Recently, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs identified the eighth batch of important agricultural cultural heritage, adding 88 new traditional agricultural systems. So far, the number of important agricultural cultural heritage items in my country has increased to 276. They were gradually formed in the long-term agricultural production practice of the Chinese nation, and were protected and passed down according to local conditions. They contain profound agricultural cultural ideological wisdom.
The newly added 88 important agricultural cultural heritage items cover various categories such as special forest fruits, dry farming, vegetables, etc., and vividly bear witness to the long history, extensive and profound Chinese farming civilization with its living inheritance. Which agricultural cultural heritages have been selected this year? Why is the agricultural cultural heritage that has been passed down for hundreds of thousands of years still shining brightly today?
Speaking of radishes, you should have heard of the name Shawo radish. It is native to Xinkou Town, Xiqing District, Tianjin, and has a cultivation history of hundreds of years. Shawo radish is known as "Shawo radish as good as pear" because it is crisp, tender, juicy, sweet and fresh. This year, Tianjin’s Xiqingshawo radish planting system was selected as an important agricultural cultural heritage in my country. Feng Yuanhong, secretary of the party branch and director of the village committee of Xiaoshawo Village, Xinkou Town, Xiqing District, Tianjin, said that Shawo radish selection is cultivated by each family and passed down from generation to generation, and the method is similar to ancestral techniques.
While retaining traditional techniques, the Shawo radish planting system combines modern technology to innovate and develop the latest line sowing technology, which saves seeds on the original basis and ensures neat row spacing. In 2025, the major growers in the village used internal suction air-jet seeders. After setting the row spacing and plant spacing on the computer, every acre of radish seeds in the ground was sure to be planted. The fusion of tradition and modernity not only saves a lot of manpower and material resources, but also retains the high-quality taste of Shawo radish.
This year's harvest of cattail in Huai'an, Jiangsu has just concluded. Workers are taking advantage of the farming season to manage and protect the cattail fields, so as to accumulate strength for a bumper harvest of cattail next year. Pucai is a plant that can be seen everywhere along the waterfront in urban and rural areas of Huai'an. Its color is as white as jade, its texture is plump and tender, and its taste is fragrant and refreshing, as tender as crispy bamboo shoots, which is endlessly memorable. Zhu Guohong, the person in charge of the 10,000-mu Pucai base in Shitang, Huai'an District, Huai'an City, said that the growth of Pucai can form a complete ecosystem of its own.
Huai'an Pu Cai cultivation and Pu culture system is a characteristic agricultural production system and pastoral landscape formed in the long-term coordinated evolution of water and soil with Pu Cai cultivation as the core. In addition, Huai'an's entire system of cattail cultivation includes land selection, patchouli planting, field management and protection, green prevention and control of pests and diseases, timely harvesting and other production techniques, and has also derived its accompanying characteristic folk culture. Zhu Guohong said that the cultivation of cattail leaf still continues the ancient planting system.
From the Tang Dynasty to the present, Luoyang is stunning with peonies blooming. Zhang Peilin, Secretary of the Party Leadership Group and Director of the Agricultural and Rural Affairs Bureau of Laocheng District, Luoyang City, Henan Province, said that Luoyang peony culture originated from the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. It was a characteristic agricultural production and lifestyle created by the ancestors of Mang Mountain based on the loess hilly landforms and combined with the farming culture of the Central Plains, integrating open-field planting in the Taiwan plateau, symbiosis of flowers and grains, and flower folk customs.
As the "Hometown of Peony in China", flower farmers in the Mangshan area have inherited peony cultivation skills from generation to generation, and have explored and formed a compound planting model of "peony + grain" and "peony + fruits and vegetables", which can not only suppress weeds and conserve moisture, but also improve soil fertility. Wang Lei, director of the Peony Flower Research Center in Luoyang Old Town, said that at present, the entire district has formed a peony industry chain that integrates germplasm protection, planting and nursery, and engineering exports.
Eighty-eight traditional agricultural systems, including Tianjin's Xiqingshawo radish cultivation system, Jiangsu's Huai'an pucai cultivation system, and Henan's Luoyang peony cultural system, were selected as my country's important agricultural cultural heritage this year. So far, China's important agricultural cultural heritage has increased to 276. Yin Fei, a first-level inspector of the Rural Social Undertakings Promotion Department of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, pointed out that agricultural cultural heritage is a traditional agricultural production method and carrier that has been protected and inherited by the Chinese nation during its long-term agricultural production practice. It contains the ideological wisdom of agricultural culture and still has production functions today.
my country is one of the first countries in the world to systematically carry out the excavation and protection of agricultural cultural heritage at the national level. Up to now, 25 of the 276 important agricultural cultural heritages have been recognized as globally important agricultural cultural heritages by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, ranking first in the world in terms of number. Yin Hui revealed that currently, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs is formulating a new version of the "Agricultural Cultural Heritage Management Measures" to guide the preparation and implementation of a three-year action plan for inheritance and development of important agricultural cultural heritage sites in China.
