An accidental discovery led to legends throughout the ages;
A strange piece of meat,
set off an uproar;
Some people say it is immortal.
Some people say it was born in Tai Sui.
What exactly is it?
Please watch "Approaching Science" - Solving the Mystery of Tai Sui
There is a saying in China that Tai Sui is the first to cause trouble. The meaning of this sentence is to hit an egg against a stone, which is a metaphor for offending people and things beyond one's ability. We often hear this saying, but we don’t know where it comes from. So, does Tai Sui exist? If so, what does it look like? I'm afraid no one can explain it clearly. But more than 10 years ago, an unknown organism was discovered in Zhouzhi County, Shaanxi Province. The locals said it was born in Tai Sui. So is this unknown organism the legendary Tai Sui?
On August 22, 1992, farmer Wu Fenglian and her son Du Zhanmeng from Zhouzhi County, Shaanxi Province went to the Wei River to salvage floating firewood that had washed into the river due to flash floods.
Interview Wu Fenglian: We don’t have firewood to burn here. As soon as the river floods, branches will float down from the mountains, and we will go to the river to collect firewood to burn.
At around 9 a.m., they suddenly saw a large black object in the fast-flowing river. Their son Du Zhanmeng jumped into the waist-deep water, hugged the object, and dragged it to the river. Shore, place it on the beach and examine and touch it carefully.
Interview: Wu Fenglian It is roughly round, long and flat, yellow like the skin of a cow, just like that, and it looks like pebbles in the river. At that time, I regarded it as a piece of meat on the leg of a cow. I didn't dare to move it in the mud and water, so I used my feet to pedal it.
Since the Wei River often floods, sometimes dead cows, pigs and other animal carcasses are washed down from the upper reaches. This discovery did not attract the attention of Wu Fenglian and her son at first. So they didn't take the unknown objects they found home. But after three or four days, Wu Fenglian changed her mind. It turns out that people in the village often bury dead animals in the ground and use them as fertilizer. Wu Fenglian thought she could take the meat ball back and bury it in her own land. So I decided to check it out again. However, they didn't expect the sight there to surprise them.
Interview with Wu Fenglian: As time passed, the water fell and it was left on the dry river beach for four days. Within three days, the dead fish in the river were already infested with insects. Next to that thing Bare, nothing.
Seeing that this thing neither rotted nor attracted mosquitoes in the dog days of summer, Wu Fenglian and her son felt that this meat ball was a bit strange. So after they brought the thing back, they didn't bury it in the ground. Instead, they washed it and put it in a big iron pot. A week later, something unexpected happened again.
Interview Wu Fenglian: (A week later), I found that it was bigger. Some people guessed that it might be longer. It was a living creature. According to my opinion, the size around it was two inches larger.
According to Wu Fenglian's recollection, when they first moved back, they weighed more than 20 kilograms. After weighing this time, they found that it had grown to 35 kilograms. I gained more than 10 kilograms in a few days. It seems that he is a living piece of meat. So what is this thing? Since it is meat, can it be eaten?
Interview Wu Fenglian: I took a knife and cut it open. When I cut it, I looked inside and it looked like white meat. I said to my child: How does this look like meat? My child and I discussed it, cut a piece, and boiled it on the stove. I cut a piece of meat, weighing two ounces, poured a ladle of water into it, and simmered it for more than an hour before it melted. When I lifted it up, it was like batter and sticky. The child put some sugar in and drank it and then told me that it had no taste. When I said it had no taste, there were no disadvantages, only benefits. If there were disadvantages, people would feel sick, but there is no such thing.
According to Wu Fenglian, they felt refreshed and energetic for a few days after eating the "meat balls". Moreover, in the dog days of summer when mosquitoes and flies are plentiful, there is not a single mosquito or fly in the room where this "meat ball" is placed. Within a few days, the news that Wu Fenglian's family had discovered the treasure spread throughout the local area. Many villagers came to cut the meat. One of the villagers cut off a piece weighing 100 grams. Unexpectedly, it doubled in size in a few days. What’s even more strange is that the “meat ball” grew back within a few days where the pieces of meat had been cut off. Some people say that this is the legendary Tai Sui, and whoever eats it can live longer and become immortal. So what kind of organism is this meat ball? Is it the legendary Tai Sui?
The news that an unknown organism was discovered in Zhouzhi County, Shaanxi Province spread quickly in a short period of time, and many people There was extensive coverage in the news media. These reports have also attracted the attention of some scientific research institutions and colleges in Xi'an.
Interview Yang Xingzhong, professor of the Department of Biology, Northwest University: Because local villagers say this is Tai Sui, because Tai Sui is originally a superstitious thing, and there are many different opinions. The impact was huge. There were a lot of calls from the public and from all walks of life, so in this case, the (Xi'an) Municipal Science and Technology Commission instructed Northwest University to come up with scientific conclusions as soon as possible.
