Which grains are the grains?

Five grains include millet, beans, hemp, wheat, and rice.

The five types of grains referred to in ancient times. "Five grains" have many different meanings in ancient times, the most important of which are two: one refers to rice, millet, millet, wheat, and bean sprouts; the other refers to hemp, millet, millet, millet, wheat, and bean sprouts. The difference between the two is: the former has rice but no hemp, and the latter has hemp but no rice. The ancient economic and cultural center was in the Yellow River Basin, and the main producing area of ??rice was in the south. However, rice cultivation was limited in the north, so initially there was no rice among the “five grains”. ?

"Grain" originally refers to grains with shells; things like rice, Ji (jìji, i.e. millet), broomcorn millet (also known as yellow rice), etc. have a shell on the outside, so they are called grains. The sound of the word Gu comes from the sound of shell. Five grains were originally the five types of cereals known in ancient China, and later generally referred to food crops.

The study of history and culture often comes from practical needs. The development and evolution of human beings' processing and understanding of grains is a process, and it is currently facing a regression. Grains eaten by our ancestors such as brown rice, whole wheat flour and millet are all healthy foods. In order to facilitate production and improve taste, the modern food industry is processing grains with increasing precision, and a large number of beneficial ingredients such as germ and bran are discarded. This is one of the important reasons for the increasing incidence of chronic diseases in humans. Huang Ying, chairman of the Zhangjiakou City Federation of Social Science and Technology, believes that more and more people are suffering from affluence diseases such as "three highs" and it is of practical significance to return to nature through adjusting the grain-based diet.

However, data shows that in the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, China's millet planting area was still 170 million acres, and currently it is only 20 million acres, withdrawing from the status of a staple food. Tan Bin, a researcher at the National Grain Administration Academy of Sciences, believes that as far as China is concerned, the main public health problem has changed from undernutrition to the coexistence of overnutrition and nutrient deficiency, and chronic diseases have become a major public health problem.

From the perspective of prevention and control of chronic diseases, it is necessary to strengthen the research and development and promotion of cereals and healthy foods. Professor Wang Huijun, president of the Hebei Academy of Agriculture and Forestry and director of the National Millet and Millet Industry System Comprehensive Research Office, pointed out that millet culture is the “historical and national emotional” driving force, or non-material driving force, for the development of the millet and millet industry.

Millet is a specialty crop that originated in China. It is a crop that nurtures the Chinese nation and a founding crop of New China. It is also a strategic reserve to cope with future drought conditions and global climate warming. In the past, the development of agriculture relied first on policies, second on science and technology, and third on investment. The central government has clearly proposed that the fourth depends on the market. If the mainstream direction of scientific research is far away from the market, no matter how valuable it is, it cannot represent the development direction of society.

Scientific and technological work cannot only allow farmers to increase production, but must also serve more to increase farmers’ income. Grain is people's traditional food, and grain culture is also people's traditional culture. The idea of ??developing grain culture should be more open. Farming culture, food culture, medicine and health care, art, and tourism are all the carriers and forms of the reality of millet culture.

Reference: Baidu Encyclopedia-Industrial Development of Grain Culture