Skill required

Accompanied by his father and grandfather, Cui, the Fusong native, went into mountains and forests to seek wild ginseng when he was just 7 or 8 years old. When he was 18, he became leader of a team looking for the herb.

The history of picking ginseng can be traced to the end of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), when many people left their hometowns for northeastern areas of China, where they made a living from the herb.

Cui said being a team leader requires keen eyesight, confidence and the ability to ensure the safety of every picker and prevent the team becoming lost in mountainous terrain. A degree of luck is also useful.

He added: "It's hard to say how long it can take to discover wild ginseng. Usually, we bring some food with us to live in the mountains for a couple of days. Sometimes, we come across wild ginseng just a few minutes after we arrive in the mountains, but on other occasions it can take more than 10 days to find it."

He said experienced pickers can estimate the root size of wild ginseng with a 60 percent degree of accuracy, based on the herb's leaves on the ground. Large, heavy and longer-growing roots are more valuable than others.

Experienced pickers follow a set of rules, including only digging up mature roots, leaving others in the ground.

"In other words, the pickers cannot be greedy or blind. We must protect nature to keep it sustainable, because it nurtures and provides us with food for generations," Cui said.

Skill is required to protect ginseng roots as they are being dug up, which can take a picker one to two hours, Cui said. In the case of larger roots, it can take a whole day to extract them.

Xu Guili, 47, often recalls the days when she and her grandfather sought wild ginseng in the mountains, describing this time as "her best memory".

"Looking for wild ginseng during my childhood meant eating fruit growing wild and having more time to play. I liked the forests and mountains where I could find many interesting plants and beautiful streams," she said.

Xu described seeking wild ginseng as an "adventure", adding that it aroused her curiosity and increased her confidence.

She said she discovered her first wild ginseng by accident, adding that it had been a "magical" experience. When she was 10, her grandfather took her into the mountains and tied a rope around her waist to keep her close to him, but after untying the rope, Xu fell on a slope. The wild ginseng was discovered at the spot where she landed.