“There was a mountain named Juejing, originally called Yujing. The mountain was rich in jade, which emerged warm and lustrous from the earth, bringing clarity of mind to those who touched it. Scholars vied to wear it, so two jade radicals were added to its name, and it became Juejing.
A woman moved there and thought nothing of the jade. She reclaimed wasteland and cultivated mulberry and hemp, cleared waterways, and restored the wheat and grain fields. Melons and fruits grew in profusion, spreading lush greenery and filling the granaries.
Yet the mountain’s destruction could not be undone. Its meager vitality was not enough to make up for what had been lost, and in the end it collapsed.
The woman urged people to cultivate mulberry and hemp, and farmed with her own hands for the rest of her life. She developed new crops and widely introduced them. The number of lives she saved during years of famine cannot be counted. She laid the foundations for an age of prosperity, a contribution too great for words to describe.
Later generations built a shrine to honor her, reverently calling her the Ancestor of Agriculture.”
Excerpt from The Yujing County Annals, “Ancestor of Agriculture”
