Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c6.s3.t2.6

v1.c6.s3.t2.6

It is also recorded in vol. 4 of Continuation of the Biographies of Eminent Monks that “Tang Taizong sent Wang Xuance and 20 other persons in search for craftsmen skilled in making gritty-honey among the monks in Mahàbodhi Monastery. Two craftsmen and eight monks came to Eastern Xia (China) and were soon despatched to Yuezhou (nowadays Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province) where they successfully made sugar from sugarcane”. Here the gritty-honey was the ancient name of granulated sugar. By acquiring the Indian technology, China made considerable progress in sugar-making. Also can be found in books like Tangshuangpu by Wang Zhuo is a well-known tradition of Tang Dynasty about a monk named Zou who taught the sugar-making technology to the people in Suining, Sichuan province.