Shangluo Salvia miltiorrhiza

Shangluo Salvia miltiorrhiza

Shangluo Salvia miltiorrhiza is a protected geographical indication product.

　　Shangluo Salvia miltiorrhiza is a variety of traditional Chinese medicinal herbs, a specialty of Shangluo City in Shaanxi Province, and a national geographical indication product of China. The root of Shangluo Salvia miltiorrhiza is used for medicinal purposes. It has the effects of promoting blood circulation to regulate menstruation, removing blood stasis to relieve pain, cooling blood to reduce abscesses, clearing the heart to relieve restlessness, nourishing blood, and calming the spirit. It is known for its “excellent features such as good appearance and shape, high ingredient content, relatively pure quality, and very uniform branching.” In 2003, the Tianshili Shangluo Salvia miltiorrhiza medicinal material base became the first in China to pass the national GAP certification. In 2005, Shangluo Salvia miltiorrhiza was awarded national geographical indication certification. Furthermore, it is regarded as a premium variety of Salvia miltiorrhiza.

　　Shangluo City in Shaanxi Province is located at the southern foot of the Qinling Mountains and is an old producing area for “authentic” Salvia miltiorrhiza. It lies in a special climatic zone that transitions from warm temperate to subtropical, at the intersection of the Yangtze River and Yellow River basins. The area enjoys fresh air, abundant rainfall, unpolluted soil and water. The air meets national Class I standards, the water quality is excellent, with annual rainfall between 800-900mm. The soil is loose and free from heavy metals and pesticide residues. Meeting national GAP requirements, with heavy metal and pesticide residue levels complying with international standards, it is one of the best habitats for a wide variety of medicinal herbs, often referred to as a “natural medicine warehouse.” The Salvia miltiorrhiza produced in this region is of high quality.

