Chapter One Li Shizhen’s Birthplace: the Past and the Present

Qichun County in the past 歷史的變遷·蘄春城區舊景

Qichun Today 醫圣故里展新貌

Here in Qichun, the mountains and valleys are blanketed by Chinese mugwort farmland;nationally known (and booming)moxibustion centers, flourishing mugwort product industrial zones, vogue medicinal diet centers, and emerging health industry towns line this magical land. Innovative enterprises and industrial businesses have become the new landscape here.

The Largest Medicinal Material Base in Hubei

Located at a latitude of 30 degrees north, Qichun enjoys a long history of more than 2,200 years and boasts its rich human and natural resources. It is also known as the “hometown of the medical sage,” “a land of famous professors,” “a place of royal resorts,” and “a health care city.”

Qichun boasts abundant natural resources and is particularly rich in medicinal materials. There are 352 species of woody plants, belonging to 132 families and 233 genera. Wild animals can be classified into 4 classes, 23 orders, 48 families,and 115 species. There are six China Protected Geographical Indication products in Qichun,three of which are medicinal materials: Qichun mugwort,prunella vulgare, and pearl barley, indicating this place an unparalleled treasure house among all the counties in Hubei Province. Amongst the 1,892 medicines recorded in the Compendium of Materia Medica,more than 700 species can be found here. It is a veritable herbal bank for Central China, and the hometown of TCM.

Qi bamboo, Qi mugwort, Qi tortoise, and Qi snake are labeled as “Qichun’s Four Treasures.”

With more than 350,000 mu(about 23333 hectares) of Chinese herbal medicines, Qichun is the largest medicinal material base in Hubei Province. A demonstration base occupying an area of more than 10,000 mu has been preliminarily established covering six major medicinal series.

Among them, the five major varieties of Qi mugwort, Prunella vulgaris, Cape jasmine, Magnolia officinalis, and Ginkgo biloba,accounted for more than 60% of the medicinal planting area. There are more than 260 large-scale TCM material production bases and over 20 standardized bases.

In Qichun, there is the biggest national base for Qichun mugwort production, the largest conversion base for bletilla wild, the biggest Cape jasmine base in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, the largest Magnolia base and Ginkgo biloba purchasing center in the Dabie Mountains,and in Tanxi Valley, the nation’s biggest wild Dendrobium Nobile base is under construction. The whole county now has an annual output of 42,000 tons of TCM materials.

Mugwort planting base in Zhangbang Town 張塝鎮蘄艾基地

Lotus planting base in Chixi Lake 赤西湖蓮子種植基地

漫山遍野的艾草基地，火爆全國的艾灸體驗館，蓬勃發展的艾制品企業，引領時尚的藥膳體驗，初見雛形的健康產業新城……蘄陽大地，創新創業春潮涌動，健康產業如火如荼。

湖北最大的藥源基地

蘄春擁有2200余年建縣史，人文、自然資源豐富，地處神奇的北緯30度，素有醫圣故里、教授名縣、王府勝地、養生之都的美譽。

蘄春物產富饒，藥物資源豐富，境內有木本植物132科233屬352種，野生動物有4綱23目48科115種。國家地理標志保護產品6個（其中藥材三個，分別是：蘄艾、夏枯草、薏米），居湖北省縣級之首?！侗静菥V目》記載的1892種藥物，蘄春境內有700余種，是名副其實的華中藥庫，也是傳統的中醫藥文化之鄉。

蘄竹、蘄艾、蘄龜、蘄蛇，世稱“蘄春四寶”。

蘄春的中藥材種植面積突破35萬畝，是湖北省最大的藥源基地。初步建成六大主導品種萬畝藥材示范基地。

其中，蘄艾、夏枯草、梔子、厚樸、銀杏等五大品種，占藥材種植面積超過60%。規模化中藥材生產基地260多個，中藥材規范化基地20多個。

這里有全國最大的蘄艾基地、白芨“野轉家”基地，長江中下游地區最大的梔子基地、大別山地區最大的厚樸基地和銀杏葉收購中心，正在檀溪谷建設全國最大的石斛基地，全縣中藥材年產量達4.2萬噸。

流金淌銀的土地

趁著風和日麗，我們踏上蘄春這塊流金淌銀的土地，縱目望去，只見沃野之中，處處閃現著美麗的風光。

A Rich Land

On a beautiful day, we are heading for Qichun, where the picturesque village scenery enfolds in front of our eyes and vanishes far into the horizon. Farmers are laboring merrily in their fertile lands.

Ginkgo in Hengche Town

When we came to Mawei Village of Hengche Town, we saw a large field of green woody plants from afar. They were the precious TCM material, Ginkgo biloba,known as the “living fossil.” This field is also the “green bank” of Han Mingxiu, chairwoman of the Mingxiu Ginkgo Professional Cooperative. She founded the cooperative in 2009 to purchase and process ginkgo, and now her business has extended to Jinzhai in Anhui Province and Xinxian in Henan Province. With an annual processing volume of more than 1,000 tons of Ginkgo biloba leaves, she was nicknamed “the Ginkgo aunt” by locals.

