Google Cloud Speech-to-Text API (Chirp) + Gemini 2.5 Flash Non-Thinking. Treat it as a searchable index of what was broadcast, not a quotation record.
00:00:48This is a clear sandstorm from the Siberian
00:00:51plateau. At this moment, this sandstorm
00:00:55is approaching inland China with a wind speed of more than 100 kilometers
00:00:59per hour.
00:01:16With its weak body, it tries to slow down the wind speed. This is licorice.
00:01:17。
00:01:21Born in the wilderness, belonging to the wilderness, this
00:01:25plant, by nature, yearns for freedom. For thousands of
00:01:28years, it has given back to people.
00:01:43It has given us endless warmth and sweet dryness. Licorice is one of the most widely used and important
00:01:46herbs. Its roots and rhizomes are used as medicine,
00:01:50and it is named for its sweetness. In Zhang
00:01:53Zhongjing's "Treatise on Cold Damage" of the Eastern Han Dynasty, among the 113
00:01:56prescriptions, 70 contain licorice.
00:02:01In terms of frequency of use among all medicinal materials, it ranks first.
00:02:04However, licorice does not steal the
00:02:08show. In prescriptions, it is often used in very small
00:02:12quantities, greatly reducing the possibility of toxic side effects
00:02:15between various medicinal materials, becoming a well-deserved master of
00:02:19balance among important materials. It was praised
00:02:23by famous doctors of all dynasties, such as Tao Hongjing and Li Shizhen, as the
00:02:26"Elder of Medicine."
00:02:32In Xilin Gol League, Inner Mongolia, the Ordos Grassland and the Kubuqi
00:02:36Desert intersect. At noon,
00:02:40the surface temperature of the desert is nearly 70 degrees
00:02:43Celsius. Sandstorms and strong light make
00:02:47the survival of cave plants difficult. However, licorice
00:02:51blooms in the hottest July.
00:02:55。
00:02:57The licorice flowers extend into layered flower
00:03:00cups. The layered petals wait in the scorching sun for
00:03:04pollinators to
00:03:05arrive.
00:03:09A blade of grass wants
00:03:11to become a medicine. In every stage of its flowering and fruiting, it
00:03:15faces challenges everywhere.
00:04:14Before it matures, it is threatened by pests and viruses.
00:04:18At the same time, it is also an important source of ingredients for many
00:04:22plants. The tannins in licorice are one of the main
00:04:26categories.
00:04:30However, for animals, after tannins react with proteins in
00:04:34saliva, they produce a dry sensation, which cannot
00:04:38satisfy picky tastes. In the lower stage, where every
00:04:42opportunity is seized for growth, licorice temporarily escapes a
00:04:45disaster.
00:04:49Not only that, the movement of sheep can also carry
00:04:53pollen with them, completing the mission of pollination while having
00:04:57a full meal. Standing,
00:05:13a
00:05:14blade of grass,
00:05:19but its roots continue to grow underground,
00:05:21never stopping, like a cold stream.
00:05:38This is the root system of a licorice plant that has grown for about 20 years.
00:05:43All the intertwined roots in front of us come from the same
00:05:47plant. A year ago, She Haiyan accidentally
00:05:51discovered this licorice root while directing the harvest. She
00:05:55and her friends dug for three full days before they could
00:05:58completely dig out
00:05:59this plant.
00:06:0515 kilograms. Most of them are quite fleshy.
00:06:08This is the first time I've seen something like this in over
00:06:1230 years. Look at its thickness, your small hand can't
00:06:15even grasp it. The growth cycle of cultivated
00:06:19licorice is usually around three years. But
00:06:23this licorice, which has grown for nearly 20 years, still has rich
00:06:27and stable medicinal active ingredients. Especially
00:06:31this.
00:06:59Approximately 410 million years ago, plants evolved roots, and from then on began their slow march to land. Learning to absorb and store water was a new
00:07:03challenge in this evolution.
00:07:04。
00:08:13So, what kind of growth environment can provide better
00:08:17conditions for the formation of licorice's medicinal properties?
00:08:20?
00:08:23This is the national distribution map of licorice
00:08:26resources. In the fourth resource survey, we conducted
00:08:30detailed statistics on the wild resources
00:08:33and cultivated resources of each medicinal material.
