Since there were so many people in China their ruler Shennong had to find an efficient way to grow large quantities of rice. Rice was planted in the months of February to april and was harvested in the months of june and july. Rice was grown mostly on the Yangtze river in wetlands flooded with water. The rice seedlings were individually placed which took a lot of time and effort. Rice is grown in countries with low labor costs and heavy rainfall for the wetlands and ancient China fits that perfectly.
Most rice grown can be eaten but there are different types of rice that grew in ancient China. The nutrition value of rice depends on the type of gain they ate. The two main rice grains that the ancient Chinese ate were white rice, and brown rice. Brown rice comes right from the rice plant and has a nutty taste to it, it is more chewy and has more nutrientance in it than white rice. The only con to brown rice is that it spoils faster. White rice is brown rice with bran and germ taken out of it to change the texture, taste, looks, and it also does not spoil as fast as brown rice, but some of the nutrients is taken out of the brown rice to make white rice.