The Xianrentai Scenic Spot 仙人臺景區

Honeysuckle in Shizi

Very early in the morning, women in Willow Village have already left home for work. While breathing the fresh air, they walked to the Honeysuckle Planting Professional Cooperative in twos and threes and began their daily work.

Cape Jasmine in Guanyao

The streets in Guanyao are clean and tidy. The refreshing pastoral scenes unfold before our eyes.More than 10,000 mu of Cape jasmine in Lantouji add flavor to this ancient ceramic town.Here, “Flowers bloom in the spring, trees provide shade in the summer, fruits ripen in autumn,and greens stay in winter.” The Cape jasmine base has turned the barren hills into a treasure house.Apart from all the above mentioned, there are also tribute rice from Qingshi, tea from Datong, squid from Pengsi, and fish farms in Chidong. Qichun is indeed a place full of vigor and vim.

Capital of Mugwort, the Health Care City

Bordered by the southern foot of the Dabie Mountains, ancient Qizhou Prefecture administered five counties, namely, Qichun,Huangmei, Guangji (today’s Wuxue), Xishui, and Luotian.Living by the mountains rich in herbal medicine and convenient for herbal collection, many locals make their living as doctors and medical practitioners. A large number of them have made great medical achievements throughout history. For example, Pang Anshi(approx. 1042-1099), Li Shizhen(1518-1593), Wan Mizhai (1499-1582), and Yang Jitai (1780-1850), four famous doctors in ancient eastern Hubei Province, were all born here.

橫車的銀杏來到橫車鎮附馬坳村，眼前是一大片綠油油的木本植物，它們就是被譽為 “活化石”的名貴中藥材銀杏，也是明秀銀杏專業合作社理事長韓明秀的綠色銀行。她于2009年創辦合作社，收購加工銀杏，貨源延伸到安徽金寨、河南新縣等地，銀杏干葉年加工量1000多噸，人們親切地稱她“銀杏大媽”。

獅子的金銀花一大早，天稍微亮，柳樹村的婦女們陸續出門。大家呼吸著新鮮空氣，結隊來到金銀花種植專業合作社忙活著。

管窯的梔子來到管窯，沿街道路干凈整潔，公路錯落有致，清新自然的田園風光盡收眼底。嵐頭磯萬畝梔子，給這兒的陶藝古鎮平添縷縷清香。這里“春有花，夏有蔭，秋有果、冬有青”，萬畝梔子基地，把荒山變成實實在在的金山。

這里還有青石的貢米、大同的茶葉、彭思的鱘魚、赤東的漁場......蘄春是處處生機盎然的好地方。

中國艾都 養生蘄春

古蘄州轄蘄、黃、廣、浠、羅五縣，皆屬大別山南麓，崇山峻嶺，盛產中藥材。因采藥便利，蘄地以醫為業者甚多，有所建樹者不少，鄂東四大名醫龐安時、李時珍、萬密齋、楊際泰都出自這里。

藥市熏染了蘄州人，當地人自古便有“不為良相，便為良醫”的人生觀，習醫者為榮，著醫書為尚。

自上世紀九十年代以來，蘄春堅持高舉高打李時珍品牌，尤其是近年來，蘄春大力實施“藥旅聯動”戰略，致力于開發健康養生產業，保健、康體、養生自成體系，成功奪得“中國艾都”金字招牌，“中國艾都·養生蘄春”在央視黃金時段播出，初步形成“大愛李時珍，養生到蘄春”的品牌形象。

蘄春被中國中藥協會授予“中國艾都”稱號，入選中國最具投資潛力特色魅力示范縣。國家旅游局和國家中醫藥管理局聯合授予蘄春首批“國家中醫藥健康旅游示范區創建單位”。

Tea plantation of Lishan Village 李山茶園一角

The medicinal culture in Qizhou has long affected the locals from generation to generation. So here, the philosophy“If you can’t be a good official, be a good doctor” has been prevalent long before. It is no doubt that local medical practitioners and medical writers take pride in what they do.

Since the 1990s, Qichun has been holding high the banner of the Li Shizhen brand. Especially in recent years, since implementing the strategy of a “medicine and tourism linkage system,” Qichun has been aiming at fostering an overall development of health care industry from health care to sports and health preservation. Recently, a commercial proclaiming “Qichun, Capital of Chinese Mugwort, the Health Care City” was broadcast on CCTV prime time, which initially formed the city’s image of the“home town of Li Shizhen, a health care city.”

In 2016, Qichun was awarded the title of “Capital of Chinese Mugwort” by the China Association of TCM, and was listed as one of the most promising counties to invest in throughout China.

In 2017, the National Tourism Administration and the State Administration of TCM jointly awarded Qichun the title of “National TCM Health Tourism Demonstration Zone.”

Cape jasmine planting base in Guanyao Town 管窯鎮萬畝梔子基地