NO. 2 FOLK RELIGION IN SOUTHWEST CHINA — GRAHAM IQ 



rice is the principal food, supplemented by vegetables, meat, eggs, and 

 fruit. Fish are available near the streams and are gladly eaten by any 

 who can obtain them. 



In his book "Studies in Chinese Life," Adam Grainger (1921, pp. 

 105-125) listed the following foodstuflfs grown and used in Szechwan 

 province: Grains: wheat, barley, oats, millet, maize, buckwheat, 

 sesame, and Job's tears ; beans : broad beans, soya beans, kidney beans, 

 knife beans, vigna beans, flat or Omi beans, and red beans ; five varie- 

 ties of lentils, and white peas, golden peas, and speckled peas, sweet 

 potatoes and yams, several kinds of taros; at least five kinds of 

 turnips or radishes, carrots, cucumbers, marrowing gourds, melons, 

 and six varieties of eggplant ; green vegetables : lettuce, several kinds 

 of cabbage, beets, rape shoots, mustard, spinach, celery, smaranthus, 

 han-ch'ai, chrysanthemums, leeks, onions, garlic, bamboo shoots, and 

 lotus flowers and leaves ; others are water chestnuts, arrowheads, 

 mushrooms, dried lispen, and several kinds of pepper and ginger; 

 fruits: cherries, loquats, mulberries, apricots, several kinds of plums 

 and peaches, crabapples, several varieties of pears, pomegranates, 

 quinces, several kinds of grapes, persimmons, and oranges, jujubes, 

 olives, and wild fruits ; nuts : walnuts, chestnuts, and peanuts ; several 

 varieties of sugarcane and many varieties of tea; meats: pork, beef, 

 mutton, chicken, duck, geese, fish, crab, shrimp, snail, and the flesh of 

 the silkworm pupa. Another farm product is honey. 



To this list should be added Irish potatoes, pumaloes, and several 

 kinds of squashes and pumpkins, and many varieties of beans that he 

 does not mention. Also, he fails to mention the pigeon, which is quite 

 common. 



It is evident that there is a great variety of foodstuffs in West 

 China, especially in Szechwan, In some localities the meat of wild 

 birds and wild animals can be obtained. Meat of monkeys, tigers, or 

 leopards is considered a delicacy. Edible species of wild bamboo 

 shoots are found in some of the high mountains, and there are wild 

 berries, fruits, and vegetables. In the mountains, especially near and 

 above the timber line, many varieties of wild herbs are gathered and 

 used or sold as medicines. 



Other important products of the soil in West China are wood oil, 

 rape or mustard oil, castor oil, white wax, hemp, cotton, paint, wood 

 and lumber, bamboo, tobacco, and opium. 



Wood oil is abstracted from the nuts of the wood oil or t'ung-yu 

 tree. The trees generally grow on rough hillsides where little or 

 nothing else can be planted. After the oil is squeezed out, the husks 



