A Land-Rooted Plant Turned Maritime Cargo: The “ Seng ” Story across the Pacific

1. A Land-Rooted Plant Turned Maritime Cargo: The “Seng” Story across the Pacific The New Tale of the Two Cities Shanghai Jiaotong University Hsiung Ping-chen Chinese University of Hong Kong Zhang Jiqing (1938-) Kun opera, an episode from “The Peony Pavilion.” Illustration of American ginseng from Father Joseph-François Lafitau, Mémoire … concernant la précieuse plante du gin-seng de Tartarie, découverte en Canada, Paris, 1718. Image from the Collections of John Carter Brown Library.

2. The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens Garden of Flowering Fragrance, the latest addition to the Huntington Botanical Gardens Art Gallery Library

3. Hortus Cliffortianus (1737) Carl von Linné(1707–1778)

4. Introduction: Ocean Connects — the Case of the Pacific Pacific Spaces: Comparisons and Connections Early Modern and Modern Times The Tale of the “Seng”: A Curious History In Chinese Documents In Pharmaceutics and Botany In Natural History and Geology Markets and the Fluidity of Knowledge i. Markets and Knowledge of Ginseng ii. Growing Market in Ginseng in Late Imperial China: the North to the South iii. Changing Market in China The Maritime Story – the “Seng” that Moves across Continents as well as Oceans i. Ginseng across Boundaries ii. Missionaries and the Popularity of Ginseng V.Afterthoughts Outline

5. Introduction: Ocean Connects — the Case of the Pacific Semyon Dezhnev (1605-1672) discovered the Anian Strait between Asia and Alaska in 1648.

6. Ocean Connects — the Case of the Pacifici. Pacific Spaces: Comparisons and Connections • Maritime history not only concerns with trans-oceanic activities, humanmobility and trade, more importantly it also reminds us that land-rooted people, animals and plants have always been drifting across the oceans for millions of years. • The ocean is both an impediment and a highway for the connection and exchange of life forms and species. • The tale of ginseng is yet another such example.

7. This is a study of the evolving story of ginseng (Latin name: panax ginseng) in the early modern period, during which this medicinally-employed root plant originally discovered in China, due to the geographic expansion of human activities, began to take on first a “foreign” properties (the Korean ginseng), then a “maritime” element (the American ginseng). Although many alleged that the Chinese knowledge and use of ginseng had a long history that may go back thousands of years, its significant expansion in pharmaceutical applications, thus its role in maritime trade, has only a short history (less than five centuries). • Ocean Connects — the Case of the Pacifici. Pacific Spaces: Comparisons and Connections

8. In the 1990s, over 75 percent of ginseng grown in North America is shipped to Hong Kong. It is estimated that 80 percent of the ginseng traded in Hong Kong is re-exported to China. The other 20 percent is redistributed to the Chinese diasporas or used for local consumption According to CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) Annual Report data, Canada exported 2,442 tons of wild and cultivated North American ginseng root to Hong Kong from 1980 to 1996 while the United States exported nearly 9,000 tons. • Ocean Connects — the Case of the Pacificii. Early Modern and Modern Times Hong Kong herbalist store

9. Year Price 1714 10 times the weight of silver 1750 16 times 1763 32 times 1782 85 times 1796 300 times • Ocean Connects — the Case of the Pacificii. Early Modern and Modern Times Rapidly Changing Value of Ginseng in the 18th Century Ginseng in Namdaemun Market, Seoul, South Korea

10. II. The Tale of Ginseng: A Curious History Korean White Ginseng Wang Shih-min (1592-1680). View of Chang-pai Mountains. Courtesy of National Palace Museum, Beijing.

11. The Tale of Ginseng: A Curious Historyi. In Chinese Documents • The term “pen-ts’ao 本草,” for many years the general term for Chinese pharmaceutics, literally refers to the use of root as medicine. It’s first use can be traced back to the Chinese chronicle Hanshu漢書 (completed in A.D. 111). • Ginseng was first mentioned in the Chinese dictionary Shuowen jiezi說文解字 (completed in A.D. 100), in which the plant is written as “人薓.” Today the Chinese generally write “人參” or “人蔘,” which are actually late phonetic borrowings.

