The History of Citrus in Quzhou

Citrus is the most important commercial fruit in the world, and it is also the most widely cultivated fruit tree in the subtropical region of China. It includes many kinds, including sweet orange, wide-peel orange, grapefruit, kumquat and lemon, each of which has many excellent varieties. In the 3rd century AD, the ancient book Gong Yu contained the words "Huaihai is only Yangzhou, and the unique treasure is Gongju pomelo". Quzhou belonged to Yangzhou at that time. According to records, in the Xia Dynasty 4000 years ago, oranges produced in Guangxi, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Hunan, Hubei and other places in China have been listed as tributes. During the Qin and Han Dynasties, citrus production developed further.

Li Daoyuan of the Northern Wei Dynasty wrote in Notes on Water Classics: "The backwater flows eastward, and the Ding Ocean current flows into it. In Deshui, Su Mu inherited the cloth of Anxin County ... It is located in Dingyang County, surrounded by a stream on the shore. It is known that Zhi Zhu, local chronicles and Manglietia are mixed with frost chrysanthemum, golden orange and fine white sand stone, which looks like condensed snow. " (Xin 'an in the text is Quzhou today)

Biography of Su Zou in Historical Records (written by Sima Qian in the Western Han Dynasty) records: "Qi Bitong is a sea of fish and salt, and Chu Bitong is a garden of oranges and pomelo", which shows that the citrus production in Chu (Hubei, Hunan and other places) and Qi (Shandong and other places) pays equal attention to fish and salt, and the Historical Records also mentions: "There are ten million oranges in Jiangling, all of which are like thousands of households." It can be seen that citrus production had a considerable scale at that time.

The above points fully prove that Quzhou has a long history of growing oranges. According to Zhu's records, the citrus history of Quzhou is at least 1400 years.

In the Southern Song Dynasty, Quzhou citrus was sold in Lin 'an. By the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Quzhou citrus had become very famous in China. At that time, Quzhou citrus was mainly produced in Ke Cheng Airport and Changshan Zhao County. At that time, the airport was called "the hometown of oranges and pomelo".

Qu County Records of the Republic of China said: "(Citrus) used to produce hundreds of thousands of tons every year. The self-evident tribute was not removed until the late Qing Dynasty. In the fifth year of the Republic of China (19 16), it was frozen. So far, growers have not yet become forests, and the output has been greatly reduced. " Later, the Japanese invaders invaded and destroyed twice, which caused serious losses in citrus production. In addition, the citrus in Quzhou gradually declined in the 1940s. After liberation, especially since the reform and opening up, the citrus production in Quzhou has developed rapidly. Quzhou is a veritable "hometown of citrus".