メコン　その農と食

The author has had the opportunity to be engaged in field work in the Mekong River basin for forty years. In this report, the variety of agriculture and food of the Mekong River basin are described, based on that experience. The Mekong River is the biggest river in Southeast Asia. The source of the Mekong River is Tibet. The river flows through Chinese Yunnan, through Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, and Cambodia, forming a delta in Vietnam where it comes out into the sea. There live many people in that basin, and various agricultural elements of cultural complexity are found. Food culture also varies throughout this area. The author divided the whole basin into seven agriculture zones. The key words indicating the various forms of agriculture and food cultures recognized in the Mekong River basin are listed, illustrated by photographs. It has been said that Chinese ancient civilization was started from the Yellow River civilization. The Chang Jiang civilization now comes to the fore, which started before the Yellow River civilization. It is just now being admitted that the Chang Jiang civilization is equal to the four big civilizations of the world. It is just now being recognized that the Chang Jiarg civilization is on a par with the four big civilization of the word. According to the author’s supposition, not only Chang Jiang but also Mekong, Thanlwin and Huang river constituted a Asian Big civilization. The author predicts whether a time will come when the existence of a “Asian Big River civilization” will come to be explained.

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