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From 1952 to 1992, the Ministry of Agriculture used a "grain," "economic," and "other" crop classification system, but in 1993 the Ministry categorized crops into nine groups. Here economic crops are defined as non-grain crops, namely oilseeds, cotton, hemp, sugar, tobacco, medicinal, vegetable, other crops. Grain crops have occupied a large portion of total sown area for the last 2000 years but economic crops also have been important in providing fiber and a variety of nutritious foods for the …

China's farmers domesticated animals many centuries before our common era, using both confined feeding techniques and managing grazing animals such as sheep and cattle on their extensive grasslands. Modern feeding and breeding techniques were introduced in the 20th century, but even at the end of the century most of China's pork, poultry, and eggs were produced by individual farm households using a mixture of traditional and modern husbandry techniques. Rural reforms initiated in the early 1980s…