　　Shangluo Salvia miltiorrhiza has a long history, dating back to the “Shennong Bencao Jing” (The Divine Farmer’s Materia Medica), with records in herbals throughout the ages, which state that “nowadays, it can be found in Hedong Prefecture and Sui Prefecture of Shaanxi (Salvia miltiorrhiza).” The ancient Hedong Prefecture refers to the present-day Shangluo region. Local farmers in Shangluo have long experience in cultivating Salvia miltiorrhiza. However, despite the region's superior natural conditions, past attempts at running medicinal farms were unprofitable due to non-standardized cultivation and lack of scientific research support, resulting in annual losses for medicinal companies. It wasn’t until the early 1970s that Professor Qin Guanguo from the Shaanxi Academy of Sciences initiated research on the domestication of wild Salvia miltiorrhiza in Luonan County. After ten years of effort, by the early 1970s, significant achievements were made, realizing three major goals: seed propagation, artificial cultivation, and variety purification. The artificial cultivation of Shangluo Salvia miltiorrhiza gained great renown in China. By the late 1980s, the cultivation area of Salvia miltiorrhiza in Shangluo exceeded 10,000 mu, with a yield of over 2,000 tons. In 1998, Tianjin Tianshili Group, in search of the optimal production site for its core product — the Compound Salvia Miltiorrhiza Dropping Pill — conducted extensive evaluation and ultimately chose Shangluo in the southeastern Qinling Mountains, Shaanxi Province, a region with uniquely favorable natural conditions and described as a “natural medicine warehouse.” They began standardized cultivation and production of Salvia miltiorrhiza there. In January 1999, Tianshili and Shangluo jointly invested to establish Shaanxi Tianshili Plant Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., marking the beginning of China’s first GAP-compliant medicinal material base. After nearly five years of hard work and an investment of over 60 million yuan, the Tianshili Shangluo Salvia miltiorrhiza Medicinal Material Base carried out a series of valuable explorations in the construction of traditional Chinese medicine industry bases. It developed over 10,000 mu of standardized, large-scale medicinal material bases for Salvia miltiorrhiza, Bupleurum, and others, along with a 200-mu improved seed garden, a 50-mu scientific research experimental garden, a standardized processing plant, and a 6,000-square-meter modern scientific research building equipped with a range of advanced testing and quality inspection instruments. It became one of China’s best-equipped bases and earned the reputation as the “first workshop of modernized traditional Chinese medicine.” In 1999, when China’s GAP standards for traditional Chinese medicinal materials were still in the planning stages, the Shangluo Salvia miltiorrhiza Medicinal Material Base took the lead. Drawing on EU GAP standards, it conducted 62 field and lab trials on various aspects of Salvia miltiorrhiza cultivation — including growing environment, seed quality assessment, fertilization, pest and disease control, harvesting and processing, and product quality inspection. Based on substantial scientific evidence, it pioneered the formulation of the “Standard Operating Procedure for Salvia miltiorrhiza Production (SOP)” nationwide. Over the following years, through continued exploration, the SOP underwent five revisions to become more comprehensive and meticulous. This led to the establishment of China’s first set of rigorous corporate standards, including the “Base Ecological Environment Quality Standard,” “Seed and Germplasm Quality Standard,” “Safe Pesticide Use Standard,” and “Fertilizer Use Standard,” earning unanimous praise from domestic and international experts such as Professor Zhou Ronghan, head of the national GAP drafting group, and Professor Zhu Guoguang, an EU natural medicine expert. To standardize the production process of traditional Chinese medicinal materials and ensure stable and controllable quality, Tianshili invested 2.1 million yuan to launch 36 GAP-related projects. It successfully introduced and promoted the excellent new Salvia miltiorrhiza tetraploid strain 61-2-22 from China Pharmaceutical University. Additionally, it collaborated with scientific research institutions such as Northwest A&F University and Shaanxi Normal University to conduct systematic studies on the growth patterns of Salvia miltiorrhiza, changes in active ingredients, fertilizer use without pesticide residues, and pest and disease control. Technological investment was also increased, with 10 million yuan allocated to build a scientific research building and expert apartments, equipped with high-performance liquid chromatography analyzers, UV spectrometers, clean benches, and other lab equipment required for GAP research. This achieved “dual readiness” in both hardware and software for research. The yield of Salvia miltiorrhiza per mu at the base rose from 250 kg to 300 kg, with the salvianolic acid content stabilizing at around 1.7%, and tanshinone IIA reaching 0.35%–0.48% — one to two times higher than the standards set by the Chinese Pharmacopoeia. Moreover, the levels of heavy metals and pesticide residues in the products were significantly lower than national standards, making Tianshili Shangluo Salvia miltiorrhiza a truly premium-grade product. On March 16, 2004, the State Food and Drug Administration officially issued Announcement No. 1 on GAP inspections for traditional Chinese medicinal materials. Among the eight enterprises that received certification, the Shangluo Salvia miltiorrhiza Base under Shaanxi Tianshili Plant Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Tianshili Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., ranked first and became the first in China to officially pass GAP certification.

　　In accordance with the “Regulations on the Protection of Geographical Indication Products,” the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine of China reviewed the application for the protection of Shangluo Salvia miltiorrhiza as a geographical indication product. As a result, it approved the implementation of geographical indication product protection for Shangluo Salvia miltiorrhiza starting August 25, 2005 (Announcement No. 116, 2005).

　　Protected Area

　　The protected area for Shangluo Salvia miltiorrhiza as a geographical indication product is based on the scope proposed in the “Letter of Proposal Regarding the Definition of the Protected Area for Shangluo Salvia miltiorrhiza Geographical Indication” (Shang Zheng Han [2004] No. 30) issued by the People’s Government of Shangluo City, Shaanxi Province. It includes the administrative regions of Shanyang County, Danfeng County, Shangnan County, Zhashui County, Zhen’an County, Luonan County, and Shangzhou District of Shangluo City.