These trees are old. Really old. Older even than the city of Xuzhou in northwest Jiangsu. That it be the oldest city in the Province, dating back 6,000 years as a civilisation and over 2,600 years as a city, makes it a fitting home therefore for forests of ginkgo.
That home be Xuzhou, or specifically to Pizhou, quite some way to the east of Xuzhou, situated at the “tail” of the horse-shaped Luoma Lake. For those who dare make the trip, the reward for such is a gingko forest park covering an area of more than 300,000 mu (200 square kilometres). If the gingko is an endangered species on an international level, it is hardly so in this locale.
The so called “Pizhou Gingko Time Tunnel” shall surely be the destination for many traveller coming to Xuzhou when late autumn approaches each year.
Along this 3-kilometre-long village road, the gingko tree beaches weave a golden sky while the many layers of fallen leaves make for a golden carpet on which to walk.
Gingko trees are also synonymous with autumn in Xuzhou city itself. Students in the Quanshan campus of Jiangsu Normal University are blessed with their own mini-gingko forest, while they also stand guard at the gate of the South Campus of Xuzhou Institute of Engineering.
Over in Tongshan New Area, Ginkgo trees are planted all around Haihe Road, Songshan Road and Changjiang Road among many others. Their long history makes for an ideal contrast with the cutting edge technologies being developed nearby.
Indeed, fossils very similar to today’s gingko have been found to date back 170 million years, in the Middle Jurassic period.
To put that in perspective, that’s before continental drift pulled North America, Greenland, Europe and Asia apart.
The genus Gingko thrived across this land at the time, diversifying in the process. But it was the dinosaur-killing asteroid impact of the K-Pg Extinction Level Event which sped up the gingko’s decline. Very quickly, the Ginkgo adiantoides was the only ginkgo species left in the Northern Hemisphere. By the time of the most recent ice ages of 2 million years ago, the gingko had disappeared from the fossil record everywhere but central China.
Most recently, the gingko’s tenacity was to be proved again, in 1945 Hiroshima.
Six gingko trees growing close to ground zero were among the few living things to survive.
Though severely charred from the nuclear blast, the trees were soon healthy and are still alive today.
As are many which witnessed other important events in world history. Some of the gingko tress still alive and well can remember the invention of gunpowder and the first printed money.
In Xuzhou, there are in fact 12 gingko trees which are over 1,000 years old and 69 around to have celebrated their 500th birthday.
Their age has also provided for plenty time to grow tall. While some specimens of gingko in China can grow to over 50 metres, heights of 20-23 metres are a lot more common.
With their erratic branches, gingko tress usually have very deep roots, making them resistant to wind and snow damage.
Such a long history has also provided humankind with plenty time to find a multitude of uses for gingko.
As a herb, it is used in the prevention of altitude sickness, and in the treatment of cognitive disorders, dementia, vertigo, memory loss and premenstrual syndrome, among other conditions.
And such treatments have their origins in Traditional Chinese Medicine. Utilised for treatments in the Middle Kingdom since the 11th century, the The European Medicines Agency Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products has more recently concluded that medicines containing ginkgo leaf are indeed appropriate for the treatment of mild age-related dementia and mild peripheral vascular disease in adults.
Away from medicine, the hard wood of the gingko makes it ideal for ornamental works, while the foul-smelling fruit that is only produced by the female gingko is employed in edible toasted treats.
With China as its ancient home, the gingko in due course found its way to the West. In the early 1700s, explorers returning to Europe took some Gingko seeds with them and in 1784, the ginkgo was introduced to America.
This of course got the scientific community as a whole interested. Today, there is a significant body of thought that believes the gingo to be the living link in the evolution of ferns to trees.
With this increasing knowledge of the wonders of the Gingko putting its golden splendour in late autumn top of many people’s bucket lists, forget not the local saying, “If you want to appreciate ginkgo in Jiangsu, you have to go to Xuzhou; if you want to appreciate ginkgo in Xuzhou, you can’t miss Pizhou”.
Go Gingko Spotting in Jiangsu
In Xuzhou… Haihe Road, Songshan Road and Changjiang Road in Tongshan New Area / Jiangsu Normal University and Xuzhou Institute of Engineering / Gingko Time Tunnel and Yaozhuang Village in Pizhou
In Nanjing… Mingxiaoling, Qixia Mountain, Xuanwu Lake and Binjiang Park
In Suzhou… Yinxing Road and Qiyuan Road
In Yangzhou… Shi Kefa Memorial Hall
In Nantong… Zhang Jian Memorial Hall in Changle town, Haimen
In Wuxi… Taihu Lake in Masan / Gu Kejiu Temple in Huishan ancient town