00:08:36In the Hulunbuir and Xilin Gol Grassland areas,
00:08:40the distribution of licorice is relatively small.
00:09:18This is a secret only roots know. Down, down, continuously
00:09:22down. One meter, two
00:09:25meters. The main root of this wild licorice still shows no sign
00:09:29of thinning.
00:09:32Seeking water is a plant's lifelong pursuit.
00:09:35Where people can see,
00:09:38it is just a small sprout that has just sprouted.
00:09:43Below the ground, however, it can often extend two
00:09:47or three meters, which is more than ten times the visible
00:09:50biomass above ground. The developed root
00:09:53system and root nodules can efficiently absorb
00:09:56groundwater.
00:09:59The crisscrossing fibrous roots and underground
00:10:02stems, coupled with the nitrogen-fixing effect of the legume root
00:10:06nodules, firmly hold the sandy soil in place,
00:10:10preventing sandstorms from washing
00:10:12inland. It has become a well-deserved sand-fixing
00:10:16pioneer. In the desert, it supports a green
00:10:19oasis. Licorice itself is
00:10:23a hardy plant.
00:10:26Its distribution is very wide, and in the entire grassland area, it is also
00:10:30an important ecological advantage species,
00:10:33which plays a good role in environmental protection, especially
00:10:37for the sand control at the edge of the grassland
00:10:41desert. It is a good windbreak and sand-fixing plant. Therefore, in some
00:10:44grassland areas, to protect the grassland, licorice is also planted, allowing
00:10:48licorice to grow naturally, which can play a very good protective role. So,
00:10:52it is both a medicine and
00:10:56a food ingredient, and also a very good natural
00:11:00and important ecological protection.
00:11:02。
00:11:05Desert spiders crawl out of their holes. They sense
00:11:09something unusual in the air. The rain is about to
00:11:12come.
00:11:16。
00:11:27Licorice has adapted
00:11:27to the dry environment.
00:11:35After the rain, the leaves of the grass begin to soften and recede.
00:11:40This return to grass once again becomes food.
00:11:55At this time, the seeds ripen,
00:12:05and are eaten by the sheep along with the
00:12:09stems and leaves. Soon after, they are excreted
00:12:13with the feces. As the sheep move, the grass
00:12:16seeds are trampled into the soil, and the hard
00:12:19seed coat has not yet softened, greatly increasing the germination
00:12:23rate. A spring breeze
00:12:56blows, and the seeds, thanks to the establishment of the gene bank, are preserved.
00:12:58We have established
00:13:02a seed gene bank for the Inner Mongolia region at the school. This
00:13:06is of great significance for the important resources of the Inner Mongolia
00:13:10region. On the one hand, the preservation of seed
00:13:13resources is the core of resource protection. On the other hand,
00:13:17when these seed resources are stored in the gene bank,
00:13:20we will evaluate the quality of these seeds. So, for this.
00:13:30The purple skin is intact.
00:13:35A small, sweet kernel.
00:13:43Gentle and smooth.
00:13:50From the cross-section, it can be seen that the licorice seeds have a thick seed coat.
00:13:56This is the weapon it has evolved for
00:13:58reproduction.
00:14:01。
00:14:03Licorice, this kind of plant, mainly lives in the
00:14:07junction of grassland and desert. So, the seed coat
00:14:11of mature licorice seeds is very thick and very
00:14:14hard. On the one hand, it can prevent insect
00:14:18infestation. On the other hand, it can retain moisture and
00:14:22oxygen. A mature licorice seed, stored on the
00:14:26ground for more than ten years, its germination rate can still reach
00:14:29over 60%, which shows that the seed coat plays a crucial
00:14:33role. To what extent can the protective effect of the
00:14:37seed coat on licorice seeds
00:14:39reach?
00:14:45Corrosion, carbonization, burning.
00:14:49Concentrated sulfuric acid has extremely strong dehydrating
00:14:52and corrosive properties. Most
00:14:56substances will be completely disfigured the moment they come
00:14:59into contact with it.
