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

Qichun County in the past 历史的变迁·蕲春城区旧景

Qichun Today 医圣故里展新貌

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 张塝镇蕲艾基地

Lotus planting base in Chixi Lake 赤西湖莲子种植基地

漫山遍野的艾草基地，火爆全国的艾灸体验馆，蓬勃发展的艾制品企业，引领时尚的药膳体验，初见雏形的健康产业新城……蕲阳大地，创新创业春潮涌动，健康产业如火如荼。

湖北最大的药源基地

蕲春拥有2200余年建县史，人文、自然资源丰富，地处神奇的北纬30度，素有医圣故里、教授名县、王府胜地、养生之都的美誉。

蕲春物产富饶，药物资源丰富，境内有木本植物132科233属352种，野生动物有4纲23目48科115种。国家地理标志保护产品6个（其中药材三个，分别是：蕲艾、夏枯草、薏米），居湖北省县级之首。《本草纲目》记载的1892种药物，蕲春境内有700余种，是名副其实的华中药库，也是传统的中医药文化之乡。

蕲竹、蕲艾、蕲龟、蕲蛇，世称“蕲春四宝”。

蕲春的中药材种植面积突破35万亩，是湖北省最大的药源基地。初步建成六大主导品种万亩药材示范基地。

其中，蕲艾、夏枯草、栀子、厚朴、银杏等五大品种，占药材种植面积超过60%。规模化中药材生产基地260多个，中药材规范化基地20多个。

这里有全国最大的蕲艾基地、白芨“野转家”基地，长江中下游地区最大的栀子基地、大别山地区最大的厚朴基地和银杏叶收购中心，正在檀溪谷建设全国最大的石斛基地，全县中药材年产量达4.2万吨。

流金淌银的土地

趁着风和日丽，我们踏上蕲春这块流金淌银的土地，纵目望去，只见沃野之中，处处闪现着美丽的风光。

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 仙人台景区

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.

横车的银杏来到横车镇附马坳村，眼前是一大片绿油油的木本植物，它们就是被誉为 “活化石”的名贵中药材银杏，也是明秀银杏专业合作社理事长韩明秀的绿色银行。她于2009年创办合作社，收购加工银杏，货源延伸到安徽金寨、河南新县等地，银杏干叶年加工量1000多吨，人们亲切地称她“银杏大妈”。

狮子的金银花一大早，天稍微亮，柳树村的妇女们陆续出门。大家呼吸着新鲜空气，结队来到金银花种植专业合作社忙活着。

管窑的栀子来到管窑，沿街道路干净整洁，公路错落有致，清新自然的田园风光尽收眼底。岚头矶万亩栀子，给这儿的陶艺古镇平添缕缕清香。这里“春有花，夏有荫，秋有果、冬有青”，万亩栀子基地，把荒山变成实实在在的金山。

这里还有青石的贡米、大同的茶叶、彭思的鲟鱼、赤东的渔场......蕲春是处处生机盎然的好地方。

中国艾都 养生蕲春

古蕲州辖蕲、黄、广、浠、罗五县，皆属大别山南麓，崇山峻岭，盛产中药材。因采药便利，蕲地以医为业者甚多，有所建树者不少，鄂东四大名医庞安时、李时珍、万密斋、杨际泰都出自这里。

药市熏染了蕲州人，当地人自古便有“不为良相，便为良医”的人生观，习医者为荣，著医书为尚。

自上世纪九十年代以来，蕲春坚持高举高打李时珍品牌，尤其是近年来，蕲春大力实施“药旅联动”战略，致力于开发健康养生产业，保健、康体、养生自成体系，成功夺得“中国艾都”金字招牌，“中国艾都·养生蕲春”在央视黄金时段播出，初步形成“大爱李时珍，养生到蕲春”的品牌形象。

蕲春被中国中药协会授予“中国艾都”称号，入选中国最具投资潜力特色魅力示范县。国家旅游局和国家中医药管理局联合授予蕲春首批“国家中医药健康旅游示范区创建单位”。

Tea plantation of Lishan Village 李山茶园一角

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 管窑镇万亩栀子基地