In Chinese “san” means “three”, and “qi” “seven”.  But Sanqi’s Latin term is “Radix Notogenseng. Where did the Chinese name come from?  Here is the story.

A legend goes that one day a young man named Zhang Xiaoer was suffering from hemorrhage He had mouth and nose bleeding and bloody stools. He was on the verge of death. But all of a sudden a traveling herbalist Mr. Tian came to the little town. Zhang mother invited him to see her son.

After diagnosis, he gave Xiaoer a dose of a powder. Not long after he took the powder, bleeding stopped.

The whole family was grateful to Mr. Tian and asked him to stay in the house for a few days.  When the patient almost recovered, Mr. Tian gave the family some seeds, which they sowed in the garden.    

One year later an official’s daughter also suffered from bleeding, she didn’t get response to any treatment.  The official was so worried.  But suddenly it occurred to him to put up a notice, saying anyone who could save his daughter would be granted a reward of one thousand liang of silver, or marry his daughter.

When Zhang Xiaoer saw the notice, he took it down went to the official’s house with the precious powder.  He gave the powder to the patient.