Ginseng is a fascinating herb that was discovered in China around 5,000 years ago and had set emperors and dynasties against each other. In the year 221BC the emperor Sanjie sent over 3.000 foot soldiers to find wild ginseng. Those who returned empty handed were beheaded.

Fusong County, known as the birthplace of Ginseng, along the upper reaches of the Second Songhua River has a 300 year history of planting ginseng. Almost every family grows ginseng in addition to the four state run plantation farms. Called "Bangchui" by the local people Ginseng, perennial herb of the aralia family, includes both man cultivated and wild ginseng. A wild ginseng can be more than 100 years old. It's white, fleshy, spindle like roots with many grotesque branches often resemble the shape of the human body.

The vast Changbai Mountains were rich in wild Ginseng 300 years ago when people could collect and sell Ginseng freely. In the Qing Dynasty ( 1644-1911 ) the royal court enacted strict decrees; those who hired people to excavate Ginseng, whether of the Manchu or Han nationality, were exiled to the Yunnan frontier; those obtaining one liang ( 50 Grams ) of Ginseng without permission were flogged 60 times and served one year of hard labour; and those caught with 50 liang ( 2.5 kilograms ) were flogged 100 times and exiled to the frontier, 3000 li ( 1500 hundred kilometers ) away from there homes. But in the late Qing Dynasty, a number of people were allowed to collect Ginseng, with the good quality Ginseng presented to the royal court. The Ginseng collectors led miserable lives under the heavy exploitation of the rulers and traders.

Ginseng, especially the root, has a long history of use as a medicinal plant. Some people believe ginseng acts as an antidepressant, increases resistance, and improves both physical and mental performance. It also has a reputation as an aphrodisiac. The use of ginseng may cause headaches. Many claims about the power of ginseng are exaggerated, but it is certain that ginseng is a unique plant. Unlike many other crops, the plant never has been domesticated. Therefore, ginseng must be grown under wild or simulated wild conditions.

The first known ginseng treatise was written by Li Yenwen, the father of Li Shizhen (author of Bencao Gangmu, published in 1596 A.D.). Excerpts from the ginseng treatise were included in the Bencao Gangmu, including this passage about the nature, functions, and use of ginseng, that illustrates the gentle quality of the herb.

This presentation of the mild and beneficial nature of ginseng was turned upside down about two centuries later. Ginseng had become exceedingly rare and costly, and, as a result, it had become an object of abuse. Physicians and herb merchants would promise incredible results from using the rare root (which, at the time, was not cultivated and only obtained from remote forests in Northeast China and Korea). Desperate patients, and their families, would seek it out, and then use as much as possible in an attempt to overcome an obviously debilitating or fatal condition. Ginseng was even described as being able to bring back the dead.

Ginseng can “ build up health, ease nerves, brighten eyes, develop intelligence and lengthen life “ according to Li Shizhen’s outline of Herb Medicine, written in the Ming Dynasty ( 1368 - 1644 ).

Ginseng contains glucoside, volatile oil, phytosterol and vitamins and cures shock, cardiovascular and stomach diseases, and diabetes. Ginseng is widely used in medicines as well as flavouring in foods and drinks.

According to the theory and clinical experience of traditional Chinese medicine, ginseng may be used for deficiency of vital energy and may be prescribed for insufficiency of yin associated with loss of bodily fire.

Ginseng can help to increase vital energy and strengthen the spleen. In suitable dosage, it can promote the digestive function.

Traditional Chinese medicine prescribes ginseng as an adjuvant for patients with general weakness and suffering from the common cold.

In the latter part of the 20th century, ginseng was promoted to Westerners as a health product that could improve cardiovascular functions, mental acuity, and sexual performance, prevent serious diseases (such as cancer), and help treat chronic ailments (such as diabetes). It was recommended to be taken on a daily basis much as one would use a multi-vitamin, which was the closest Western equivalent, conceptually, to ginseng at the time. In fact, a number of multi-vitamin products added a small amount of ginseng to their formulation in order to promote this very concept.

The herb was eventually being consumed by millions of Americans. During the 1970’s, there was a huge effort made by several U.S. companies to increase sales of ginseng products to the public. Numerous books about ginseng were published between 1976 and 1978.

Much of the ginseng on the market at the time was from South Korea, which had been actively promoting its cultivated ginseng products since the 1960’s and which held annual Symposia on ginseng starting in 1977. As China opened its markets beginning in 1976, ginseng and related products (e.g., eleuthero ginseng, notoginseng) were exported in increasing amounts. American ginseng, which had formerly been sold almost exclusively to Asia, was finally marketed in the U.S. Hsu’s Ginseng Farm, in Wisconsin, has been one of the main producing and marketing agencies for American ginseng, and has helped develop some use of the herb in America.

In 1981, China convened a symposium on eleuthero ginseng in Harbin, China at an international conference on Chinese medicine held in Hong Kong in 1983 (5), ginseng was one of the selected topics for presentations (of which there were 7 reports). Ginseng became one of the most heavily traded herbs in the West and remains in the top ten list of herbs sold in the U.S. and Europe.

Tag: Ginseng root