The birth of China’s first artificially cultivated Ganoderma lucidum.

In the summer of the late 1960s, Unit 6037 of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army stationed in Laoshan, Qingdao, discovered a cluster of lingzhi mushrooms growing among the weeds beneath a tree. Believing lingzhi to be a symbol of longevity and auspiciousness, they promptly dug up the entire specimen—along with the soil, tree roots, and surrounding vegetation—and placed it in a large wooden crate measuring approximately 120 cm × 50 cm × 45 cm. They then dispatched representatives to transport it by train to Beijing as an important gift for Chairman Mao Zedong.
On July 2, 1969, the General Office of the CPC Central Committee handed over to the Chinese Academy of Sciences a box of lingzhi mushrooms that had been presented to Chairman Mao by Unit 6037. In order to better conserve, cultivate, and conduct systematic research on lingzhi, the Academy’s leadership assigned this task to the Institute of Microbiology, which in turn delegated it to the Fungal Research Laboratory (Laboratory No. 1).
At that time, the institute was in a particularly challenging period: since the onset of the “Ten-Year Catastrophe” in 1966, the work of the Fungal Laboratory at the Institute of Microbiology had been dismissed as abstract theoretical research and remained stagnant. Following the assignment of the “Ganoderma Research” project, all members of the laboratory enthusiastically accepted the task and promptly assembled a research team to begin their work. The head of the “Ganoderma Research” group was Liu Xijian, with Han Shujin serving as deputy head. The team members, listed in order of the number of strokes in their surnames, included Shi Zhijing, Sun Zengmei, Yu Yongnian, Chen Guiqing, Zheng Tiezeng, Wei Shuxia, and others.
The research progressed smoothly: first, the lingzhi collected on Mount Lao and presented to Chairman Mao was identified as Ganoderma lucidum, and a pure culture was promptly isolated. Subsequently, artificial bottle‑culturing experiments were conducted using substrates such as wood sawdust and wheat bran. However, to scale up the study and carry out more in-depth comparative trials, the research team sought to obtain a strain of another important species within the genus Ganoderma—Ganoderma sinense.

It was already late October, deep into autumn, and the annual‑type purple wood ear mushroom, which is primarily distributed along the Yangtze River and south of it, would likely be difficult to collect as living specimens on the mainland for strain isolation. Accordingly, Yu Yongnian proposed traveling to Hainan Island to collect and isolate the fungal strain. At the end of October 1969, Yu Yongnian and Zheng Tiezeng hurried to Hainan. Since Wuzhishan Mountain was then a key national defense area where civilians were not permitted to enter freely, they had no choice but to conduct their work in Bawangling and Jianfengling. With the vigorous assistance of the forestry bureaus of these two mountain ranges, they overcame numerous obstacles and successfully completed their mission in less than a month.
They collected fresh basidiocarps of various Ganoderma species from the mountains. To minimize contamination from air currents, and lacking a laminar flow hood, they made do with what was at hand: they set up a mosquito net over their beds and carried out the isolation process using the tissue‑isolating method. This technique yielded a high success rate and excellent purity. They brought approximately 20 strains isolated in Hainan back to Beijing for research and cultivation, eventually inducing fruiting bodies—most of which were Ganoderma lucidum, though some were also Ganoderma sinense. These strains were later transferred to the Microbial Strain Preservation Center of the Institute of Microbiology for long-term storage.
While Yu and Zheng were en route to Hainan and passed through Guangzhou, a colleague at the Guangzhou “Central-South Fungal Laboratory” (later renamed the Guangdong Provincial Institute of Microbiology) presented them with a vial of Ganoderma lucidum strain—claimed to have originated in Hunan. They brought it back to Beijing, where they successfully cultivated fruiting bodies; subsequent analyses confirmed its medicinal value. Initially, this fungus was designated as “Bo Shu Zhi” (thin‑cap Ganoderma). Ultimately, the research team selected four strains—Lao Shan’s red Ganoderma, Hainan’s purple Ganoderma, a variant of red Ganoderma, and Bo Shu Zhi—for large‑scale artificial cultivation trials, achieving successful results.
During the research, comrades Liu Xilian, Wei Shuxia, and others worked around the clock, vigilantly monitoring the cultivation room and conducting meticulous observations. They were the first to identify that high relative air humidity (85–95%) is a critical factor for the proper formation of the basidiocarp, its development, and the release of basidiospores in Ganoderma lucidum. This also represents the first successful instance in China of cultivating Ganoderma lucidum using modern scientific methods.
In late November 1969, Yu Yongnian happened to observe that the fruiting bodies of Ganoderma lucidum had released a thick layer of basidiospores, covering the table and shelves to a depth of about 0.5–1 mm. He suggested collecting these spores for future experiments and promptly set to work with Wei Shuxia, quickly filling two large half‑liter wide‑mouth bottles (250 ml each). He then proposed to Deputy Team Leader Han Shujin that the spore powder be sent to the Xiyuan Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital for testing by relevant physicians. Several months later, the hospital reported that Ganoderma spores showed some therapeutic efficacy for conditions such as cough and asthma associated with bronchial inflammation. Furthermore, at that time, four colleagues in the Mycology Laboratory who suffered from hypertension either soaked Ganoderma fruiting bodies in alcohol or boiled them in water for consumption. The results indicated that the blood pressure of three of those who drank ethanol‑extracted infusions decreased to varying degrees, whereas Yu Yongnian, who consumed only the water extract, did not experience any noticeable effect.
Based on the spirit and requirements of the tasks assigned by higher authorities, the research team planned to promote the cultivation of Ganoderma lucidum more widely, so that more people could benefit or pursue further research. At the suggestion and upon the commission of Han Shujin, Yu Yongnian drafted an instruction manual titled “Precautions for Cultivating Ganoderma lucidum” (initially mimeographed in numerous copies) and, together with the Ganoderma strains, submitted it to the Strain Preservation Group of the Institute of Microbiology, requesting that they distribute it free of charge for wider dissemination.
This selfless scientific dedication by the research team made a significant contribution to the subsequent comprehensive development of Ganoderma lucidum throughout China. The first batch of strains was distributed for trial cultivation to institutions such as the Institute of Botany and the Institute of Zoology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, which in turn forwarded them to Beijing Shuangqing Road Middle School, No. 101 Middle School, the Medicinal Plant Cultivation Farm of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, and the Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital of Heze City in Shandong Province. Most of these institutions successfully cultivated Ganoderma lucidum.
At the time, no reports of artificial cultivation of Ganoderma lucidum had appeared abroad; in China, although some attempts had been made, they were deemed failures because the mushrooms could not be induced to form caps. The recent successful large-scale promotion of its cultivation nationwide has vigorously advanced the development of Ganoderma lucidum across the country.
Today, China’s lingzhi industry is not only thriving but has also gone global, becoming a health supplement enjoyed by people worldwide. Looking back on the history of lingzhi cultivation and application, we cannot fail to express our gratitude for the hard work and wisdom of countless pioneers.
(Excerpt from Yu Yongnian and Shen Mingzhu’s “A Brief History of Ganoderma Cultivation in China”)