Xiang Maidong

Xiang Maidong

Xiang Maidong is a protected geographical indication product.

Xiang Maidong is a certified geographical indication trademark.

　　Xiang Maidong, a specialty of Xiangfan City, Hubei Province, is a China geographical indication product. It is the Hubei variety of Liriope spicata, a plant belonging to the Liliaceae family and the Ophiopogon genus. This unique local variety offers benefits such as nourishing yin and promoting body fluids, moistening the lungs, clearing the heart, relieving irritability, and calming the nerves. Ou’miao Town in Xiangfan City is hailed as the "Hometown of Maidong in China" and ranks first among China’s three major maidong production areas, with a higher per-unit yield than those of Sichuan and Hangzhou maidong. It boasts superior quality characterized by being “white, dry, clean, uniform, and large.”

　　Ou’miao Town in Xiangcheng District, Xiangfan City—a major hub for maidong—has seen traders flock in, pushing maidong prices to their highest level in four years. The town has been working to regulate market order, guiding farmers and major dealers to ensure the quality of maidong products and supporting the fight against SARS.

　　　Xiangfan’s maidong accounts for 60% of the national total, with Ou’miao’s output making up 85% of the city’s total. National authorities released three herbal prescriptions for SARS prevention and treatment, with maidong listed as one of the traditional Chinese medicines. Soon after, medicinal herb merchants from Beijing, Hebei, Henan, Jiangxi, Wuhan, and other places flocked to Ou’miao to purchase, and by yesterday, over 1,000 kilograms of maidong had been sold.

　　To ensure maidong quality and resolutely prevent unfair competition practices such as price gouging, Ou’miao Town has taken measures requiring farmers not to mix or adulterate products, in order to avoid repeating the past when maidong went unsold. At the same time, the processing procedures for maidong have been strictly standardized, with farmers and major dealers urged to manage the picking, drying, and preliminary processing stages carefully. The practice of using sulfur or other chemicals to dry maidong has been firmly prohibited.

　　Mao Aihua, a major maidong dealer in Ou’miao Town, said that at the peak of business, his family welcomed 18 merchants in a single day. Currently, all the maidong stored at home has been sold out. He prioritizes quality—for instance, when a merchant from Henan requested higher dryness levels, he ran the dryer day and night; when a client from Shandong asked for larger, brightly colored maidong, he hired multiple people to handpick the best ones until the customer was satisfied.

　　　In accordance with the "Regulations on the Protection of Geographical Indication Products," the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine organized a review of the application for the protection of Xiang Maidong as a geographical indication product. Upon passing the review, it was approved to implement protection for Xiang Maidong as a geographical indication product starting May 7, 2008 (Announcement No. 53, 2008).

　　Scope of Protection

　　　　The scope of protection for Xiang Maidong as a geographical indication product is based on the area proposed in the "Letter Requesting the Definition of the Scope of Xiang Maidong as a Geographical Indication Product" (Xiangfan Government Letter [2006] No. 78) issued by the People’s Government of Xiangfan City, Hubei Province, covering the administrative region of Ou’miao Town, Xiangcheng District, Xiangfan City, Hubei Province.