation and research in the United States, 1607–1925. United States Department of Agriculture Miscellaneous Publication No. 251. New York: Johnson Reprint Corporation.
Wright, David. 2000. Translating science: The transmission of western chemistry into late imperial China, 1840–1900. Leiden: Brill.
Ye, Jizhen, ed. 1909. Nongshi shiyan chang baogao shu (Report of the agricultural experiment station). Beijing: Nong gong shang bu.
Yuan, Junde, ed. 1901. Fu qiang zhai congshu xu quanji (Collected works from the Studio of Wealth and Power, the continued and complete collection). 64 vols. Shanghai: Xiaocang shanfang.
Yuan, Pengxin. 2012. Qingmo nongye xinzheng yanjiu (Research on new policies in agriculture at the end of the Qing). Jinan: Shandong renmin chubanshe.
Zhang, Yufa (Chang Yu-fa) 1979. Ershi shiji chuqi de Zhongguo nongye gailiang (1901–1916): yanhai yanjiang shi san ge shengqu de bijiao yanjiu (China’s agricultural improvement, 1901–1916: Regional studies on thirteen provinces). Shixue pinglun (Chinese Historical Review) 1:119–159.
Zhengli mianye choubei chu (Preparatory Office for Organizing the National Cotton Industry), ed. 1921. Preface to Geng shen zhi mian shiyan lu (Record of experiments with cultivating cotton in 1920). Tianjin.
Zhong, Shaohua. 1996. Xifang keji dongliu shukan mulu (1607–1911). (Index of books and periodicals about western science and technology in the East, 1607–1911). Zhongguo kexue shi tongxun. (Newsletter for the History of Chinese Science). 11:138–168.
Zhu, Zurong. 1995 (reprint n.d.). Quan zhong yang mian shuo (On urging the cultivation of foreign cotton). Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2015 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Lavelle, P. (2015). Agricultural Improvement at China’s First Agricultural Experiment Stations. In: Phillips, D., Kingsland, S. (eds) New Perspectives on the History of Life Sciences and Agriculture. Archimedes, vol 40. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-12185-7_16
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-12185-7_16
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-12184-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-12185-7
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and LawHistory (R0)