Travel To China

Pat Malcolm asked:


Chinese poets spoke about the wonderful jujube in 600 BC. The fruit of the jujube has been used in ancient Chinese medicine for many nutritional remedies for 2500 years. Jujubes were used by Gerard in Europe as a medicinal herb in the 1600’s to treat ailments of the kidneys, lungs, and liver.

The Chinese jujube was brought to America by Oriental immigrants who built railroads in Arizona in the early 1900’s. Hundreds of grafted jujube cultivars are available in China, and a large number of these trees were imported by the USDA in 1908 and planted at the Experiment Station at Tifton, Georgia, for testing, according to Otis Woodard.

Lowell F. Locke of the USDA in 1924 introduced the improved jujube (Chinese Date) to the western U.S., where it was described as “They have a delicious fruit with a smooth brown skin and ivory fruit. You eat them skin and all. It was not firm as a peach, more like an apple. I made jams and jellies from them and also candied them.” Locke described the jujube as being cold hardy, late flowering, and virtually frost proof. The trees are well adapted to dry and sandy soils and will grow easily without requiring any special attention.

The Chinese jujube is native to China, Japan, and much of Southeast Asia. The deciduous tree grows to 25 feet tall, loaded with sharp spines, until it ages and the spines fall off as the bark is formed. The yellow fragrant flowers are small and they mature into reddish brown oval fruits a little larger than an olive. New cultivars of improved jujubes can grow as large as a plum and can be as a round or oval shaped, ripening to a reddish-brown color. The jujube fruit can be eaten fresh off the tree, even when there is much green color on the fruit with faint reddish marks just developing. In dry locations the fruit will ripen and dry up on the tree, but in the Southeastern United States, where the humidity is high, the fruit must be harvested when the color change happens and dried in a cool room.

Some gardeners describe jujube as tasting like dates flavored with apples and chocolate. The pulp of the jujube fruit is centered around a core that contains two seeds. The pulp is sweet, soft, and yellow in color, with some cultivars being white when ripe.

After being cured-out and dried, the jujube shrivels up into a wrinkled delicacy. The fruit is commonly treated similar to raisin production to preserve for consumption at a later time.

The jujube tree is prized for it’s delicious tasting fruit, the bright-green waxy leaves, and the fascinating silhouette of the tree. The leaves turn bright yellow before they shed after fall frosts.

Jujube trees thrive in sandy, poor grade soils such as those found in the Southeast, and the trees easily flourish in dry conditions; however, a little well-placed fertilizer produces amazing results in a short time. There are many species of jujube that have found use all over the world, including the continents of Asia, Europe, and Africa.

Arab nutritionists use the leaves of the jujube tree to kill worms and other parasites that attack the intestinal tract and cause diarrhea. A jujube tree that is native to Spain, France, Italy, Syria, and Asia Minor is similar to the Asian jujube and has been used medicinally as a food item in Europe, Asia Minor, and Africa. Jujubes were grown in Algeria and eaten mostly by Algerian Jews in the third century to celebrate New Years Eve.

The Chinese believed that eating the fruit from the jujube tree would improve a person’s stamina and strength, as well as an improvement in the function of the liver and the immune system. They believed that consumption of the jujube would mildly tranquilize a person, act to fight allergies, and cause a person to gain weight.

Nutritionists have found that the fruit of the jujube tree contains beneficial concentrations of Vitamins A, B2, and C. The jujube also contains minerals necessary for health, such as phosphorus, calcium, and iron.

In China the fruit is marketed mainly like dried dates and can be found at any food store. The fruit is prized as a health food as well as a tasty treat. Can a market for jujubes be developed for this easy to grow delicacy? Very few fruit trees can be grown that have as many desirable qualities, such as no natural pests, good taste, heavy production, unfailing yearly crops, no fertilizer requires, thrives in poor soil, 4000 years of growing history in China, and no climatic limitations.



Kayla

Zachary Thompson asked:


Acupuncture is an ancient form of medical treatment and has been used since 202BC. Traditional Korean medicine mentions this form of treatment under the name of Chimsul. Japanese traditional medicine (Kampo) also considers it important. Evidence suggests that this ancient art may even have been practiced in Eurasia during the early Bronze Age. This may not have been quite like the acupuncture we know but was a similar treatment.

At first the Communist party in China did not accept the traditional forms of medical treatment like Acupuncture, but in time chairman Mao accepted these treatments as an important part of Chinese medicine. He sent representatives out to research the different theories and techniques of Chinese medicine. This research led to a compilation known as Traditional Chinese Medicine. After the Cultural Revolution only the Traditional Chinese Medicine findings were accepted and other treatments were outlawed. This led to a migration of practitioners, who spread the word about acupuncture to their newfound homes. The information about acupuncture treatment was brought to the USA by this means.

