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Why are the ginseng fruits in The Journey to the West so different from those sold in fruit stalls?
The description of ginseng fruit in The Journey to the West: It covers four continents, but the five villages of Xi Niu He Zhou are named after it. Grass back to Dan? , also known as? Ginseng fruit? . It takes three thousand years to blossom and three thousand years to bear fruit. It takes another thousand years to ripen and ten thousand years to eat. Like this ten thousand years, only 30 fruits have been produced. The appearance of the fruit is similar to that of a child under the age of three dynasties, with all limbs and salty facial features. If a man is destined to smell the fruit, he will live 360 years; Eat one and you will live for 47 thousand years.

We can see from the description that? Ginseng fruit? There are two main features. First, it is named? Ginseng fruit? Instead of? Angelica fruit? 、? Lycium barbarum fruit? ; Second, its shape is very special. It is not a teenager, nor an adult strong man, nor an old man, but the shape of a baby less than three days old. Therefore, the analysis of ginseng fruit should also start from these two aspects.

Why is it called? Ginseng fruit? ?

From the perspective of modern western science, there has always been great controversy about the practical function of ginseng. Ginseng was once included in the United States Pharmacopoeia, but it was deleted in 1880, and it was also deleted in the United States National Pharmacopoeia in 1937. What is the current medical authority for the origin of American ginseng? The American Medical Association and the Canadian Medical Association do not recognize the medical value of ginseng, and the western medical circles basically do not recognize the medicinal value of ginseng. They think that the medical and health care functions of ginseng are only the imagination of China people.

People in China do have a special complex about ginseng. In the earliest Pharmacopoeia of China, Shennong Materia Medica Classic, ginseng was included in medicine for the first time. In the following 1000 years, ginseng was used as medicine, but its status was not respected, and it was basically used as a health care product. Ginseng was sought after and even worshipped by the ancients from the Ming Dynasty, and it came into being almost suddenly? The king of herbs? And? The first of many medicines? The supreme status.

Li Shizhen included the Biography of Ginseng written by his father Li Yanwen in Compendium of Materia Medica, and made a detailed discussion on ginseng for the first time. According to Li Shizhen, ginseng is almost a panacea, which can treat all deficiency diseases of men and women. Because of this, ginseng is worth a hundred times, and it was quickly uprooted in the Central Plains. It can only be found in the deep mountains and forests in the northeast, so that people think that ginseng is a specialty of Changbai Mountain in Northeast China. In fact, in ancient Shanxi, Shangdang ginseng was the best among ginseng. Since the Qing Dynasty, people's enthusiasm for ginseng has been increasing, and modern wild ginseng is on the verge of extinction. The country has listed wild ginseng as a first-class protected plant.

The Journey to the West wrote in the Ming Dynasty when ginseng was enthusiastically sought after, so it is inevitable that the author chose ginseng instead of angelica, astragalus and medlar as fairy treasures that can prolong life.

Ginseng fruit? Why is it a baby shape?

China has a tradition? Fill the shape with shape? This concept comes from the worship of babies in China's traditional culture. What is it? Fill the shape with shape? ? Simply put, if you want to nourish the function of an organ in the human body, you must eat the same organ in animals and the food with similar appearance in plants. For example, if you want to tonify the kidney, you should eat the kidneys of animals and the fruits of plants similar in shape to the kidneys, such as cashews and chestnuts.

What is baby worship? There is an unusual admiration for babies in China's traditional culture, especially in Taoist culture. For example, Laozi, the founder of Taoism, actually talked about babies three times in his book Tao Te Ching, and twice talked about children or children instead of babies. Anyone who has read the Tao Te Ching knows that the Tao Te Ching is only 5,000 words, that is, 8 1 sentence, but there are five sentences that mention babies, which shows the importance of babies in Lao Tzu's heart. In Lao Tzu's view, babies seem weak and full of vitality, and a small body includes infinite possibilities. What is this? Tao? The perfect performance of the carrier.

People's admiration for ginseng plus? Fill the shape with shape? The concept, coupled with the Taoist culture of baby worship, created? Ginseng fruit? Such an imaginary nourishing holy product.

In today's society, fruit stalls also sell ginseng fruit shaped like a baby, which costs about ten yuan each. Of course, it is not from The Journey to the West? Ginseng fruit? Grass back to Dan? Instead, put the fruit in cultivation in a mold shaped like a baby when it is still young, and when the fruit grows up, removing the mold will naturally be the shape of a baby.