Korea's Thousand-year Old Ginseng Discovered: God’s Gift
- 13 years ago
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Everyone wants to live longer, and in South Korea, people have used ginseng for hundreds of years. The Geumsan area grows most of Korea’s ginseng, and every year hold a Ginseng Festival. But this year they have a very special example of the herb on display, a ginseng root over a thousand years old. Our correspondent has more.
Koreans living in the city of Geumsan (pron: guhm sahn) believe that ginseng is a gift from the Heavens given fifteen hundred years ago. Since then, they’ve been growing and using the herb and root for medicine.
The story goes, a god was moved by a young man's effort to save his sick mother’s life. So the god gave him the herb ginseng. His mother took the ginseng and recovered, going on to live a healthy life.
Now in South Korea, Geumsan County produces over eighty percent of South Korea’s ginseng. Today, many people gather in the city of Geumsan, to see a thousand year old ginseng, proving the legend may have some truth.
[Lee Saseon, Visitor]:
“It is so mysterious! As humans, we can’t even live one hundred years but we can look at a thousand year old ginseng this closely. That’s awesome.”
In February this year, a team of conservationists in Pusan found the thousand year old ginseng root in a temple during routine maintenance. The root was found inside a chamber by the temple’s Buddha statue. It was likely an offering from wealthy patrons when the statue was first madea thousand years ago.
[Chae Byeongwan, Official, Geumsan County]:
“Through carbon dating this ginseng was found to be one thousand and sixty years old with an error margin of only eighty years. It’s worth around five hundred thousand dollars. It will soon be named a ‘national treasure’ because of its rarity and value.”
Even after 1,500 years, we can see God’s gift still being used today for health...
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Everyone wants to live longer, and in South Korea, people have used ginseng for hundreds of years. The Geumsan area grows most of Korea’s ginseng, and every year hold a Ginseng Festival. But this year they have a very special example of the herb on display, a ginseng root over a thousand years old. Our correspondent has more.
Koreans living in the city of Geumsan (pron: guhm sahn) believe that ginseng is a gift from the Heavens given fifteen hundred years ago. Since then, they’ve been growing and using the herb and root for medicine.
The story goes, a god was moved by a young man's effort to save his sick mother’s life. So the god gave him the herb ginseng. His mother took the ginseng and recovered, going on to live a healthy life.
Now in South Korea, Geumsan County produces over eighty percent of South Korea’s ginseng. Today, many people gather in the city of Geumsan, to see a thousand year old ginseng, proving the legend may have some truth.
[Lee Saseon, Visitor]:
“It is so mysterious! As humans, we can’t even live one hundred years but we can look at a thousand year old ginseng this closely. That’s awesome.”
In February this year, a team of conservationists in Pusan found the thousand year old ginseng root in a temple during routine maintenance. The root was found inside a chamber by the temple’s Buddha statue. It was likely an offering from wealthy patrons when the statue was first madea thousand years ago.
[Chae Byeongwan, Official, Geumsan County]:
“Through carbon dating this ginseng was found to be one thousand and sixty years old with an error margin of only eighty years. It’s worth around five hundred thousand dollars. It will soon be named a ‘national treasure’ because of its rarity and value.”
Even after 1,500 years, we can see God’s gift still being used today for health...