Today, apples are widely eaten fruits, but the time for modern apples to reach China is less than 150 years. In ancient China, there was a variety very close to apples, called "Mian Apple". Soft apple juice has less water content, soft and perishable pulp, poor taste and difficult storage. This kind of fruit is really harmful to the queen mother's orchard. Our present apples are native to Europe and have been planted since 300 BC. 187 1 year, missionary ni weishi brought back 16 seedlings of western apple varieties from the United States to Yantai, and established the "Guangxing Orchard" at the southeast foot of Yuhuangding in Yantai. After hard work, the apples in Guangxing Orchard have produced numerous fruits, with large juice, sweet and sour taste, which is completely different from the cotton apples of generations. After accumulating a good reputation, Neves began to vigorously promote modern apples, cultivate saplings and give them to nearby farmers to encourage them to plant. In this way, Yantai became the birthplace of modern apples in China. Wu Cheng'en lived in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, but modern apples were introduced to China in the late Qing Dynasty. Naturally, there will be no apples in his heavenly queen's orchard.
Then, why didn't the citrus originating in China enter the orchard of the Queen Mother?
Citrus is a subtropical fruit, which is warm and humid, but not cold-resistant. According to Yu Gong, citrus produced in Jiangsu, Anhui, Jiangxi, Hunan, Hubei and other places in China was listed as a tribute in the Xia Dynasty 4,000 years ago. Further development in Qin and Han Dynasties. During the Tang and Song Dynasties, the distribution of citrus was roughly the same as today, mainly including Sichuan, Guizhou, Hubei, Hunan, Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian, Zhejiang and Jiangxi, as well as southern Anhui, Henan, Jiangsu and Shaanxi. Wu Cheng'en, a native of Huai 'an, Jiangsu Province, is located in the transitional zone between north and south. There is basically no citrus planting here, so in Wu Cheng'en's imagination, the Queen Mother would not plant citrus in the orchard.
The fruits that appeared in The Journey to the West were generally common at that time. For example, on the 30th trip, Pig Bajie invited the Monkey King to Huaguo Mountain, and the little monkey presented grapes, pears, dates, loquats and bayberry. However, these fruits are generally characterized by smaller fruits. Loquat and Myrica rubra are mainly distributed in the south, and few of them can be transported to the north. It is possible to compete with peaches in the flat peach garden, which should be persimmons. In the novel The Journey to the West, persimmons appear in the story of camel Luo Zhuang killing snake spirits. The old man mentioned that there are seven mountains here. Tang Priest doesn't understand. The old man explained that persimmon fruits are everywhere in the city, and persimmon trees have seven unique skills: longevity, shade, no bird's nest, four insects, five frost leaves to play with, six bumper harvests, and seven full branches and leaves. It can be seen that persimmon trees were widely planted at that time, and people also had a deep understanding of persimmon trees.
Then, why didn't persimmon trees, known as the "Seven Wonders", appear in the Flat Peach Garden?
Persimmon has high edible value and medicinal value. It can be eaten fresh after astringency removal, and also has medicinal values such as stopping bleeding, moistening stool, relieving hemorrhoid swelling and pain, and lowering blood pressure. However, persimmons have two major disadvantages: First, there are many restrictions when eating. If you don't eat persimmons on an empty stomach, because persimmons are easy to become lumps of different sizes under the action of gastric acid. Can not be eaten with aquatic products containing a lot of protein, because protein is easy to form stomach persimmon stone under the action of tannic acid. Second, persimmons can only be eaten fresh after harvest. Although the natural science in Ming Dynasty was not developed enough to understand the biochemical reaction of persimmon in human body, the long-term life practice can certainly understand the taboo of persimmon consumption. Persimmons in particular need a certain degree of astringency. Imagine if you plant it in a flat peach garden and the immortals come and go in a hurry, naturally it is impossible to wait until the persimmon is astringent. Then the immortals didn't eat fireworks, and arranged for them to eat persimmons on an empty stomach. Wu Cheng'en probably didn't think it was appropriate.
Whether a fruit can enter the flat peach garden is also related to cultural traditions. Pear, like peach, is a fruit with a long history of cultivation in China. Today, the planting area of pears is second only to that of apples. However, the homophonic "separation" of pears usually does not appear on formal occasions, especially on birthdays, and it is even more taboo for couples to share pears, because the homophonic "separation" is "separation".
Why does Flat Peach Garden have a soft spot for peaches? Immortals must admire peaches, which is closely related to the habits and cultural traditions of peaches. Peaches are native to China. Modern archaeologists in China discovered the wild peach pit 6,700 years ago at the Neolithic site in Hemudu, Zhejiang. A large number of wild peach stones have also been unearthed at Erligang site in Zhengzhou, Henan Province. After identification, it is exactly the same as the peach cultivated today. Unearthed cultural relics confirm ancient records and prove that China is the birthplace of peach trees, which have been used and planted for a long time. Around the tenth century BC, there was a saying in the Book of Songs Feng Wei that "there are peaches in the garden, which is really confusing", indicating that peaches have reached a certain scale in the north of the Yellow River and in the vast areas of Shanxi. "Book of Rites" lists peaches, plums, plums, apricots and jujubes as five kinds of fruits for offering sacrifices to immortals.
Peaches are widely distributed and cultivated in both northern and southern provinces of China. Peaches can often be seen in Liaoning in the north, Zhejiang and Fujian in the south and Gansu in the west. Of course, the most concentrated provinces are North China and East China. Peach is known as "Shoutao" and "Xiantao" and is called "the first fruit in the world" because of its delicious meat. Peach meat is extremely rich in nutrition, abundant in water, high in protein and low in calories. At the same time, peach also has the advantages of large and beautiful fruit shape, which can be described as both intrinsic and attractive.
Peach blossom is one of the important ornamental trees in early spring, because of its rich flowers and bright colors. There are many ancient literary works related to peach blossoms in China, some of which have been circulated for thousands of years. "Tao Yao Yao, burning its China. My son should be at home when he returns to China. " Yao Tao in The Book of Songs is the earliest known peach blossom poem. Peach trees are full of vitality, full of flowers and branches, and burning moving. The bride got married on this festive occasion. People praise her youth and beauty with peach blossoms, and give her warm wishes for a happy family and prosperous people. "Passing this door last year, peach blossoms set each other off. People don't know where to go, and peach blossoms are still smiling in the spring breeze. " Cui Hu's poem "South Village in the Capital" describes a beautiful and short-lived love affair with peach blossom. Revisiting the old place, the peach blossoms are still there, but I don't see the people last year.
Peach trees play an extremely important role in China's folk culture and beliefs. Peach wood, also known as "dragon wood" and "ghost wood", is the most widely used material to exorcise evil spirits and create ghosts. Legend has it that Kuafu chased the sun before he died and threw Shenmu away, turning it into a peach forest. The earliest Spring Festival couplets in China were all made of red boards, also called Taofu. For thousands of years, mahogany is said to ward off evil spirits.
Peaches have a long history of being used to celebrate birthdays. Legend has it that Sun Bin studied under Guiguzi for ten years, and one day he suddenly remembered that his mother's birthday was coming, so he told Guiguzi to go down to see his mother. Guiguzi thanked him for his filial piety and prepared a peach for Sun Bin to take back. To Bin Sun's surprise, his mother's face changed greatly after eating peaches, and the whole person was much younger. Sun Bin was surprised and went up the hill to ask the teacher. Guiguzi said that the peach he gave him was the flat peach of the Queen Mother of the West.
With so many beautiful peaches, Wu Cheng'en will naturally become the only protagonist in the flat peach garden of the Queen Mother.