▲ Foreigners' firsthand experience of gathering ginseng

The global health festival of the “2011 Geumsan World Ginseng Expo” held beginning September 2 in the area of the international ginseng distribution center located in Shindae-ri, Geumsan-eup, Geumsan-gun, Chungcheongnam-do ended its big run of 32 days on October 3.
The attendance record of 2.616,000 million visitors at the Geumsan Expo dramatically exceeded the original goal of 2.29 million; the contracted amount for ginseng export reached USD 20.04 million, exceeding the goal of USD 8.20 million by 144%. Thus, it was recorded as a successful expo.
The Geumsan Ginseng Expo Organizing Committee held a closing ceremony on the open-air stage of the main event hall at 5 pm on October 3, with about 1,000 people in attendance including heads of major institutions, related persons, and local residents. During the ceremony, beautiful videos of open-air stage event content, various types of cultural events, export meetings, spectator events, etc., held since the opening of the ginseng expo in 7 exhibition halls and firsthand experience halls were shown.

▲ Flying the balloons in the air in celebration of the 2011 World Ginseng Expo

The release of 50 balloons and 1,000 colorful balloons symbolizing Insamddal (ginseng fruits) into the sky to promote the development of the ginseng industry and provincial residents’ harmony attracted the attention of the spectators. This was followed by fireworks that beautifully embroidered the night sky of Bidangoeul Geumsan, with more than 400 firecrackers set off.
Targeting 2.29 million visitors, the ginseng expo was successfully opened on September 1 (one day in advance of the official opening date of September 2) on the stage for the main event in the international ginseng distribution center square located in Shindae-ri, Geumsan-eup, Geumsan-gun, Chungcheongnam-do, with over 2,300 people including honored guests, luminaries from the ginseng industry, residents, etc., in attendance.
With the public opening on the 2nd, a record number of 80,359 on the average visited the place on a daily basis from 9 am to 7 pm, which was a great turnout.
With the operation of the event hall equipped with 6 main indoor exhibition halls and 1 firsthand experience hall and international symposiums, ginseng export meetings, policy debates in progress, potted plant exhibition hall, and wood-cultivated ginseng hall were particularly the center of attention as unusual exhibition booths. In the open-air exhibition hall where 150 pieces of potted plants from every place in the country were showcased, there was a bonsai pine tree estimated to be 150~200 years old, arousing the curiosity of the visitors after being told that it was worth KRW 300 million.
In the wood-cultivated ginseng exhibition hall, the real wood-cultivated ginseng -- an “ancestor” of ginseng, so to speak -- was displayed. Although it lags behind wild ginseng in terms of efficacy, the wood-cultivated ginseng, unlike ordinary ginseng, is considered very valuable because, out of the 100 seeds sown in the mountains, only a few survive. Whereas the roots of real ginseng are up to 6 years old, wood-cultivated ginseng is at least 7 years old; in fact, some are 12 years old.
The remarkable achievement of this Expo -- despite the short preparation time of only about 1 year with only one single entry of ginseng -- -- is commonly believed to have been made possible by the efforts of personnel of the organizing committee and related institutions such as the police and fire department, together with the active support and participation of over 1,000 volunteer workers and guides.