Subject Issue on Rice Science, Rice Technology and Rice Societies: Materiality in Research, Knowledge, and Practice in Asia’s Main Food Crop

Photo credit: Harry Huang.

The rice grain shown in the photo is a variety of the japonica type, currently cultivated in the Guandu Plain of Taipei Basin. Taiwanese used to cultivate indica rice. Varieties of japonica rice were first introduced in Taiwan in the 1920s during the Japanese colonial period. Its growing popularity in Taiwan may indicate how rice cultivation is closely related to the political, social, and cultural transformation of society.