Oil-Yielding Peony Industry in China:
A Major Move in Building an Ecological
Civilization
Yucai Li
Peonies are woody plants native to China. Hailed as the “king of flowers” for their
beauty and fragrance, they have been dearly loved by people since ancient times.
Peony growing began in the Jin dynasty, gained popularity in the Sui dynasty, and
flourished in the Tang and Song dynasties. Peonies have been used for over 2000 years
and cultivated for over 1600 years in China. They were first mentioned as medicinal
plants in The Divine Farmer’s Material Medical Classic (Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing),
the earliest Chinese herbal textbook compiled in the first or second century, and
started to be recognized as ornamental plants in the Northern and Southern Dynasties.
In recent years, as the potential of peonies in oil production has been gradually
uncovered, “oil-yielding peony” has become an important category in addition to
“medicinal peony” and “ornamental peony.”
As evidenced by years of research and practice, developing the oil-yielding peony
industry is of great significance to improve the environment, reduce China’s dependence on exports for edible oil, and ensure food security and people’s health. It is
an important measure to help get rid of poverty, improve people’s lives, promote
healthy and sustainable development, and achieve common prosperity and represents a major practice to “make industries eco-friendly and commercialize natural
resources,” speed up the construction of the “five systems for ecological progress,”
and advance development of an ecological civilization.
Y. Li (B)
The State Forestry Administration, Beijing, China
© China Environment Publishing Group Co., Ltd. 2021
J. Pan et al. (eds.), Beautiful China: 70 Years Since 1949 and 70 People’s Views
on Eco-civilization Construction, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-33-6742-5_27
283
A Major Move in Building an Ecological
Civilization
Yucai Li
Peonies are woody plants native to China. Hailed as the “king of flowers” for their
beauty and fragrance, they have been dearly loved by people since ancient times.
Peony growing began in the Jin dynasty, gained popularity in the Sui dynasty, and
flourished in the Tang and Song dynasties. Peonies have been used for over 2000 years
and cultivated for over 1600 years in China. They were first mentioned as medicinal
plants in The Divine Farmer’s Material Medical Classic (Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing),
the earliest Chinese herbal textbook compiled in the first or second century, and
started to be recognized as ornamental plants in the Northern and Southern Dynasties.
In recent years, as the potential of peonies in oil production has been gradually
uncovered, “oil-yielding peony” has become an important category in addition to
“medicinal peony” and “ornamental peony.”
As evidenced by years of research and practice, developing the oil-yielding peony
industry is of great significance to improve the environment, reduce China’s dependence on exports for edible oil, and ensure food security and people’s health. It is
an important measure to help get rid of poverty, improve people’s lives, promote
healthy and sustainable development, and achieve common prosperity and represents a major practice to “make industries eco-friendly and commercialize natural
resources,” speed up the construction of the “five systems for ecological progress,”
and advance development of an ecological civilization.
Y. Li (B)
The State Forestry Administration, Beijing, China
© China Environment Publishing Group Co., Ltd. 2021
J. Pan et al. (eds.), Beautiful China: 70 Years Since 1949 and 70 People’s Views
on Eco-civilization Construction, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-33-6742-5_27
283