The history of protected horticulture production in China

The protected area for horticulture production in China is approx.
Four million ha, accounting for 80% globally.
However, the history of protected horticulture production in China is not well known to the world audience.
China’s protected horticulture production commenced with the muskmelon cultivation using hot spring water in Qin Dynasty (221 BCE-207 BCE), comparable to the snake melon cultivation protected using transparent stone covers for Emperor Tiberius (42 BCE-37 CE). Since then, horticultural crops, e.g., hotbed chives, Chinese cabbage, Kuicai (Malva verticillata), and peony, were grown using heat, light, and CO₂ from hot springs or burning of straw and dried manure in the underground caves or oilpaper-covered greenhouses.
The protected crop production is remarkably developed due to China’s economic development and the full use of plastic films in recent four decades and thus meets people’s increasing requirement for fresh products.
During the progress of modern protected horticulture, people have created unique solar greenhouses without extra energy supply.
The ancient Chinese succeeded in using natural resources and technology to regulate the environment to produce fresh horticultural products.

IX South-Eastern Europe Symposium on Vegetables and Potatoes

X. Ma, J. Dong, N.S. Gruda, Z. Duan

hot spring, light and heat supplement, off-season vegetables, solar greenhouse with walls

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2024.1391.28