Ginseng Tourism: Root-Digging Draws 10,000 Visitors a Day

2026-10-21

A Crop You Can Visit

Ginseng is usually something you consume. In Fusong County, it is something you experience. This summer, the county's forest ginseng-digging heritage routes were drawing more than 10,000 visitors per day.

The Experience, Step by Step

Visitors don't just watch — they join a ritualized dig led by a "laobatou" (old-hand guide):

Before entering the forest: the guide explains generations-old fangshan rules and legends
The search: parting the leaf litter, hunting for the tell-tale red berries
"Han shan" (calling the mountain): the traditional shout when a root is found
Rope-tying and "lifting the bangchui": the ceremonial extraction of the root with bone tools, preserving every hair

The rituals are listed as national intangible cultural heritage — and they transform agriculture into theater.

The Supporting Cast

Wanliang Wild Mountain Ginseng Market's heritage hall: century-old specimen roots, seed displays, and the 1,700-year story of Changbai digging culture
Private halls: dealers like heritage inheritor Zhao Binglin's Shennong Bentang display dried roots, ginseng wines and ritual objects
Resort integration: Changbai Mountain resorts offer digging experiences as guest activities

Why It Works as Strategy

Fusong stitched its digging sites into a ginseng-themed tourism line — resorts, forests, museums and markets as one route. The payoff is threefold: higher-value visitors, deeper brand meaning for the region's products, and new income for forest communities between harvests.

For Wellness Brands

Origin stories sell. A short film shot on a heritage dig — the call of the mountain, the bone-tools, the century-old specimen hall — is marketing content money can barely buy. The county's tourism boom has made that footage easy to license and even easier to justify.

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