At present, March 12 is positioned as China's Arbor Day, but China once designated the annual Qingming Day as Arbor Day on July 30, 1915 at the initiative of Dr. Sun Yat Sen. After Dr. Sun Yat Sen died of illness, in order to commemorate Dr. Sun Yat Sen, China designated the date of Dr. Sun Yat Sen's death - March 12 as tree planting day. Although Arbor Day began in 1915 in China, the history of afforestation in China can be traced back to thousands of years ago. So what are the customs and stories about tree planting in China? The little editor of this cultural station brings you ancient Chinese tree planting customs and stories. Let's have a look.
During the Warring States period, Mencius once offered advice to King Liang Hui, saying that if mulberry trees were planted around the five Mu homestead, why would a 50-year-old have no clothes? (Mencius & middot; the first part of King Liang Hui) Sima Qian said: 'an Yi thousand jujubes; Yan, Qin Qianshu chestnut; Shu, Han and Jiangling thousand tree oranges; Huaibei and Changshan are in the south, and there are thousands of Hagi trees between Heji; Chen, Xia Qianmu paint & hellip& hellip; This man is like a thousand marquis. " (Shiji & middot; biographies of goods colonization) in the last sentence, Taishigong made it very clear that people with many trees have wealth comparable to thousands of marquis.
In ancient times, there were people who lived for one year and planted them in valleys; At the age of ten, the proverb "trees are made of wood" means that if you live in a place for only three or two years, you can have all kinds of food. If you want to live long, you should consider planting some trees. Of course, this tree mostly refers to economic trees, such as jujube, chestnut, orange and so on. According to the third biography of the Three Kingdoms quoting the story of Xiangyang, Premier Li Heng of Danyang, Wu, planted more than a thousand citrus trees before his death. He said to his son before his death, our family is very poor, but I plant a thousand citrus trees, just like a thousand wooden slaves. I can pay taxes for you and subsidize your expenses without eating, drinking and wearing yours. Later, the citrus trees planted by Li Heng grew into 'thousands of silks at the age of' and the family is full of Yin '. Until the Xiankang period of emperor Cheng of the Eastern Jin Dynasty (335-342), there were still dead trees around his house.
In history, many dynasties paid special attention to planting trees. The Tang Dynasty followed the system of the Northern Qi Dynasty and the Sui Dynasty, and there were Yongye fields below the princes. What is yongyetian? That is, private land (formerly known as' private plot 'in modern times) is tax-free, but a certain number of elms, jujubes, mulberry trees or other suitable trees must be planted in Yongye field as required (New Tang Book & middot; food and goods I).
After Zhao Kuangyin, the emperor Taizu of the Song Dynasty, ascended the throne, he reiterated the decree of the third year of the Later Zhou Xiande (956): "the class people plant trees, set the people's nationality as the fifth class, and the first class plant 100 Miscellaneous trees. The difference is reduced by 20 per class, half of mulberry jujube." Taizong ascended the throne, stipulating that "one person who practices the land and the method of Ming tree art jointly by the people in the two cities and all roads shall be supplemented by the county as an agricultural teacher & hellip& hellip;' (history of the Song Dynasty & middot; food and goods I) that is to say, not only those who can farm, but also those who can plant trees can also be agricultural teachers, which shows that the imperial court attaches importance to planting trees. In the Ming Dynasty, as soon as Zhu Yuanzhang, Emperor Taizu of the Ming Dynasty, ascended the throne, he ordered: "Whoever has five to ten acres of civilian land, plant half an acre of mulberry, hemp and kapok, twice as much as ten acres & hellip& hellip; Mulberry planting began in four years. If you don't plant mulberry, you can produce silk. " (history of the Ming Dynasty & middot; food 2) those who plant mulberry trees will pay taxes after four years. If they don't plant them, they will be subject to a 'fine'.
The government guides and encourages the people to plant more trees in the form of laws and regulations or by relying on the "preferential agricultural policy". On the one hand, it can accelerate the accumulation of social wealth, on the other hand, it can make the country less deficient in forest consumption, and the people can also get tangible benefits from planting trees. According to Jia Sixie's records, in some places, when people have children, they have to plant 20 trees for each baby. Of course, this is also out of economic considerations. When the children reach the age of marriage, the trees will become useful and can be used as wheels. One tree can be used as three pairs of wheels, and one pair is worth three pieces of silk. Twenty trees are worth 180 pieces of silk, which is enough for the cost of marriage.
However, there are also trees for greening the environment. The government of the Western Han Dynasty once stipulated: "those who do not plant trees in the houses in the city walls are hairless and produce cloth for three husbands." (Hanshu & middot; shihuozhi 2) trees should be planted around the house, otherwise it will be regarded as barren land and will be punished. This is obviously to beautify the living environment. There is no clear provision for planting trees. They can be willows or other tree species.