China confirmed as one of the origin centers of adzuki beans: study
Source: Xinhua | 2025-10-15 | Editor:Evan
China has been confirmed as one of the centers of origin of the adzuki bean (Vigna angularis), according to a study published recently in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) of the United States of America by an international research team led by Chinese scholars.
The team discovered carbonized adzuki bean remains dating back about 9,000 years at the Xiaogao site of the Houli culture in the city of Zibo, east China's Shandong Province. Using archaeobotanical analysis and radiocarbon dating, researchers identified 45 carbonized adzuki beans among more than 32,000 plant remains collected from the site.
"This finding predates previously known adzuki beans in China by some 4,000 years," said Chen Xuexiang, a professor at the School of Archaeology, Shandong University, and the paper's first author. The beans were unearthed alongside foxtail millet, broomcorn millet and soybeans, providing direct evidence that an early mixed cropping system of "grains and legumes" had already formed in the Yellow River basin roughly 9,000 years ago.
The study, jointly conducted by scholars from Shandong University, Washington University in St. Louis, the Shandong Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, Anhui University in east China, the University of Oregon, Okayama University of Science, and the Institute of Archaeology under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, challenges the long-held belief that adzuki beans originated solely in Japan.
"The discovery provides solid archaeological evidence that adzuki beans were consumed and possibly cultivated in China as early as 9,000 years ago, demonstrating that China was also one of the origin centers of this important legume," said Zhao Zhijun, a professor at Shandong University and co-corresponding author of the paper.
The results show that adzuki bean domestication was a prolonged and multi-centered process across East Asia -- occurring in parallel in the Yellow River basin, the Japanese archipelago and the Korean Peninsula.
You May Like
-
Xi announces measures to support global women's cause
President Xi Jinping on Monday announced a slew of measures to support the global women's cause at the Global Leaders' Meeting on Women.
InKunming 2025-10-13 -
Xi says women in China hold up "half the sky" in economic, s...
Women have truly held up "half the sky" in China's economic and social development, President Xi Jinping said on Monday at the opening ceremony of the Global ...
InKunming 2025-10-13 -
Xiplomacy: How China helps empower women from Asia to Africa
China has joined hands with countries worldwide to empower women. From Asia to Africa, inspiring stories of shared efforts toward building a better world have a...
InKunming 2025-10-13 -
Interview: Former UNESCO chief calls on China to continue le...
As world leaders and senior officials gather in Beijing for the Global Leaders' Meeting on Women on Oct. 13-14, Irina Bokova, former UNESCO director-general, ...
InKunming 2025-10-13 -
Empowering women with more equality, resilience and hope
China is to host the Global Leaders' Meeting on Women to reaffirm the spirit of the 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, to rally collective effort...
InKunming 2025-10-13 -
System to better address graying challenge
China is taking major steps to tackle the challenges of an aging population by expanding and enhancing its eldercare system, officials said on Friday.
InKunming 2025-10-11 -
Feature: Chinese artist brings color to rural childhoods
InKunming 2025-10-11 -
Commentary | Latest holiday spending pattern clear evidence ...
innovation-led growth model -- clear evidence of the resilience and potential of the world's second-largest economy. China's National Day holiday coincided with...
InKunming 2025-10-10 -
"Golden Week" tourism surge highlights new consumption trend...
When a travel channel camera captured the sea of clouds, red cliffs and green meadows of Chenzhou in central China's Hunan Province, Kim Min-jun, watching from ...
InKunming 2025-10-10 -
China is bolstering the foundations of multilateral governan...
As the United Nations marks its 80th anniversary, the world finds itself at a crossroads. Challenges such as an underrepresentation of Global South voices, stag...
InKunming 2025-10-10
