Huanren Mountain Ginseng

Huanren Mountain Ginseng

Huanren Mountain Ginseng is a protected geographical indication product.

Huanren Mountain Ginseng is a protected geographical indication certification trademark.

　　Huanren Mountain Ginseng refers to the wild ginseng products produced in Huanren Manchu Autonomous County, Liaoning Province. It specifically denotes ginseng seeds manually sown in suitable forest environments within Huanren County, where they grow naturally for over 15 years. Known for its natural shape, tough and tight skin, and high content of active ingredients, its medicinal value, commercial value, and quality are no different from those of truly wild mountain ginseng.

　　Cultivation History

　　　　Huanren Manchu Autonomous County, known for its landscape of "eight parts mountain, one part water, and one part farmland," is located in the Changbai Mountain range and has long been an important habitat for wild ginseng, ganoderma, and other medicinal herbs. Especially in the case of ginseng, the industry has been a crucial livelihood and path to wealth for local mountain communities for centuries.

　　Since the 1980s, as people sought to capitalize on mountain resources, large-scale cultivation of garden ginseng began across the mountains of Huanren, yielding significant economic gains for a time and rapidly helping some ginseng farmers achieve prosperity through hard work. However, the extensive and prolonged mountain-clearing for ginseng farming gradually damaged the ecological environment of the region, severely impacting the county’s overall ecosystem. In particular, the floods that struck Huanren in 2005 and 2006 made the local population acutely aware that deforestation for ginseng was not a sustainable or prosperous path, but rather an act of slow economic suicide.

　　In the 1990s, farmers in Huanren County began developing the medicinal herb industry among the forests, which helped drive the growth of another major ginseng sector—forest-grown ginseng. Within just a few years, Huanren became a well-known base for forest-grown ginseng in Northeast China. Starting in 1998, under the leadership of key enterprises, the county began implementing ultra-standardized production practices to improve both the quality and yield of mountain ginseng, achieving substantial development.

　　Production Situation

　　　　In 2009, the market price of Huanren Mountain Ginseng was between 30,000 and 40,000 yuan per kilogram. The county’s planting area had reached 46,000 mu, with an annual output value of 150 million yuan, making it one of the main industries for rural employment and farmer income. Meanwhile, through means such as attracting investment, Huanren County successively established a number of state-owned and private enterprises focused on processing Huanren Mountain Ginseng, including Xiangyun Pharmaceutical, Sunshine Health Products Co., Ltd., Sentao Ginseng & Antler Company, Rongtai Company, and Gongdaren Ginseng Processing Company. Among them, 12 leading enterprises had annual sales revenues exceeding 5 million yuan, with Liaoning Haonurse Pharmaceutical Group being the most prominent. In 2008, the company achieved an industrial output value of 176.03 million yuan, sales revenue of 159.26 million yuan, profit of 8.05 million yuan, and tax payments of 23.19 million yuan. The county also established two medium-sized Huanren Mountain Ginseng trading markets in Huanren Town and Erpengdianzi Town. Each year, these markets attract no fewer than 3,000 traders from various regions, with transaction volumes reaching over 30 million yuan, thereby expanding the sales channels and influence of Huanren Mountain Ginseng. The Sentao Mountain Ginseng Base in Huanren Manchu Autonomous County is China’s first to engage in artificial cultivation and pollution-free standardized processing of mountain ginseng (in 2008), one of the first Chinese units to create standardized organic production for mountain ginseng, the first ginseng processing enterprise to receive GAP (Good Agricultural Practice) certification for herbal planting bases, and China’s first national-level agricultural standardization demonstration zone for wild mountain ginseng planting and processing (in 2010). In 2010, the base cultivated 13,800 mu of artificially grown mountain ginseng, generating an annual output value of more than 20 million yuan, making it China’s largest unit for the artificial cultivation, research, and processing of mountain ginseng. By 2010, the enterprise had developed 238 chain stores nationwide, with its products sold across China and in over 10 countries including South Korea, Japan, and Indonesia. The company had total assets of 38.9 million yuan and achieved an output value of 26.8 million yuan in 2009. Thanks to the impetus of the ginseng base, 1,400 farming households have developed prosperous livelihoods through the mountain ginseng industry.

　　Protected Geographical Indication Product

　　　　In 2008, after review by the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection, and Quarantine of China, it was decided to implement national geographical indication product protection for Huanren Mountain Ginseng.

　　Protected Area

　　　　The protected area for Huanren Mountain Ginseng, a geographical indication product, is based on the scope proposed in the “Request for Defining the Protected Area of Huanren Mountain Ginseng, a Geographical Indication Product” (Huan Zheng [2007] No. 57) issued by the People's Government of Huanren Manchu Autonomous County, Liaoning Province, covering the entire administrative region of Huanren Manchu Autonomous County.