ABSTRACT
Before turning to individual roots and tubers and their dietary role in traditional China, we shall briefly sketch their history as food crops there. Our sketch is of necessity general and in considerable measure speculative because remains of the important root crops, yam and taro, have not been found in ancient Chinese archeological sites (K. C. Chang, 1977b: 28). It is clear, however, that we are dealing with a long history of domestication, selection, adaptation, competition, and displacement of food crops. Sometimes the main competition was among root crops themselves, and sometimes between root crops and cereals or other food plants.