One day in September 1992, Professor Yang Xingzhong of the Department of Biology of Northwest University was ordered to go to Wu Fenglian's home to conduct a scientific investigation.
Interview with Professor Yang Xingzhong of the Department of Biology of Northwest University: Because the department told me at the time that an animal had been found, but after I went there, I looked at the characteristics of the animal and found that it had no head and no body. Its shape is approximately oval, thicker in the middle and thinner at the edges. Such an oval-shaped thing has brown on the surface and some pure white on the ventral side. When you pat it with water, it looks like fat pork. That feeling, so we were very surprised at the time. We didn’t know what this thing was. But based on the appearance and morphological structure, we initially judged that it might be a living thing. It might be a living thing, but whether it was or not, so at that time I proposed that we had to make one, which meant that we had to get some materials and bring them back to our Department of Biology to do some experiments.
Since the species and characteristics of the organism could not be determined at the scene at the time, Yang Xingzhong asked for help After Wu Fenglian agreed, she cut a piece from the meat ball as experimental material and immediately rushed back to Northwest University for scientific identification.
Interview with Professor Yang Xingzhong of the Department of Biology of Northwest University: First of all, whether it is a living thing, then judge it based on its characteristics of life. If it is a biological thing, it has a cellular structure, and then the cell passes through the cell. After the structure, you can determine whether you are a plant, an animal, or something else.
Through the cytological identification of this unknown organism, it was found that it has a complete cellular structure. This proves that it is indeed a living organism. But it grew rapidly in a short period of time. Is it because of its own growth, or because it grew in size like the corpse of a dead creature soaked in water?
Interview with Professor Yang Xingzhong of the Department of Biology of Northwest University: I briefly measured the respiratory indicators in the laboratory. After measuring it with the instrument, I found that this thing has respiration, which is the carbon dioxide produced. Direct measurement of carbon dioxide proves that If it has a metabolic process and produces carbon dioxide, it proves that it is alive.
Interview with Dong Zhaolin, professor of the Department of Biology of Northwest University: It reproduces very quickly. It has no nose, no eyes, and nothing. It is just a piece of meat. As for the meat, it is dead. It has been left for three days. It will stink later, but it does not stink, so it is considered to be a living organism. However, as for this organism currently, people in the entire biological world do not know what it is and have not identified it.
Although scientific experiments have proven that this meat ball is a living organism, the legend about Tai Sui has become more and more popular in society because there is no definite explanation.
Interview with Yang Xingzhong, professor of the Department of Biology at Northwest University: The word Tai Sui has a long history in rural areas. There has always been a saying of Tai Sui, so once a fleshy ball is dug out of the soil, it Things that common people think are Tai Sui. People have said this since I was a child. Old people often tell me these things. They told me that when a family was building a house in the past, they dug a hole in the ground. From then on, that family fell into decline and there were still people dead. What happened? What's going on, so this is a widely circulated thing among the people in Guanzhong, so once such a weird, meat-like, non-rotting and tasteless thing is dug out of the river, their first impression may be that it is Tai Sui.
According to the explanations in some Chinese dictionaries, Tai Sui is an ancient folk nickname for Jupiter. Jupiter revolves around the sun every 12 years. It has a position every year, and there is a corresponding one underground. A Tai Sui appears. Folklore says that when building a house, the door should not face its star position in the sky. Otherwise Tai Sui on the ground will be angry. Over time, there was a saying that "you can't do anything when you are too old". According to folklore, people are very taboo about Tai Sui, but why do they associate it with immortality?
In fact, there are records about Tai Sui in the ancient Chinese book "The Classic of Mountains and Seas" thousands of years ago. In the Classic of Mountains and Seas, Tai Sui is also called "Shirou", "Jurou", and "Rouzhi". You see, they all have the word "meat" on them, which means they are edible. According to the "Shan Hai Jing" records, "shirou" first appeared in front of the ancient emperor's tomb as an item that ancient emperors liked to eat during their lifetime. It has the characteristics of "eating one piece after another" and "eating one piece after another", which means that after eating one piece, it can grow again by itself. This seems to be the same as the "unknown organism" discovered by Zhou Zhi in Shaanxi Province, which has the characteristics of self-generation. long ability. As for the saying that after eating it, you will live forever and prolong your life, it is indeed recorded in the "Compendium of Materia Medica" by Li Shizhen, a medical scientist in the Ming Dynasty. In the "Compendium of Materia Medica", Li Shizhen called it Rouzhi and included it in the "Zhi" category of the "Dishes" department. Together with the Ganoderma lucidum we see now, it was also called "the best grade in this classic". "Compendium of Materia Medica" also lists several prescriptions based on "Zhi", which show that they have special effects on some difficult diseases. Their unique characteristics are: "Eating for a long time can make you light up and not grow old, and prolong your life." Moreover, Because it has the characteristics of growing on its own, it is even more precious. Therefore, emperors in the past dynasties have tried every means to find it. Among them, it is said that the ancient emperors and generals searched for Ganoderma lucidum. The most famous one is that Qin Shihuang sent Xu Fu to lead three thousand boys and girls to search for the medicine.
