Mugwort works its magic

Zhang Zhiguo, who lives in Qichun's Liuqian village, said he started to grow mugwort about three years ago.

"I used to grow cotton, but now all the land has been used to grow mugwort," he said. "Now every household in the village grows it."

Zhang, 70, said he is growing mugwort on about 1.3 hectares of land and could sell the harvest for about 40,000 yuan.

"Growing mugwort requires less labor than cotton, and it can be easily sold," he said. "Every year there are company staff from nearby buying it during the harvest season."

Zhang said he had heard of farmers from nearby villages receiving government subsidies for growing the herb, but had not received any himself.

Chen Lihong, 53, also from Liuqian village, said she has been growing mugwort for the past three years.

"I can sell the leaves, but no one want the sticks, so I use them to make fire to cook," she said. "Most farmers growing mugwort here are old people. Young people think farming is too hard and many of them have migrated to cities to work."

Wang Xi, secretary-general of Qiai Industry Association, said Chinese people will pay more attention to their health as they become wealthier, and TCM techniques such as moxibustion, which have fewer side effects, will become more popular.

"We have seen an increasing number of healthcare shops that provide moxibustion services, which use products with mugwort as the primary material," he said. "The popularity of the internet has also promoted the spread of moxibustion, and many people can learn from the internet how to use the techniques at home."

Mei Quanxi, a TCM professor at Zhongshan TCM Hospital, in Zhongshan, Guangdong province, which is affiliated with Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, said some other places in China are also famous for producing high-quality mugwort, including Henan and Zhejiang provinces, but studies had shown mugwort grown in Qichun could release more heat than that grown in other places, which made it ideal moxibustion material.

Geng Yongqin, who manages a store that provides moxibustion healthcare services in Qichun, said there were few such businesses in the county when her store opened in 2015, but there are now nearly 200.

Most customers visited in the afternoon or in the evening, and many of them suffered from conditions such as fatigue or insomnia, she said.