Traditional Chinese Medicine or TCM has been playing a significant role in combating COVID-19 in China. One of the key ingredients of TCM, ginseng, is seeing increasing demand. CGTN’s Guan Yang tell us how a city in northeastern China’s Jilin Province is working to boost ginseng’s prominence in a bigger, more sophisticated market.
35 year-old Wang Guoqing from Tonghua is the fourth-generation of family ginseng farming. After several office jobs in Beijing and Shanghai, he came back to his hometown to take over the family business. Unlike his father or grandfather, who have been farming ginseng all their life, he climbed the ladder by setting up a trading company.
WAN GUOQING Director, Jishantang Ginseng & Antler Co. “My family used to earn just a basic living by farming ginseng in the 80’s and 90’s. When I first came to this ginseng industrial park six years ago, only a few dozen vendors were here, and supporting facilities were not developed. Now there are two 10,000 ton-class refrigeration storage facilities to provide services for ginseng trade of all kinds.”
GUAN YANG Tonghua, Jilin Province “Following the pandemic, the ginseng industry is seeing growth, driven by the rise in people focusing more on their health, as well as the various health benefits associated with Ginseng.”
Different types of ginseng are found across the world, and have been used as natural healthcare products for 2000 years. Panax ginseng and American ginseng are the most popular. Although there is hardly any difference between ginseng grown in China and that grown in South Korea for instance, China still has a long way to go before reaching the top of the food chain.
WANG YANYU Analyst, Ginseng Research Center, Tonghua, Jilin Province “From components and ingredients to species and quantity, the two hold the same characteristics. The main issue exists in marketing strategy. The ginseng industry development in South Korea is seen as a national project. That’s the reason they hold many world famous brands of ginseng products.”
In the past couple of years, the city of Tonghua has been upgrading the ginseng industrial structure. Raw ginseng farming and trade – the centuries-old practices – were gradually replaced with ginseng processing and marketing. The city has developed many ginseng cosmetics and health supplements brands of its own.
LYU WENKE Deputy Manager, Dongfanghong (Tonghua) ginseng pharmaceutical Co. “Much of the ginseng in China was farmed and sold cheaply as raw material. Such a mode once held the dominant position in the industry. In doing so, you can never add more value into the products. That’s why we want to build a brand name through research and development and marketing.”
Over 80% of domestic ginseng output is from Jilin Province, and the city of Tonghua accounts for half of the provincial total. Just like harvesting wild ginseng – where one must get to the root before picking, upgrading the ginseng industry also requires locals to get to the root of the situation. Guan Yang, CGTN, Tonghua, Jilin Province.