Chen Zhenlong: The Father of Sweet Potatoes

Budiman BM
4 min readAug 18, 2023

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Chen Zhenlong 陳振龍 (c. 1543–1619) is known as the father of sweet potato in China. Legend says that this Fujian businessman, is responsible for introducing sweet potatoes to 16th century China, becoming a critical solution to the widespread hunger crisis at the time. Born in Qingqiao Village, Changle County, Fuzhou Prefecture in Fujian Province, he initially pursued education and even excelled in talent exams. However, repeated exam failures left him disillusioned with officialdom. Shifting to business, he relocated to Dadaopu, Fuzhou, and embarked on a challenging entrepreneurial journey.

During the Wanli period, China faced devastating natural disasters, leading to widespread suffering, starvation, and displacement. Amid these challenges, Chen Zhenlong and his son embarked on business ventures to Luzon (present-day Philippines) to sustain themselves through merchant ships.

Chen Zhenlong discovered sweet potato in the Philippines, which was widely grown as it could thrive on various soils even under drought. Sweet potato was brought to the Philippines from America when Magellan landed there in 1521. Recognizing their potential to combat famine due to high yields and resilience, Chen aimed to bring them to China. Yet, strict Spanish export bans on sweet potatoes posed a hurdle.

Undeterred, Chen Zhenlong made daring attempts to smuggle sweet potatoes back to China. Despite enduring punishment, he ingeniously concealed sweet potato vines as ropes covered in mud within a rattan basket. In 1593, he succeeded in introducing sweet potatoes to Fujian.

A year later, amid a severe drought and crop failure in Fujian, Chen Zhenlong’s son, Chen Jinglun, proposed to the governor of Fujian Jin Xuezeng 金學曾, to plant sweet potatoes to address the food crisis. Just four months later, the successful sweet potato harvest alleviated hunger. Chen Jinglun issued a manual on how to cultivate sweet potato. Later during Qing dynasty in 1768, Chen Shiyuan, the sixth descendent of Chen Zhenlong published a book called Instructions for Practical Living of the Sweet Potato (金薯传习录 Jinshu Chuanxilu).

Sweet potato was called “Jinshu” (golden root), because it saved a great number of people’s lives during the famine.

That was probably one of many routes of sweet potato origin in China. Some record suggested that sweet potato was already planted in Quanzhou, a decade prior to Chen Zhenlong’s introduction in Fuzhou.

There are several legends surrounding the introduction of sweet potatoes to China. One tale involves Lin Huailan, a doctor who saved a Vietnamese princess and received sweet potatoes as a reward. He supposedly smuggled them back to China before 1580. However, this account might be exaggerated. Another story revolves around Chen Yi’s journey from Vietnam to Dongguan. In 1580, Chen Yi managed to obtain sweet potato seeds through bribery and returned to Dongguan in 1582, bypassing export restrictions. While other possible routes for introducing sweet potatoes exist, including from Burma, the account of Chen Zhenlong’s efforts is the most widely accepted.

In the late seventeenth century, Chen Shiyuan reportedly introduced sweet potatoes from Fujian to Zhejiang, Shandong, and Henan provinces in China. By the mid-eighteenth century, sweet potatoes had spread throughout southern provinces and expanded their reach to the Yellow River basin and northern regions. This complex history showcases the diverse paths through which sweet potatoes became integrated into various parts of China.

He Qiaoyuan, an official in Fujian during the Ming dynasty wrote ‘Ode to the Sweet Potato’, wrote:

Sweet potato, found in Luzon,

Grows all over, trouble-free

Foreign devils love to eat it

Propagates so easily.

We just made a single cutting

Boxed it up and brought it home

Ten years later, Fujian’s saviour.

If it dies, just make a clone.

Take your cutting, then re-plant it

Wait a week and see it grow

This is how we cultivate it

In our homeland, reap and sow.

(Coxinga and the Fall of the Ming Dynasty, Jonathan Clements, 2005)

Despite its potential as a saviour, the golden root did not achieve such status. Instead, it became a staple for the less fortunate, as rice remained cherished for its nutritional value in the eyes of Chinese people (albeit not true). The period during and after the war with Japan marked a time of food scarcity in China, leading sweet potatoes to become a predominant, albeit unpopular, source of sustenance.

Referred to as “fanshu” 番薯 in Chinese, sweet potatoes acquired connotations tied to its compelled consumption in the absence of rice. “Fan” translates to foreign or barbaric, often used to describe non-Chinese elements. Consequently, sweet potatoes earned the label of “foreign potato,” a term that also carried implications of foolish or dumb. Calling someone eating sweet potatoes became an insult with these layered meanings.

Many elderly in Taiwan hated sweet potatoes. In recent years, however, there has been a resurgence in the appreciation of sweet potatoes as a nutritious food. They have gained popularity as a cake ingredient in both Taiwan and China, demonstrating their transformation from a stigmatised food to a celebrated ingredient.

And more recently Chen Zhenlong’s deed was further recognised, his former residence Heshang, Changle district, Fuzhou, became a museum.

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Budiman BM
Budiman BM

Written by Budiman BM

Soil Scientist, interest in Colonial history.

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