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Fresh-vegetable storage pit in the Qimin yaoshu

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A sixth-century Chinese agricultural text describes a seasonal earthen pit for keeping fresh vegetables through winter, with vegetable kinds separated by alternating rows of produce and soil under a thick straw cover.

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Editorial cutaway illustration of an earthen pit with alternate rows of leafy vegetables and soil beneath a straw cover, with open space below the rim.

A pit for fresh produce

In Juan 9, the Qimin yaoshu places a short instruction for storing fresh vegetables alongside several methods for making pickles. The distinction matters: this pit is not presented as a fermentation vessel or as a recipe for pickling. Its described purpose is seasonal storage of vegetables before later use.

The entry names an autumn window—the ninth or tenth month—and a location on the sunlit south side of a wall. It gives a depth of four or five chi. Because the source uses a historical measure whose value depends on period and context, this page retains chi rather than converting it into a modern length.

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Layering and covering

The text says to sort assorted vegetables by kind and place them in alternating rows with soil: one row of vegetables, one row of earth. It then says to stop about one chi below the pit edge and cover the contents thickly with straw. The source does not specify a lining, a constructed roof, a drain, or a particular vegetable list, so none is added here.

The account says the contents keep through winter and, when needed, can be taken out crisp and not unlike summer vegetables. That is the text's reported result, not a measured storage trial. It gives no temperature or humidity figures and no advice about spoilage inspection or modern safe storage.

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What the site description leaves open

The source identifies the wall's sunny south side and the pit's depth, but it gives no width, plan shape, wall material, soil composition, groundwater conditions or climatic zone. The image is therefore an editorial cutaway of only the relationships the passage describes—ground, alternating rows and straw cover—not an archaeological reconstruction or a measured plan.

The country-level association is China because the cited work is a Chinese agricultural text. That does not locate this specific instruction in a named province, settlement or excavated feature, nor establish how widely the method was practiced.

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Historical setting and classification

Cambridge's chapter on agriculture in The Cambridge History of China dates completion of the Qimin yaoshu to between 533 and 544 and identifies Jia Sixie as its author. The primary text is thus a sixth-century written attestation; it does not establish when the practice began or how long it continued.

The same Juan 9 chapter also includes separate instructions for vegetable pickles, including salted preparations and fermentation-related steps. Those neighboring recipes should not be folded into this pit method. This build records the fixed earthen storage structure and its documented fresh-storage arrangement, not the separate pickle processes.

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History

Francesca Bray's Cambridge History of China chapter dates completion of the Qimin yaoshu to sometime between 533 and 544 and identifies Jia Sixie as its author.

Site

SettingA pit dug on the sunlit south side of a wall, according to the text.
GroundThe instruction says to dig into the ground; it does not identify a soil type, water table, drainage treatment or lining.
ClimateThe timing is autumn and the stated storage period is through winter. No temperature, humidity or climatic zone is measured.
FootprintDepth is given as four or five chi, with filling stopped about one chi below the pit edge. Width and shape are not supplied; the historical unit is not converted.
NotesThis is a description of a fresh-vegetable storage structure. The account does not describe a ferment or establish modern food-safety performance.

A build is made where it stands: moving it means building it again.

How it is built

Materials

  • Excavated earth and soil
  • Straw
  1. In the ninth or tenth month, dig a pit on the sunny south side of a wall. The text gives its depth as four or five chi; retain that historical measure without converting it.
  2. Arrange assorted vegetables by kind, laying one row of vegetables and then one row of soil.
  3. Stop filling about one chi below the edge of the pit, as the text specifies; it gives no pit width, cross-section or lining.
  4. Cover the filled pit thickly with straw. The text says the vegetables can then be kept through winter and, when taken out, remain crisp like summer vegetables.

Places

China

Historical attestation · Country evidence

The Qimin yaoshu is a Chinese agricultural text. Neither source localizes this instruction to a specific site or region.

More equipment from ChinaLocation source 1 → · Location source 2 →

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