Acupuncture treatment has been used in the West since the 17th Century. The 1st practical use was in 1810 at the Paris Medical School by Dr Berlioz. He claimed to have some successes with this treatment. However his medical peers were somewhat skeptical. John Churchill continued to use this treatment in the UK in 1821, and published some facts about his treatment of tympany and rheumatoid arthritis with acupuncture treatment. Dr Elliotson also used this treatment and published his findings about treating 42 cases of rheumatoid arthritis with this method in 1827.

Today acupuncture is widely used in the West. It is mainly used as therapy but some practitioners even use this treatment as anesthesia. Doctors in France and Austria have carried out experiments with using acupuncture as anesthesia and have met with some success; Russian Doctors have also done some research. In 1972 a paper was published about acupuncture points. Russians claim that they have used this treatment for a wide variety of ailments. The rest of the Western world uses acupuncture mainly for treating pain.

Acupuncture is still fairly controversial in the medical field with many doctors and scientists showing a lot of doubt in this form of treatment. However there are also many success stories. As more research is done we will be seeing more ways to use this intriguing form of medical treatment.



Anna

MIKE SELVON asked:


Chinese herbal products have been around and in use for centuries. According to ancient Chinese history, the first herbalist was Shennong. Shennong is considered to be a mythical person who supposedly tasted many herbs and passed his knowledge onto of both medicinal and poisonous plants onto the people of the land.

From Shennong, the first Chinese book on pharmacology, the Shennong Emperor’s Classic of Materia Medica , lists over 365 medicines of which 252 are herbs. This book dates back all the way to the first century.

Needless to say, these products have been used for generations to help those who are afflicted with many ailments. If a person knows anything about these products, they can overcome almost anything.

One ailment that many people in today’s world are trying every way possible to stop is premature aging. This can be seen in wrinkles that suddenly appear out of nowhere, or hair that begins to grey with the morning light.

Chinese herbs for hair can help to not only slow down the appearance of random grey hairs, but they can also help with the premature aging process. One Chinese herb that is known for just these properties is Fo-Ti.

Fo-Ti is believed to be able to help a person to increase their longevity, and this can only be seen as a positive step for anyone.

Other Chinese herbal products that are desired are those that promote weight loss. Weight loss herbal products are hot on the retail market today.

One of the best ways to help with weight loss by using herbs is to find a supplement that has the hawthorn root in it. Hawthorn or crataegus, has been used in Chinese medicine to help aid in digestion.

This can also help to shed those last few pounds that plague so many individuals. A person can buy herbal products at the local discount store that have the hawthorn root extract in them and this will help to promote weight loss.

A benefit that hawthorn also gives the individual is lowering blood pressure and it can also help to treat some heart ailments. A person should consult a practitioner before using the hawthorn root to help with their ailments.

Such products are a wonderful alternative to conventional medicine. With the use of Chinese herbs, a person is continuing an age old tradition that started in the first century.

With the advancement of technology today, a person can find all they need to know by doing a search on the internet for the right herbal product to help with their ailment.



Brooklyn

sunshine01 asked:


would be among the hottest names for normal Chinese people since his novels are widely spread in the Chinese world. It seems all his novels had been shot as TV series or movies.

Jin Yon, born February 6, 1924, pen name of Louis Cha is one of the most influential modern Chinese-language novelists. Co-founder of the Hong Kong daily Ming Pao, he was its first editor-in-chief and held this position until 1993.Cha’s fiction has a widespread following in Chinese-speaking areas, including Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Southeast Asia. His fifteen novels and short fiction - composed between 1955 and 1972 - earned him a reputation as one of the finest wuxia (”martial arts and chivalry”) writer ever. He is the best-selling Chinese author alive; over 30 million copies of his works have been sold worldwide (over 100 million if one includes bootleg copies). Cha’s works have been translated into Korean, English, Japanese, French, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Burmese and Thai and he has many fans abroad as well, thanks to the numerous adaptations of his works made into films, television series, and video games.

Cha wrote a total of 15 pieces, of which one (”Sword of the Yue Maiden”) was a short story and the other 14 were novels and novellas of various length. Most of his novels were initially published in dailyinstalments in the newspaper.

Jinyong’s wuxia send people into an imaginary world out of our normal life. So much knowledge of Chinese history, Chinese kungfu, Chinese medicine and the excellent love stories involved make them widely spread among the Chinese all over the world.



Layla