The Exporting of Peanuts from Shandong Province in the Eary 20th Century

摘要

In China the peanut is regarded as a commercial crop, and is one of themost important oil crops. Peanut cultivation has a long history, beginning aroundfive hundred years ago. Peanuts do not originate from China, and it is said thatthey were introduced from Japan in the Kangxi period during the Qing dynasty. At that time peanuts were only planted in Fujian and Guangdong province.　After this initial period, a new breed of peanut plant was brought to China by British missionaries. Peanut plantations soon spread all over China, as they proved a fit for the sandy soil. In the 1830s, peanut plantations in China increased, and the top province of production became Shandong province. Previous research on this topic has mostly focused on phytology and agriculture, neglecting almost entirely the commercial aspects. In this paper, the breed of peanut cultivated in Shandongprovince and the foreign export of these peanuts in the early part of the 20th century shall be discussed.