Editing Ginseng (section)

== History ==
One of the first written texts covering the use of ginseng as a medicinal herb was the ''[[Shennong Ben Cao Jing|Shen Nong Pharmacopoeia]]'', written in China in 196 AD. In his ''[[Compendium of Materia Medica]]'' herbal of 1596, [[Li Shizhen]] described ginseng as a "superior tonic". However, the herb was not used as a "cure-all" medicine, but more specifically as a tonic for patients with [[chronic illnesses]] and those who were convalescing.<ref name=Mahady>{{cite book|author1=Mahady, Gail B. |author2=Fong, Harry H.S. |author3=Farnsworth, N.R. |title=Botanical Dietary Supplements |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TiU-Dz2wxyAC&pg=PA207 |year=2001 |publisher=CRC Press |isbn=978-90-265-1855-3 |pages=207–215}}</ref> Control over ginseng fields in China and Korea became an issue in the 16th century.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Kim | first1 = Seonmin | year = 2007 | title = Ginseng and Border Trespassing Between Qing China and Choson Korea | journal = Late Imperial China | volume = 28 | issue = 1| pages = 33–61 | doi=10.1353/late.2007.0009| s2cid = 143779357 }}</ref>