Value of Rural, Social and Historical Materials in Ancient Chinese Agricultural Works: Taking Qiminyaoshu(《齐民要术》) and Sishizuanyao(《四时纂要》) as Examples

Ancient Chinese agricultural works are important information for us to study the history of ancient Chinese agricultural science and technology. Meanwhile, they also have plentiful social and historical information about rural customs, daily life and rural landscapes. They shows a very colorful picture of traditional rural society. For example, JIA Si-xie's Qiminyaoshu in Northern Wei Dynasty and HAN E's Sishizuanyao in Tang Dynasty not only have rich historical materials in divining, choosing auspicious day, making efforts to avert calamity, weddings, festivals, farming custom, medicine and health, rural clothing, food, shelter, journey life, but also have a large number of materials in villagers' living rhythm and rural landscapes. Therefore, ancient Chinese agricultural works are indispensable first- hand materials for research in traditional rural society and history. In many ways, they can make up for the lack of official history.