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Storage technology of the Tang Dynasty in China
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by Dr Wu Wenbin, Henan University of Technology, China
oday, every country needs to stock up on large amounts of food to meet the daily needs of the people, to cope with unforeseeable problems such as sudden disasters and changes in the market. The amount of food produced each year is quite large, which poses a huge challenge; the safe, efficient storage of food. In the long term this poses great challenges to warehousing technology. China, having had a lot of experience in this area over centuries, has formed a complete set of construction systems and management systems. The technical means for food preservation are quite mature today. The Tang Dynasty was the heyday of China’s feudal society, and underground warehousing was extremely common during this period. Taking the granary site excavated in Luoyang City, Henan Province, China as an example, it can be seen that the technology of grain preservation in the Tang Dynasty of China was quite developed. After more than 1300 years of food preserved in its 160th warehouse, the grain granules were 48 percent less carbonised and 52 percent organic. The Tang Dynasty’s economy was prosperous, and its grain output was huge. They not only used the construction of granaries in the Sui Dynasty, but also built a large number themselves. Although underground and overground storage methods coexisted during this period, large-scale national granaries almost exclusively adopted underground storage. 96 | September 2019 - Milling and Grain
The underground granary has also developed to a relatively complete level, and the planning layout, scale form, technical means and management system have been established. The most prestigious is a granary in Luoyang. When the amount of grain storage was at its highest, it reached 48 percent of the total grain reserves of the Tang Dynasty. It is known as the “first granary in the world”. Luoyang and Changan in the Tang Dynasty were the political and economic centres of the time. Due to the surge in population and the frequent occurrence of natural disasters, these important areas need to store more food to meet demand. The construction of the granary is very necessary, and its geographical location is set according to the current transportation route. The grain transportation process of the Tang Dynasty adopted a segmented transportation method. The grain transported by water from the south of the country is imported into the granary of Xiangyang, and then used to enter Luoshui through the Yellow River. The glutinous rice is stored in the granary of Gong County, and thus it is divided into two routes to the west. One is a granary that is transported by land or from a land to Luoyang and Sanmenxia. The other is to pass the Yellow River and then land to the granary of Sanmenxia. Finally, it will be transported to the granary in Chang’an. This formed a complete system of transportation that is centered on Luoyang and delivered to Chang’an. The Tang Dynasty’s warehousing technology was very advanced for the time. First of all, the site is located in a high-lying place, which is dry and has a low water level, which is conducive to grain storage. The largest granary in the