When ginseng grows into unique, remarkable shapes or has the figure of a human, the root is displayed in a fine case rather than used as treatment. These pieces can be worth quite a large sum of money.
Sunday we spent half a day at the Herbal Medicine Market in north Chengdu. It is a wholesale market for purveyors of TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) practitioners such as doctors and acupuncturists. Although well known in that community, it is NOT a tourist destination, so the owners, customers, and other people in the 1800 or shops within the complex are not used to seeing us long guilao "foreign devils" or "white ghosts" (old Cantonese/Mandarin slang for foreigners), so we received stares upon stares--especially this blonde ghost! It felt like being back in Kham (Western Sichuan) during my travels, where long guilao--moste especially blonde or red hair - -may have never been seen before by locals! Famous again!
One of the reasons I moved to China was to experience and learn firsthand the traditions of herbal medicine, Qi Gung, and Taoism... and I found one source! My friend, M., had recently discovered an English-speaking TCM who originally hailed from Australia, but lives and practices in Chengdu. Dr. Adam Tate was our host, and presented the tourat the market, to be finished with an herb-full healthful, medicinal meal back at Panda Guesthouse, where we all congregated to begin the tour. The tour was also hosted by Liz from Fat Cat, a local start-up art space and gallery, recently opened by her and her Chinese fiance'. They hired Didis (Chinese Uber) for our group of 12, and we set off for the very, very long drive up north to the market. Read on for photos and to learn about these herbs -- some of which originated in the west and migrated to China; although unfortunately, we no longer use these vital, healing herbs. The majority of the herbs are locally harvested and grown, here in Sichuan, or in the nearby provinces of Yunnan and Tibet! Others, such as saffron, are imported from India, Iran, Africa, and Europe.
One of the reasons I moved to China was to experience and learn firsthand the traditions of herbal medicine, Qi Gung, and Taoism... and I found one source! My friend, M., had recently discovered an English-speaking TCM who originally hailed from Australia, but lives and practices in Chengdu. Dr. Adam Tate was our host, and presented the tourat the market, to be finished with an herb-full healthful, medicinal meal back at Panda Guesthouse, where we all congregated to begin the tour. The tour was also hosted by Liz from Fat Cat, a local start-up art space and gallery, recently opened by her and her Chinese fiance'. They hired Didis (Chinese Uber) for our group of 12, and we set off for the very, very long drive up north to the market. Read on for photos and to learn about these herbs -- some of which originated in the west and migrated to China; although unfortunately, we no longer use these vital, healing herbs. The majority of the herbs are locally harvested and grown, here in Sichuan, or in the nearby provinces of Yunnan and Tibet! Others, such as saffron, are imported from India, Iran, Africa, and Europe.
Ophiocordyceps, known as Yartsa Gunbu in Tibetan: "summer grass, winter worm".
The most prolific item for sale in the market at this time of year is cordyceps, aka caterpillar fungus. In fact, Dr. Adam claimed that there are millions and millions of US dollars worth of Cordyceps contained in the collective shops of the market! This herb (actually a fungus) is a major part of the economy of the Tibetan populace who live near the high mountains where it is harvested in the Autonomous Regions of Kham (Western SIchuan), Tibet, Yunnan, and Qinghai. (These are the provinces of which I learned, there may be more.) Cordyceps is remarkable in that it is a fungus which invades a small caterpillar, and grows outward in a black string-like projection as it mummifies its host. It is a tonifier, which strenghtens the whole body.
Pharmacology: libproject.hkbu.edu.hk/was40/detail?lang=en&channelid=1288&searchword=herb_id=D00019
Ginseng is also a tonifying remedy, called renshen in Chinese. Asian ginseng -- panax ginseng -- is a creamy-white when pulled fresh from the earth and used to increase yin energies. Red ginseng, like Korean ginseng has been preserved in alchohol and increases yang characteristics. About yin and yang: www.tcmworld.org/what-is-tcm/yin-yang-theory/. Both cordyceps and ginseng are among the many "graded" medicines in the market; graded for quality, such as AAAAA vs. AA.
Pharmacology: libproject.hkbu.edu.hk/was40/detail?lang=en&channelid=1288&searchword=herb_id=D00019
Ginseng is also a tonifying remedy, called renshen in Chinese. Asian ginseng -- panax ginseng -- is a creamy-white when pulled fresh from the earth and used to increase yin energies. Red ginseng, like Korean ginseng has been preserved in alchohol and increases yang characteristics. About yin and yang: www.tcmworld.org/what-is-tcm/yin-yang-theory/. Both cordyceps and ginseng are among the many "graded" medicines in the market; graded for quality, such as AAAAA vs. AA.
Glass cases full of ginseng line the aisles in one of the more highly regarded reputable shops, where the herbs are packaged attractively and of higher grades.
Click read more to the right, for many more photos and info about TCM and the medicine market!
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