Five Cereals (China)

Five Cereals (China)

The Chinese Five Cereals (traditional Chinese: 五穀; simplified Chinese: 五谷; pinyin: wǔgǔ) are a grouping, or one of various groupings, of 5 (wu) farmed crops, mainly cereals or grains and soybeans (gu), which were all important in ancient China and regarded as sacred, or their cultivation was regarded as a sacred boon from a mythological or supernatural source: there are various lists specified. More generally, the term wugu is a synecdoche which refers to the whole or totality of all grains or cultivated staple agricultural crops by means of (nominally five) examples such as, barley, beans, hemp, millet of various, oats, peas, rice, sesame, soy beans: an actual, specific list or limitation to five plant crops is not necessarily implied or expressed in this generic use of wugu. The use of wu or "five" predates modern botanical and mathematical notions and is better understood in the context of the philosophical and symbolic use of numbers in Chinese culture: the concept of wu xing (sometimes referred to as the "five elements") often includes many corresponding lists of groups of five, such as colors, musical tones, and cardinal directions. The ancient Chinese term gu, meaning "crops/grain", predates modern taxonomy and botanical nomenclature. Rather than than being a scientifically precise concept, the meaning of gu more generally relates to a tradition of Chinese domesticated and cultivated staple crops, as opposed to fruits, vegetables, herbs, or wild plant foods. However, historical literature includes various specific lists which have been recorded at various times. The concept of wugu is historically important in Chinese culture, especially because of the central role which cultivated crops and the resulting food products have had in an extensive tradition of agriculturally-based civilization.