Shifang Sun-Cured Tobacco

Shifang Sun-Cured Tobacco

　　Sun-Cured Tobacco

　　　Shifang’s specialty sun-cured tobacco was first recorded as “Danbagu” (i.e., sun-cured tobacco) in the Shifang County Annals of the Jiaqing era during the Qing Dynasty.

　　During the late Qing and early Republican period, tobacco farming had expanded to all sixteen townships in the dam area. The 1929 Revised Shifang County Annals recorded: “Aside from growing grain and other crops, farmers widely plant tobacco, with leaf tobacco being the principal local product.” The 1930s to 1940s were the golden age of Shifang sun-cured tobacco. According to archives from 1937: “In 1934, tobacco production reached 23.44 million jin; in 1935, 23.76 million jin; and in 1936, 24 million jin. The average planting area over those three years was 120,000 mu. Of the total yield, coarse tobacco accounted for 70%, while willow-leaf and other types made up the remaining 30%.”

　　At that time, the county had 69 cigarette factories and workshops of varying sizes. According to 1939 statistics, there were 17 large tobacco warehouses and 100 small ones, with an annual throughput of 300,000 dan.

　　In 1949, the county’s total tobacco planting area was 71,951 mu, with a total output of 10.68 million jin and a yield of 1.49 million jin per mu. By 1983, the sun-cured tobacco planting area reached 88,827 mu, yielding 303 jin per mu and a total output of 26.91 million jin. Both the per-mu yield and total output had more than doubled and increased 1.5 times compared to 1949.