The story of eating ginseng and the ascension of the Immortal in the “Folk Tale of Ginseng” (Qilin magazine, 1943)

This article studies the folk tale of ginseng eating and ascension to the Immortal, which originated in the early 17th century and published in the Northeastern Qilin (Manchu-Digo) magazine in 1943, and its reception in modern Chinese culture and science. Phytolatry as an inherent feature of the north-eastern Chinese religious consciousness is inseparable from the healing characteristics of ginseng itself. Since ancient times, people have attributed miraculous qualities to ginseng, among them gaining immortality by eating the root. Phytolatry is associated with animism and anthropomorphism – in fairy tales, myths and legends of Northeast China, the miracle root takes on human form, turning into an anthropomorphic spirit (a baby, a boy in a girdle, a Wise Old Man or a Beautiful Virgin) that gives immortality to the worthy. Only a special person, who honors the Taiga Law, is honored with this kind of grace. This publication fills the lacunae in the folklore studies of northeast China, which in the 1940s was developing in spite of the Japanese occupation, and often under the patronage of pro-Japanese publications. The authors conclude that the 1943 analysis of the “expeditionary tale” allows to trace the continuous development of the ginseng folklore image in Chinese culture from ancient times to almost the present day, reflecting the syncretized religious views of the multinational North-East residents, while this text and its publication reflect the unknown and controversial pages of Chinese folklore proper, not yet fully explored to this day. On the whole, these materials together with Russian scientific, folklore, and literary texts create an overall context of Far Eastern literary ethnography.