Rare Chinese Medicinal Herbs Cure Illnesses and Bring Wealth: A Capable Woman in Guidong Shows Her Skills
"The Legend of Mi Yue" was once extremely popular, and many viewers probably remember the plot in which the young prince Ying Dang was stung by killer bees and left near death; but do you still remember the antidote that saved his life in the drama?
That's right, it was Paris polyphylla!
Paris polyphylla is one of the important ingredients in Yunnan Baiyao. This precious medicinal herb, which even the Qin king's palace in "The Legend of Mi Yue" did not have, is now not hard to find in Shangdong Village, Oujiang Town, Guidong County, Chenzhou City, and it has already become a treasure that leads local women out of poverty toward prosperity - it turns out that there is a rare and precious medicinal herb science popularization demonstration base here. In early November, a reporter from Today's Woman News/Fengwang came to Oujiang Town to explore the story behind base director Li Fuzhen leading everyone to prosperity.
After her child recovered from illness, she developed the idea of growing medicinal herbs
Rolling up her sleeves, putting on rain boots, picking up a hoe, digging the soil, planting seedlings, and earthing up the soil... On November 1, when a reporter from Today's Woman News/Fengwang came to the rare and precious medicinal herb science popularization demonstration base in Guidong County, Chenzhou City - the county seat with the highest average altitude in Hunan Province - base director Li Fuzhen was patiently explaining to farmers, demonstrating and teaching hand by hand, bustling with activity.
Li Fuzhen, now 38 years old, is of medium height, with long black hair falling over her shoulders and sturdy fingers. Seeing the reporter, she smiled and hurriedly introduced her "treasures."
"This one weighs half a jin and can sell for 60 yuan." Li Fuzhen said, pointing to the Paris polyphylla rhizome just dug out of the ground. At present, the rare and precious medicinal herb science popularization demonstration base and the Hongzhen Special Medicinal Herb Planting Professional Cooperative have more than 500 mu of rare and precious Chinese medicinal herbs, with more than 20 varieties, mainly planting Paris polyphylla, Polygonatum, milk ginseng, and others, with an annual total output value reaching more than 5 million yuan.
However, Li Fuzhen did not initially think of planting precious Chinese medicinal herbs.
Back then, after graduating from agricultural school, Li Fuzhen tried starting businesses many times, and also went south to Guangdong to work. When she first married, because the family was poor, even the home appliances for her first visit to relatives were temporarily "borrowed" by her parents-in-law from relatives and friends to keep up appearances. But Li Fuzhen did not complain; instead, she and her husband continuously explored ways to become prosperous. She set up a stall at the Hankou Township market, and opened a clothing store, a grocery store, and a food and medicinal herb purchasing store.
The experience of running stalls and stores accumulated a lot of market experience and connections for Li Fuzhen. She keenly discovered that at various markets in Guidong County, many out-of-town traders often drove specially to purchase raw Chinese medicinal herbs, while local people only sold them sporadically, often resulting in supply falling short of demand.
Soon, Li Fuzhen joined the ranks of Chinese medicinal herb middlemen. In the process of trading with medicinal herb companies in Guangdong, Hebei, Anhui, and other places, she also noticed that precious Chinese medicinal herbs were very popular and in great market demand. Li Fuzhen then had an idea: why not plant them on a large scale herself and take the path of integrated production and sales?
Li Fuzhen finally made up her mind to plant Chinese medicinal herbs because her own child had been ill once. Li Fuzhen recalled that when her child was over one year old, the child often caught colds and had fevers, and many methods were tried without success. Later, the local village doctor suggested that Li Fuzhen go to the mountains to find a Chinese medicinal herb called Tetrastigma hemsleyanum and brew it with boiling water for the child to drink; after a period of time, the fever naturally subsided. Having seen the benefits of Chinese medicine, "from that time on, I made up my mind to start planting Chinese medicinal herbs!" Li Fuzhen said.
"Yunnan Baiyao" extends an olive branch
Li Fuzhen decided to plant the Chinese medicinal herb Paris polyphylla not because she had watched "The Legend of Mi Yue." Li Fuzhen said that in the early years, a relative's foot was poisoned by a snake bite, and various treatments were ineffective. Someone suggested: "Mix Paris polyphylla with wine, grind it, and try it."
"Sure enough, after applying it to the foot, it got better." Li Fuzhen later learned that "Paris polyphylla has the effects of clearing heat and detoxifying, reducing swelling and relieving pain, and cooling the liver and calming fright, and is used for venomous snake bites, bruises, and other conditions."
"From then on, I saw the uses and value of medicinal herbs, and further discovered that many medicinal herbs are endangered species." Li Fuzhen said frankly, "especially in mountainous areas, if residents get sick, it is very inconvenient to seek medical treatment." Therefore, Li Fuzhen developed the idea of trying to grow Paris polyphylla herself.
In 2009, Li Fuzhen tried planting for the first time. She exchanged more than 50,000 yuan in savings accumulated over many years for Paris polyphylla tubers, Polygonatum tubers, and other seedlings. She first consulted relevant materials to study, then went to Jiangxi, Guangdong, and other places to learn from elderly herb farmers, and combined this with her own exploration. She began trial-planting precious Chinese medicinal herbs in 2 mu of her family's vegetable plot in Hankou Township, Oujiang Town. In the early stage of planting, because Paris polyphylla has very high temperature requirements, the Paris polyphylla tubers Li Fuzhen bought at 200 yuan/kg all failed in trial planting, and she lost everything in the first year.
Recalling the past, Li Fuzhen could not help but choke up, but unwilling to admit defeat, she was determined to "get up from where she fell." The next year, Li Fuzhen tried breeding Paris polyphylla again, but after the seeds were sown, they did not sprout the following spring. Anxious, Li Fuzhen dug open the soil and, looking at the "unresponsive" seeds, cried out of worry.
"In the end, the trial seeds sprouted in the third year. Only then did I understand that Paris polyphylla has a one-year dormancy period." Through more than four years of accumulated experience, Li Fuzhen could break the dormancy period of Paris polyphylla by manually controlling temperature and humidity, and in 2014 successfully achieved annual breeding, with a survival rate reaching 99%.
In 2015, Li Fuzhen's medicinal herb base also attracted representatives from Yunnan Baiyao Company to conduct an on-site inspection. Li Fuzhen introduced: "The root of wild Paris polyphylla is the main medicinal part of Yunnan Baiyao. Due to years of excessive digging, the wild population of this plant has become endangered."
In response, Li Fuzhen said confidently: "They think my variety is especially good and hope to purchase large quantities. It's just that the base is still in the development stage and the yield still needs to be improved. In the future, through cultivation, the yield will certainly catch up."
Villagers plant medicinal herbs and also live in small Western-style houses
In addition to being able to cultivate Paris polyphylla, Li Fuzhen has also skillfully mastered the growth habits of other Chinese medicinal herbs, creatively using plastic film and cup covers to keep Paris polyphylla seedlings warm, and using an annual soil replacement method to plant Bletilla striata. Therefore, when last winter's low temperature of minus nine degrees struck, the medicinal herb seedlings in Li Fuzhen's base were able to remain safe and sound.