The Lords of Ginseng
9
Sep 2007
According to Shennong Herbal
Medicine (《神农本草经》),
the first
comprehensive reference on Chinese medicinal
remedies written about two thousand years
ago, in 365 remedies it lists, there are
three types of remedy sources: herbs, animal
parts and minerals; and three levels of
remedy qualities: top quality which promotes
physical and mental well beings, medium
quality which regulates yin-yang balance, and low quality
which addresses specified illnesses.
And ginseng is one of those
listed in the very front of the top category.
A vegetational relic of the
tertiary period, it appeared on the earth
long before human, and is believed to be more
than just plantation, but blessed by the
breath of soul (灵气), and presented in yin-yang dual
forms,
known as genders (雌雄). With its
resemblance to human shape, it gains the name
in Chinese as 人参 (Man Root), and
helps strengthening yang energy,
increasing blood supply, improving qi circulation, stimulating physical vitalities and invigorating
mental powers.
Ginseng family, again, can be
further divided into three main groups: wild
ginseng, garden ginseng and Korean ginseng.
And among the three, the wild ginseng is
reputed as having the highest nourishing and
therapeutical efficacy.
Chinese legends say that wild
ginseng can live hundreds even thousands of
years, with a new offshoots growing out of
the main root every 100 years.
The best time for collecting
wild ginseng is between the late July to
September, since by then the fleshy roots
turned mature red and thus are easy to be
posted by naked eyes.
But the wild ginseng is rare
to be found, as for to stumble upon a ginseng
with more than a half dozen roots, that would
be extremely unusual.
And then on a Sunday afternoon
in early August 2007, an extremely unusual
event occurred. That day, retired Chinese
doctor Lin Xiamen (林秀民) from Yantai (烟台) in Shangdong Province (山东) went to catch cicadas in the
North Mountain (北山) with her husband and
friends. When she entered the secluded
Immortal Valley (仙人谷), she spotted a
plant blossoming in the late afternoon winter
sun with tiny purple flowers. She went over
to take a close look and there she saw two
dozen fleshy roots in mature red colour
branched out of a main stem, sprawling
around. As soon as she recognized it must be
wild ginseng, she also realised it could well
be over 2000 years old. And it is a yin
or say female ginseng.
Her extensive knowledge on
herbs told her, that wild ginseng normally
does not grow alone, instead they exist in yin-yang
pairs, so there must be a male ginseng in a
similar age group somewhere nearby. She was
right, soon she found another ginseng under a
torch tree just two metres away, though
without branch heads but weighted a massive
3.8 kilograms.
After the details of her
ginseng luck leaked out, it caused a quite
splash in China. Some congratulated her, some
interviewed her, some allegedly offered 20
million yuans to buy off the ginseng couple
from her, and some, after she revealed that
she tied the ginsengs with red strings to
prevent them from running away as soon as she
spotted them, accused her of being ridiculous
and superstitious, and some simply condemned
her for rooting out the guardian and
protector of the mountain.
A village head in the area
where the ginseng was found told the
journalist that eventhough they had never
seen a wild ginseng in their field, a
folklore does speak of a man in robe appeared
from time to time being the manifestation of
that soulfull root. Thus some people
forwarded warnnings to the doctor that the
senior ginsengs could be the physical
expressions of highly advanced cultivators and it is dangerous
to move them away from where they belong.
And some villagers even
considered to take legal action to get their
treasure back.
Doctor Lin probably never
expectd one Sunday afternoon excursion could
bring so much dramas to her previously quiet
life in retirement. But she refuses to budge,
neither accepting the multi-million-yuan
offer to sell them for profit, nor preparing
to send them back to the village.
But one thing she has already
done: she tasted a tiny piece of ginseng skin
and experienced four consecutive energetic
day and night without nap. And one thing she
is also planning to do: to enter Guinness
World Record for her collections as the
biggest wild ginseng ever found.