According to "Historical Records·Qin Benji": After Qin Shihuang unified the six kingdoms, he became the king of a country. He heard that there was a kind of fairy medicine in the East. After eating it, he could live forever and become an immortal. So in Qin Dynasty, he In the 28th year, he personally led his general eastward to search for the elixir. He came to Langya Town in Shandong Province and found Xu Fu, a very famous alchemist and famous doctor. He ordered him to find the elixir of immortality and gave Xu Fu a large amount of manpower, material resources. Xu Fu then led five hundred boys and girls eastward to Penglai, Shandong Province in search of the elixir, but failed. So Xu Fu built another ship and led 3,000 boys and girls to cross eastward to Fusang. They arrived at ancient Yingzhou and Abbot, which is now the Japanese archipelago, and continued to search for the elixir. It is said that Ganoderma lucidum was among the elixirs that Qin Shihuang asked Xu Fu to search for. However, more than 2,000 years later, Xu Fu and his searching fleet disappeared into the long river of history, and the elixir he dreamed of also turned into a historical legend. But this unknown organism discovered in Zhouzhi County, Shaanxi Province, once again linked people to Ganoderma lucidum.
Interview with Mi Jialie, deputy director of the Shaanxi Provincial Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine: As for the description of the ancient Ganoderma lucidum, it is described in more detail in the Compendium of Materia Medica. When I looked at it, its shape was just like the description Yes, this yellow one looks like purple gold, this one looks like a piece of meat when cut, and that purple gold one looks like that purple gold color, both yellow and purple. Moreover, there are also circles on its outer ring that seem to be growing and developing there. The traces left during the development process are relatively clear. When you touch it with your hand, it is smooth. , and it still feels a little viscous when touched, just like our salt and pepper protein on it. It feels very precious. I didn’t dare to touch it with my hands vigorously, so I just looked at it gently. I feel that this is a treasure, and I can definitely say that it is Ganoderma lucidum.
Mi Jialie's statement comes from the description of Ganoderma lucidum in "Compendium of Materia Medica". According to the "Compendium of Materia Medica", "The fleshy mushrooms are shaped like meat and are living things. The white ones are like cut fat, and the yellow ones are like purple gold. They are all as bright and penetrating as solid ice." These descriptions seem to be consistent with the unknown organisms discovered by Zhou Zhi in Shaanxi Province. The characteristics are very similar. Coupled with its rapid self-growth characteristics, one has to wonder whether it is really the legendary Ganoderma lucidum?
In the following years, this unknown organism was publicly exhibited in various places. Because people have spread rumors that this is Tai Sui Meat Ganoderma lucidum recorded in ancient books, there is an endless stream of tourists watching. Even Japanese Emperor Akihito, who has profound knowledge in the study of marine life, made a special trip to visit this "unknown organism" after learning about the discovery of this organism, and called it a "rare treasure."
In order to determine whether the unknown organism discovered in Zhouzhi, Shaanxi Province was the legendary Ganoderma lucidum, Yang Xingzhong conducted in-depth research on the unknown organism. After nearly a month of intensive scientific observation, Yang Xingzhong discovered that this organism has swimming cells with two flagellar structures, and it can be seen that one end of the flagella of the swimming cells ingests food particles unselectively. Based on this characteristic, Yang Xingzhong determined that the identity of this unknown organism was a slime mold complex that evolved from primitive fungi to plant animals during the evolution of life.
Although this slime mold is ubiquitous in other places, this is the first time such a large complex has been discovered, because after we completed the research at that time, a preliminary conclusion was that it was in The excessive type between protozoa and plants itself illustrates its peculiarity in evolution in the biological world. Therefore, its value was relatively large at that time, so it attracted the attention of many scholars. In the scientific community Some people paid attention to it, especially after the Emperor of Japan visited it. He was a marine biologist. After the visit, he said something, saying that this was a major discovery in the biological world, and this value was initially affirmed.
