Cannabis was staple food in ancient China
Tomb reveals knowledge from the Tang Dynasty
Justin Wong (JW)May 9, 2025
According to a new archaeological study in central China, cannabis was a staple food in ancient China's Tang Dynasty (618-907).
It is well known that the ancient Chinese grew cannabis seeds in a kind of mash and also consumed them. Many Chinese historical texts suggest that the plant was an important food source, but archaeological evidence to support the written accounts has been sparse.
The discovery confirmed that cannabis was not only a source of mental stimulation, clothing and medicine, but also a source of food at a time when Chinese civilization was at its peak, the researchers said.
The discovery was made in 2019 during works at an elementary school playground in Taiyuan, Shanxi Province, when construction workers were digging up a grave.
For 1,320 years, the tomb was not disturbed, and the murals and artifacts were nearly perfectly preserved in the unusually dry chamber.
In one of the jars containing basic foodstuffs, the researchers found remains of cannabis, with some seeds still showing their original colour.
The ancient seeds were almost twice the normal size, suggesting they were nothing like a typical cannabis plant of today.
Researchers hypothesized that they belonged to Cannabis sativa, a species native to Central Asia with lower concentrations of the psychoactive compound tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) than modern marijuana, which is a more potent sativa-indica hybrid.
The tomb belonged to Guo Xing, a cavalry captain who had fought with the Tang Emperor Li Shimin, or Taixzong, in a series of bloody battles in the Korean Peninsula.
"The cannabis was kept in a pot on the coffin bed amidst other staples such as millet. Apparently, Guo Xing's descendants buried cannabis as an important food crop," said Dr. Jin Guiyun, a professor at Shandong University's Faculty of History and Culture, in an article published in the journal Agricultural Archeology last month.
Disseminating cannabis is now a criminal offense in China, and a drug trafficking conviction can carry a death penalty.
But for the people who lived in the heartland of the mighty Tang Empire, cannabis may have been more important than rice, according to Dr. Jin and her colleagues.
In Tang Dynasty, Taiyuan was warmer and wetter than today, and rice was cultivated in the wider Yellow River region.
However, the Guo family did not put rice in the tomb. According to the researchers, this could reflect the personal diet of the veteran, who died at the age of 90.
"The cannabis was buried as food for the feast and health of the tomb owner in the afterlife," they added.
Cannabis was domesticated in China 12,000 years ago, researchers say
Researchers also noticed that the pods of the cannabis seeds were not removed. The peel does not taste good but contains higher THC levels.
"Cannabis seeds with husks not only have to do with the high lignin content of the husk and its hard nature, which can reduce the risk of mold growth and increase storage time, but also can stimulate the nerves and induce hallucinations, since the husk is used for religious and medicinal purposes was consumed," says Dr. Jin and co-authors from the Taiyuan City Institute of Archeology in the study.
In ancient Chinese texts, cannabis was referred to as one of the wu gu, the five staple foods.
According to the Compendium of Materia Medica, a book written by herbalist Li Shizhen some 500 years ago, consuming too many unground cannabis seeds could cause a person to "run around like crazy."
Since the 1980s, Chinese archaeologists have found and identified remains of cannabis in tombs across China dating as far back as 6,600 years. However, the plant has mostly been explained as a ritual object used at a religious event to induce hallucinations.
China has banned marijuana since the 1950s. Most Chinese history textbooks today describe the mass cultivation of cannabis in ancient China as an economic activity to produce textiles for clothing.
dr Hu Jiang, associate professor of criminal law at Southwest University of Political Science and Law in Chongqing, said the easing of controls on cannabis use around the world has put enormous pressure on China to maintain its strict law enforcement policies.
In 2020, the United Nations removed cannabis from its drug control list because the plant is less harmful and has more medicinal benefits than previously thought.
The legalization of "recreational marijuana" in other countries "increases the opportunities for our citizens to explore and use marijuana products out of curiosity," said Dr. Hu and his colleagues in an article published in the Journal of Criminal Investigation Police University of China last month.
In recent years, the Chinese government has allowed farmers to grow some "safe" cannabis strains that are low in THC but high in cannabidiol, a compound that has sedative effects but is not addictive.
While global cultivation of cannabis plants has declined by more than 90 percent since the 1960s, China's acreage -- mostly for hemp fiber -- has increased by more than 30 percent in just one year, to 24,400 hectares (60,300 acres) by the end of 2019, according to government data gone up.