00:15:04Pour the same concentrated sulfuric acid into a petri
00:15:08dish containing licorice seeds. After five minutes of immersion,
00:15:11the grass seeds are still intact. In
00:15:15the past for a long time, concentrated sulfuric acid,
00:15:18like the gastric acid of sheep, was once a good
00:15:22helper for softening seed coats and promoting grass seed germination.
00:15:27Gao Wenzhi examination.
00:15:30If the time is not ripe, this seed, only a few
00:15:33millimeters in diameter, will remain dormant.
00:16:08To ensure the vitality of the seeds in the gene bank,
00:16:12Professor Li Minghui goes to different places every year to collect
00:16:15that year's grass seeds and store them in the school's
00:16:18gene bank.
00:16:21In the work of wild seed resource surveys, he often needs
00:16:25to walk several kilometers in the desert to find
00:16:28suitable plants for collection. Every year,
00:16:32we have field missions, which means going
00:16:35to collect wild licorice seeds.
00:16:55The skin is reddish, the cut surface is smooth, the aroma
00:16:58is fragrant and sweet, and the content of glycyrrhizic acid and
00:17:02glycyrrhetinic acid is sufficient
00:17:03and stable.
00:17:37After washing and removing impurities, soaking, and simmering, it softens.
00:17:41The trimmed licorice is of uniform thickness. After
00:17:45slicing, it is air-dried and sun-dried in a
00:17:48ventilated place.
00:17:50Licorice is divided into raw and processed
00:17:53forms.
00:17:56The honey-frying method often appears with
00:17:59licorice. Pour honey into a copper pot,
00:18:02heat and boil. This
00:18:05process is called honey refining.
00:18:08The color continuously deepens, and "ox-eye"
00:18:11bubbles appear. At this time, add licorice
00:18:15and an appropriate amount of boiling water, allowing the honey
00:18:19to evenly coat the licorice. After it is drained,
00:18:23spread it out on a bamboo mat and dry it for 48
00:18:26hours. The processing of
00:18:28honey-fried licorice is complete.
00:18:34Processing further reduces the raw licorice's
00:18:39effect. The addition of honey, firstly, helps control the
00:18:42heat, and secondly, makes it more moist and easily absorbed.
00:18:46Therefore, there is a saying that raw use clears heat and detoxifies,
00:18:49while processed use tonifies the middle
00:18:51and replenishes qi.
00:18:59In traditional Chinese medicine, medicines are formulated in combinations.
00:19:03According to the different functions of each medicine in the prescription, they
00:19:07are divided into monarch, minister, assistant, and guide. This was first
00:19:10proposed in the "Shennong Ben Cao Jing" of the Han
00:19:13Dynasty. The main medicine targeting the main syndrome is the
00:19:17monarch. The auxiliary medicine that helps the main medicine to exert
00:19:21its effect is the minister. The medicine that treats the concomitant syndromes is
00:19:23the assistant. The medicine that guides the other medicines to the
00:19:27affected area or harmonizes the medicines is called
00:19:29the guide. Licorice often exhibits
00:19:33the characteristic of harmonizing and coordinating, appearing as a guide
00:19:36medicine.
00:19:39For licorice, processing is not to strengthen its
00:19:42efficacy; on the contrary, it is to reduce the
00:19:46medicinal properties of licorice itself, so as to better
00:19:50exert its guiding effect. Harmonizing and coordinating,
00:19:54not contending.
00:20:10Licorice in
00:20:12Inner
00:20:15Mongolia is called "sweet root." Peel off the skin of the root, and you can taste
00:20:18a hint of sweetness.
00:20:21The sweetness of licorice comes from glycyrrhizic acid. Although
00:20:25it is called acid, its sweetness is about
00:20:29250 times that of sugar. Even
00:20:32if it is diluted with 4,000 times its volume of
00:20:35water, it can still taste sweet.
00:20:44Thousands of miles away, Chaozhou people boil
00:20:47licorice water and add sliced fruit.
00:22:33Licorice has graced the world with its presence.
00:22:40For thousands of years, at this moment of enjoying life, drinking tea and wine,
00:23:21After Dongmang, during the Longdong season, farmers
00:23:25and herdsmen gather on the grassland with their furs
00:23:28and medicinal materials. Horse racing, wrestling,
00:23:32archery, all kinds of thrilling and exciting competitions, enchanting
00:23:36songs and dances, all celebrate the same thing, a good
00:23:40harvest.
