Cinnamon bark and cinnamon oil

Cinnamon bark and cinnamon oil

　　Cinnamon bark and cinnamon oil

　　The scientific name of cinnamon bark is cassia. The Old County Annals from the fourth year of the Qianlong reign (1739) referred to it as cinnamon wood, and the bark peeled from this wood is called cinnamon bark. The "Local Historical Geography Textbook for Cenxi County," compiled by Zongren Primary School in the late Qing Dynasty, recorded that cinnamon bark was abundant in Lian and Yong townships and that high-quality cinnamon oil was also sold there. The main product of the cassia tree is cinnamon bark, along with cinnamon twigs (used medicinally), cinnamon stems (used in beverages), and cinnamon leaves, from which valuable cinnamon oil can be distilled.

　　According to the 1910 Wuzhou Prefecture Commodity Production Survey Statistics, Cenxi County produced 200 dan (approximately 30,000 jin) of cinnamon bark. In 1933, the Guangxi Provincial Government Bureau of Statistics recorded that Cenxi County’s annual production of cinnamon bark was 12,100 market dan, and cinnamon oil was 154 market dan, making it one of the four major cinnamon bark-producing counties in Guangxi. After the liberation, the main cassia-producing areas included Jinzhu, Da, Limu, Botang, and Sanbao townships. Cinnamon bark and cinnamon oil are raw materials for medicines, cosmetics, fine wines, and food flavorings. In 1963, the Regional People’s Committee designated Cenxi County as a base for cinnamon oil production. The Regional Forestry Department introduced Vietnamese Qinghua cassia seeds and successfully trial-planted 40 mu in Huangling Village, Jinzhu Town. In 1983, the Forestry Department and the Regional Pharmaceutical Company officially named it “Guangxi No. 2 Cassia,” also known as Southern Cassia, and it was listed as a forestry and pharmaceutical research project by the Autonomous Region. According to the 1987 forest resource survey, the county had 84,400 mu of cassia forests, accounting for 62% of the total 135,900 mu of economic forests. In 1990, the annual production of cassia bark was 1,276 tons, with 1,190 tons exported—second only to Fangcheng County, ranking second in Guangxi; the annual production of cinnamon oil was nearly 40 tons. Cinnamon bark and cinnamon oil are not only sold domestically but are also exported to more than 50 countries and regions, including Japan, the United States, Canada, India, and Pakistan.