According to the conclusion of Yang Xingzhong and others, this unknown organism is a slime mold complex that evolved from primitive fungi to plant animals during the evolution of life. What does this conclusion indicate? You see this is a plant, this is an animal, this is a fungus, they all have the same ancestor. They evolved from a primitive flagellated single-celled organism billions of years ago. This kind of organism is called protoplasm, which is the original state of life. Protoplasmic organisms live in water and can swim. They can live by devouring other organisms like animals, or they can live through photosynthesis like plants. The former is called abnormal function, and the latter is called autotrophic function. Later, with the evolution, differentiation occurred in two aspects: the autotrophic function of some protoplasmic organisms was strengthened, and the motor function was degraded. It evolved into single-cell green algae and developed into the plant kingdom. The movement function and heterotrophic function of another part of the protoplasmic organisms are strengthened, and the autotrophic function degenerates into single-celled protozoa, and then develops into the animal kingdom. The cell structure of this slime mold complex is very similar to that of primitive flagellar cells. The difference is that this cell does not contain photosynthetic pigments. According to the analysis of the "Origin of Life and Evolutionary Lineage Diagram", its location should be between bacteria and ( between algae) plants and protozoa. In other words, we are at a fork in the evolution of life. If we turn left, we will develop into the plant kingdom, if we turn right, we will develop into the animal kingdom. If we stay still, we will become fungi like mushrooms and Ganoderma lucidum. Because it is very rare, it has always been a blind spot in the study of biological evolution, so it is very meaningful to study the evolution of life.
But does this large slime mold complex have the legendary longevity-prolonging function? In order to further uncover the secrets inside, Yang Xingzhong further observed its material structure. He found that this large slime mold complex contains nearly 50% of proteins and nucleic acids. These substances are very helpful in improving the body's immunity. And sometimes a plastic film-like substance forms on its surface. Well, this film, which is shiny and sticky when you twist it on your hands, is at least a polysaccharide substance, which can contain polysaccharides. So this polysaccharide has a certain effect on immunity. A very important role is to at least develop it as a drug or health product. If it enters the human body, it can activate the body's immune system and enhance your immune function. From one aspect, it has achieved It has a health care function, so it still makes sense. As for other substances contained in it, this has not been measured.
But as to why this large slime mold complex can grow rapidly, what is the specific environment in which it grows, how old is it, and whether it really has value that can be exploited, Yang Xingzhong introduced that because At that time, only a preliminary study was done, and these unsolved mysteries were not revealed. So it considers this a very regrettable thing. As for whether it was the Ganoderma lucidum described in ancient books, he was not sure. However, 12 years later, he heard that someone else had picked up a meat dumpling on the bank of the Yellow River that was more similar to what was recorded in the "Compendium of Materia Medica", so he immediately went to the collector Zhang Anjun's home to investigate.
According to our understanding, Zhang Anjun purchased this unknown organism from a farmer on the edge of the Yellow River in September 2004.
After observing the appearance of this unknown organism, Yang Xingzhong believed that it was more similar to the legendary Ganoderma lucidum than the slime mold complex discovered in Zhouzhi County in 1992.
Yang Xingzhong: There is a saying in "Compendium of Materia Medica" that gravy is like meat. So the shape in this article is reflected in many textures, which is consistent with the structure of some muscle bundles on the side. Yes, "Compendium of Materia Medica" once recorded color. There is a sentence in it, that is, "Yellow is like purple gold." This can also be reflected from the color of the surface. There is also a sentence, "Easy as a sharp soldier." It refers to the internal structure. We can also see some very white structures on the faults here. This is also consistent with the records in the "Compendium of Materia Medica". In addition, the records in the "Shan Hai Jing" have such a sentence: "With Bima "Bo, quite similar", that is to say, it is like a twisted horse's neck. Looking at it as a whole, this one is twisted and looks like horse skin. So this one is very similar according to the records of "Shan Hai Jing" It is similar, so judging from the records in these two ancient books and the situation we see now, it may not be a big problem that it is a fungus. And it grows naturally under purely natural conditions, but now what kind of specific strain it is, that is, what kind of species it is, can only be determined through rigorous scientific experiments and some meticulous work. A more scientific conclusion, that is to say, this conclusion may predict that the value of this thing, the academic value it embodies, and the value it embodies in other aspects are also very high, because it is relatively rare.
Although it was only identified based on appearance, Yang Xingzhong believes that this bacterial body is very different from the slime mold complex discovered in Zhouzhi County in 1992, both in terms of external shape and internal structure. It can be said that this The texture is more fleshy and closer to animals. So whether it is also a slime mold complex, he believes that a more scientific conclusion can only be drawn after more rigorous technical identification. At the same time, Yang Xingzhong believes that if the appearance of the first meat ball was accidental, then the appearance of this meat ball again proves that these are products of nature, not the legendary gods. He hopes to conduct more in-depth research this time and finally unravel the mystery of Tai Sui and Ganoderma lucidum through scientific means.