12. The Shen-nung pen-ts’ao ching 神農本草經describes ginseng as: “sweet and slightly chill” “it atones the five tsang臟organs, appeases the nerves, fixes the soul, stops nervosity, eliminates the pathogenic ch’i氣, improves eyesight, enlightens the heart and sharpens the mind” • The Tale of Ginseng: A Curious Historyi. In Chinese Documents Shen-nung pen-ts’ao ching is said the oldest known Chinese book on agriculture and medicinal plants. Its origin has been attributed to the mythical Chinese emperor Shen-nung, who was said to have lived around 2800 BC. Researchers hypothesize that it is a compilation of oral traditions written between about 300 B.C. and 200 AD. The original text no longer exists but is said to have been composed of three volumes containing 365 entries on medicaments and their description.

13. The Tale of Ginseng: A Curious Historyi. In Chinese Documents Illustrations of a variety of “Seng” in Pen-tsao kang-mu本草綱目(Compendium of Materia Medica)by Li Shih-chen 李時珍 (1518-1593) ren-shen人參 (Man’s root) tzi-shen紫參 tan-shen丹參 yuan-shen元參 (Purple ginseng) (Red ginseng) (Black ginseng) sha-shen沙參 k’u-shen苦參 (Sand ginseng) (Bitter ginseng)

14. panax ginseng (renshen人蔘) Araliaceae glehnia littoralis (beishashen北沙蔘) Apiaceae Asterids codonopsis pilosula (dangshen黨蔘) Campanulaceae Core Eudicots adenophora tetraphylla (nanshashen南沙蔘) Rosids sophora flavescens ait. (kushen苦參) Fabaceae pseudostellaria heterophylla (taizishen太子蔘) Caryophyllaceae Polygonaceae polygonum bistorta(quanshen 拳蔘) • The Tale of Ginseng: A Curious Historyii. In Pharmaceutics and Botany According to modern botany, the so-called “Asian Ginseng” includes:

15. Route of “Discovery”: Northern China → Manchuria → Korea → North AmericaBoth its Asian and North American kinds grow in the wild under shaded forests between 30 and 50 degrees latitude. • The Tale of Ginseng: A Curious Historyiii. In Natural History and Geology (4) Hua-chi-shen花旗參, the “Seng” coming in all the way from North America (2) Liao-shen遼參, the “Seng” later on discovered in Manchuria (1) Tang-shen黨參, the “Seng” originally from northern China (3) Kao-li-shen高麗參, the “Seng” traded in from Korea 8

16. III. Markets and the Fluidity of Knowledge Hsü Pen (1335-1393), “Reading Poems with Wine under the Mountains”, courtesy by Wu Xi Municipal Museum.

17. It is widely recognized that, in economics, markets and information often have an interplay in terms of their interactive relations to the influence of each other. People are more used to the idea that some sort of “discovering in knowledge” throwing the door open for the “discovery of things” before such things create a commercial market. In the wielding development of the “seng” story, we have an outstanding case whereby the discovery of the object prepared the socio-cultural grounds for the construction of a new herbal-medicinal understanding. • Markets and the Fluidity of Knowledge • i. Markets and Knowledge of Ginseng

18. Markets and the Fluidity of Knowledge • ii. Ginseng Knowledge and Markets in China: North →South • [The tang-shen,.which is native to north China, has long been used pharmaceutically at least since the Common Era.] • [The traditional northern medical school favored purgatory and depleting treatments using severe and punishing medicinal ingredients.] • [Starting from the 12th century, southern physicians came forth with an advocacy of an enhancing and nurturing approach known as “warm supplement” using ginseng, known to be pharmaceutically “warm”, as the main ingredient.] • [From the 17th century onwards, China’s nouveau richeindulged themselves in expansivelife-saving rhetoric; the demand for ginseng outpaced the supply owing to its extensive use, leading to a relentless price surge and the import of vast amount of Manchurian liao-shen, and eventually Korean kao-li-shen.] • It was clear that the Chinese doctors and their customers were ready to stretch their acceptance of ginseng of more than their native kind and certainly from more than one places.

