The form of the character “tian” (田) remains unchanged from the oracle bone inscriptions to the seal script and to what it is today. It has long been written as a square frame with a cross inside. This form looks exactly like a vertical view of a piece of farmland, with the cross symbolizing the ridges. So, the original meaning of “tian” is farmland with ridges.

For a long time, China used to be an agriculture-dominated country. In the ancient Chinese mythology, there is the Yan Emperor or “Shennong”, who is believed to had taught the Chinese people how to observe farming weather, how to make tools like hatchets and ploughs, and how to cultivate crops. Along with the emergence of agriculture, there appeared primitive knowledge and know-how covering astronomy, calendar, meteorology, water conservancy, soil, fertilizers, seeds etc. Over the course of tribal migration and expansion, farming tools and techniques were quickly spread to the vast basins of the Yellow and Yangtze Rivers, with upland crops being mainly planted in the north and paddy rice in the south.