00:23:40。
00:23:47This building was built in the 1970s.
00:24:20This is the Ulias of the Qing Dynasty.
00:24:23In our land, in a place called
00:24:27Baland, there was a
00:24:31trade that people came to establish
00:24:34this kind of fire
00:24:36for our herdsmen,
00:24:38and then it went on
00:24:41as a train. This is
00:24:44now a well-known place.
00:24:47юмаа.
00:24:50Across the road, there is an Aobao built
00:24:54with licorice. Although small in size, it has
00:24:58a history of over 100 years. Legend
00:25:00has it that a "licorice king" was unearthed here.
00:25:04People then piled up firewood on the grass
00:25:08house where the licorice king was enshrined, forming an Aobao,
00:25:12to pray for a good licorice harvest. Because this is the
00:25:15highland of the northwest, people who came from far away saw
00:25:19the Aobao and knew they had reached their destination.
00:25:53In October, Inner Mongolia ushered in a short
00:25:56autumn frost. Medicinal herb farmers
00:25:59had to complete the planting of licorice roots before the
00:26:05frost. A new round of autumn sowing
00:26:09began at the same time as the harvest. To maintain
00:26:13the integrity of the roots and reduce the difficulty of
00:26:16harvesting caused by deep rooting, people decided to
00:26:19transplant licorice.
00:26:20。
00:26:30And then this one.
00:26:48Sow the seeds slowly, and the licorice seedlings are buried
00:26:51in the soil. Three years later,
00:26:55a small seedling will transform here
00:26:58into a medicinal plant.
00:27:37Originally, licorice growing on the edge of the desert
00:27:41was not adapted to a stable and comfortable artificial environment.
00:27:45Modern cultivation uses a method of forcing water
00:27:49and fertilizer, with less water and fertilizer, or even no
00:27:52water or fertilizer. This not only saves costs but also
00:27:56provides licorice with a relatively familiar growth environment,
00:28:00which helps the accumulation of
00:28:07medicinal properties, forming a virtuous cycle. Regarding the quality of licorice, one aspect is the species, and the other is the environment. There is a saying
00:28:10that a good environment yields a good yield, and a harsh environment yields good quality.
00:28:14When there is a lot of water, it grows more like starchy
00:28:18things. Like glycyrrhizin and glycyrrhizic acid, some of them are
00:28:22secondary metabolites. Some of these secondary metabolites
00:28:26are produced by plants as a kind of antibody
00:28:29to resist natural drought or diseases and pests and
00:28:33other unfavorable environments. So, in a natural state, it
00:28:37produces resistance to drought, cold, diseases and pests,
00:28:41and other external interferences. Only under harsh conditions
00:28:45can there be a high content of these
00:28:47medicinal ingredients.
00:28:49Deep in the desert, wild licorice continues
00:28:53to grow, one by one,
00:28:57clump by clump, patch by patch,
00:29:01constantly rooting deeper. It firmly
00:29:04locks the desert. In the
00:29:07laboratory, Professor Li Minghui completed the selection of
00:29:11seeds and stored this year's grass seeds
00:29:14in the gene bank.
00:29:17A blade of grass, born in the desert,
00:29:21has the heroic spirit and wildness of defying sandstorms. Yet,
00:29:25it leaves the gentlest sweet taste to the
00:29:27world. From the Eastern Han Dynasty
00:29:31to the present, licorice is
00:30:16an ecological advantage product from Mount Yimeng.
00:30:20The northern tail is 350 degrees Celsius.
00:31:45Give the mountain wings of comprehensive revitalization.
00:31:48。
00:31:53Let the desert wear the green attire of harmonious coexistence.
00:32:12During the 15th Five-Year Plan, looking to the future.
00:32:16Under the vast sky, all things coexist.
00:32:19Birds are an important component
00:32:22of the natural ecosystem.
00:32:25China's Wildlife Protection Law prohibits
00:32:28illegal hunting, buying,
00:32:32selling, transporting,
00:32:35and using nationally protected wild birds.
00:32:38Eating methods,
00:32:42hunting birds and rare birds.