19. [The 18th century saw the rise of a powerful intellectual tradition for the omnipresent need of the forces of “warm supplement” in everyday life as well as medical treatment.] The creation of knowledge informed and then supplied the informational condition to pull open the door for the making and perpetuation of the demand in economic terms. [The “western ginseng” or American ginseng, first discovered in the great lake area in the 18th century, was found to be pharmaceutically “cool”.] It brought forth yet another totally new brand of Chinese herbal-medicinal theory called the notion school of “cool supplement” in the early 19th century. • Markets and the Fluidity of Knowledge • iii. Markets and the Change of Pharmaceutical Knowledge in China

20. IV.The Maritime Story – the “Seng” that Moves across Continents as well as Oceans Wen Cheng-min (1470-1559), “Clouds and Mountains,” courtesy of Palace Museum, Beijing.

21. IV. The Maritime Story – the “Seng” that Moves across Continents as well as Oceansi. Ginseng across Boundaries • Given the nature and substance of our “Seng” story, national historiography or regional discourse, whether from the Chinese/Korean end, or from the Canadian/US end, will not be adequate to tell the tale. • When Manchurian ginseng and later Korean ginseng made their entry into the Chinese markets, it was clear that information and markets recognized few boundaries. • By the early 18th century and onward, when various wild ginseng productions still fall short of supplying the growing need of this pan oceanic roots, newly arrived foreign parties such as the French Jesuits, the Siberian fur hunters, were all falling for the fantasy name of search for the magical roots beyond everybody’s known border.

22. Fur traders and Jesuits in that region were but latest additions to an already multi-regional enterprise. Father Pierre Jartoux (1661-1728), a Jesuit who went to Manchuria to draw a map for the emperor K’ang-hsi (r. 1661-1722), discovered the popularity of ginseng in local market. He wrote a letter reporting the discovery and popularity of ginseng in 1711 and sent it back to Paris. It was later translated and published in the Royal Society’s Philosophical Transactions in 1713. IV. The Maritime Story – the “Seng” that Moves across Continents as well as Oceansii. Missionaries and the “Popularity of Ginseng”

23. IV. The Maritime Story – the “Seng” that Moves across Continents as well as Oceansii. Missionaries and the “Popularity of Ginseng” Informed by Father Jartoux’s letter, FatherJoseph-François Lafitau (1681-1746) who worked in Quebec and Montreal realized the popularity of Ginseng in Chinese market and began to promote the search and dig of Ginseng in North America, and publish his report on Ginsengin1718. Illustration of American ginseng from Joseph-François Lafitau, Mémoire … concernant la précieuse plante du gin-seng de Tartarie, découverte en Canada, Paris, 1718. (Image from the Collections of John Carter Brown Library.)

24. Fur traders travelled between Eurasia and North America Jesuits passed on information of Ginseng from China to Europe to North America American ginseng came to China as maritime cargo • Critical twists and turns: • (a) the global networking of the Jesuits • (b) the on-spot translation and shrewd connection of the fur traders in Siberia and North America, and • (c) the intellectual and clinical flexibility of Chinese medicine and herbalists

25. V. Afterthoughts This picture is taken from the Dictionnaire encyclopédique Trousset, also known as the Trousset encyclopedia, Paris, 1886-1891.

26. The main body of this study, then, is an exercise to show how new economic and pharmaceutical (even epistemological) possibilities were thrown open with the coming of the “maritime” age that move across borderlands and tested the frontiers of knowledge and frontiers of trade. The case is chosen to help us reflect upon the novel, outlandish character that maritime/global history turns out to be in the longue durée of the unfolding of man-made records. V. Afterthoughts Wang Shih-min (1592-1680). View of Changbai Mountains. Courtesy of National Palace Museum, Beijing.

27. Here is another example that has been familiar to residents of southern California Maria Sibylla Merian(1647–1717)

29. Thank you! “Là, sui monti dell'est,” from Giacomo Puccini’s (1858–1924) opera Turandot, adopted from the 17th Chinese tune “Jasmine Flower”