This book basically covers all aspects of agricultural production and people's life in China in the Ming Dynasty, and there is a basic idea running through it, that is, Xu Guangqi's "agricultural policy" thought of governing the country and protecting the people. Carrying out this idea is the characteristic that distinguishes Encyclopedia of Agricultural Administration from other large agricultural books. Because the working people in ancient China accumulated thousands of years of farming experience, they left a wealth of agricultural works.
Most pre-Qin books have agricultural chapters. Other large-scale agricultural books, whether Qi Yao Min's Book by Jia Sixie in the Northern Wei Dynasty or Wang Zhen's agricultural books in the Yuan Dynasty, are purely technical agricultural books. Although they focus on the concept of agriculture, they focus on production technology and knowledge.
Creation background
During the thirty-five years (1607) to thirty-eight years (16 10) of the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, Xu Guangqi opened a double garden and a farmhouse in his hometown for agricultural experiments, summed up many experiences in planting, introducing and cultivating crops, and wrote "Sweet Potato Sparse" and "Radish Sparse".
From the autumn of the forty-first year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty (16 13) to the leap of April in the forty-sixth year (16 18), Xu Guangqi came to Tianjin to cultivate and conduct the second agricultural experiment. Tomorrow, in the first year (162 1), I went to Tianjin twice to carry out larger-scale agricultural experiments, and wrote books such as Northern Farming Records, Preface to Appropriate Reclamation, and Miscellaneous Farming Legacy. The agricultural experiments and writing in these two concentrated periods laid a solid foundation for him to compile large-scale agricultural books in the future.
The following year (1622) tomorrow, Xu Guangqi returned to his hometown after his illness. At this time, regardless of his age, he continued to try to grow crops, and at the same time began to collect and sort out information, write agricultural books, and realize his lifelong wish.
In the first year of Chongzhen in Ming Dynasty (1628), Xu Guangqi was reinstated. At this time, the writing of agricultural books has begun to take shape. However, because he was busy revising the almanac after taking office, he was too busy to take care of the finalization of the agricultural book until his death. Later, this agricultural book was revised by his master Chen Zilong and others. In the twelfth year of Chongzhen (1639), that is, six years after Xu Guangqi's death, it went to press in a rigid manner and was named "The Complete Book of Agricultural Administration".