ABSTRACT
Archaeological data suggest that millet and rice were domesticated indigenously in the Yellow and the Yangzi Valleys by 8,500 BP (Lu 1999). Prosperous Neolithic and historical cultures developed in the Yellow and the Yangzi Valleys based on millet and rice farming. Current archaeological data suggest that Chinese civilisation was founded on both these cereals, as remains were found in Zaojiaoshu of the Xia dynasty, and in Anyang of the late Shang dynasty in the middle Yellow Valley (Chen 1993, 2000; Ye et al. 2000). Foxtail and broomcorn millets as well as rice were sacred cereals in Bronze Age China, used for ancestor worship and other ritual activities (Chen 1993).
