From a scientific point of view, what exactly is "Tai Sui"?

Tai Sui has two meanings.

"To disturb Tai Sui's head" and "To offend Tai Sui" are phrases we often use to describe people who are in a difficult situation. The Tai Sui here is an ancient astronomical term, also called "Sheti".

Another type of Tai Sui, also called Rou Lingzhi, is often reported to have many peculiar labels, among which the most prestigious are priceless and longevity.

According to historical records, the ancients believed that Tai Sui was edible and had miraculous curative effects, and eating it could prolong life. Kings of all dynasties would eat Tai Sui for a long time, usually by soaking it in water or eating it in slices.

With the label of longevity, Tai Sui is extremely priceless and hard to come by.

According to news reports, a 50-jin Tai Sui was estimated to be able to be sold for millions; in real life, an old farmer has successfully sold it at a price of 10,000 yuan per jin, and has sold at least 60 jin.

If you search directly online, the current price of Tai Sui is between 1,000 and 5,000 yuan per catty. If it is wild and of good quality, the price can be tens of thousands of yuan per catty.

Why can those black, slimy, and even ugly Tai Sui sold at such high prices? What exactly is this kind of Tai Sui?

Is Tai Sui a living thing or a non-living thing?

There are many photos of Tai Sui circulating on the Internet. Different Tai Sui have very different appearances, colors, sizes, and textures.

According to the person who picked it up, the Tai Sui is like a "big white ball" that feels sticky and elastic; like a brown "wooden stake" with the texture of meat and a piece of yellow skin attached to the outside, which feels like jelly; like a piece of "rotten meat", black and dirty, and when spread out it looks like a large mushroom; like "jelly", a gelatinous, dark brown lump.

The weights of the excavated taisui vary greatly, some weigh 13 jin, some weigh 50 or 60 jin, and the rare one weighs 140 jin. The places where they are found are also different. The one in the water is called water taisui, the one underground is called earth taisui, and the one in the stone cave is called stone taisui.

According to the traditional way of eating, the Tai Sui is usually kept in water and eaten one slice at a time. No matter how long it stays in the water, the Tai Sui does not rot, stink, or deteriorate. There is no obvious cell tissue on the outside. Is the Tai Sui a non-living thing? If it is really a non-living thing, then why does it "grow"?

Tai Sui has a magical self-healing ability. The piece that is eaten will grow back after a while, and will grow bigger than before. Therefore, there are many people selling Tai Sui on the market.

From these characteristics, it can be concluded that Tai Sui is a living organism. But what exactly it is needs to be defined through scientific research.

What is Tai Sui? How is it formed?

The first time Tai Sui really entered the scientific field was probably in 1992.

That year, Du Zhanmeng from Shaanxi found an "unknown creature" while fishing for floating firewood in the river. It looked like meat, but it would not rot or get worms after being left for a long time. The unknown creature was very large and was still growing. It weighed 23.5 kilograms when it was first discovered, and it became 35 kilograms a few days later. Out of curiosity, he ate a small piece.

At that time, many academic organizations in Northwest China jointly conducted experimental research on this unidentified creature. According to the research results published in the Journal of Northwest University in October 1993, the unidentified creature picked up by Du Zhanmeng was the legendary Tai Sui. Microscopic observation and analysis of the sample revealed that Tai Sui was a super-complex slime mold aggregate [1].

There are a large number of slime mold fruiting body structures on the surface. In addition, it also contains a small amount of microorganisms such as molds, yeasts and bacteria, as well as some crystalline impurities.

Slime mold is very interesting. During its vegetative growth period, it is slimy and has a variety of shapes.

Slime mold is not an animal, but it moves and eats like amoeba, and usually feeds on some fungi and yeasts; slime mold is not a fungus either, but it can live in decaying matter like fungi and form fruiting bodies. The mushrooms we often eat are the fruiting bodies of fungi.

There are two forms of slime molds, one with a single cell, called cellular slime mold, and the other without cells, called protoplast slime mold. Both types of slime molds like to "huddle together for warmth" and form a ball through reproduction.

Maze experiment of slime mold. Image source: Ana Aceves

Its "intelligence" is reflected in the maze experiment. If you culture the slime mold in a maze and put its favorite food at the end of the maze, then in a very short time, this brainless slime mold can find a shortest path from the starting point to the end point.

How does it do this? At first, in order to get food, the slime mold will spread to various paths until it covers every corner and path of the maze. Once it finds food, the parts that have not found food will shrink back, leaving only the part that has found food and has the shortest path.

Large slime mold aggregates similar to Tai Sui have also been discovered abroad. They are approximately 70cm*50cm*3cm in size, and some slime molds even cover an area of ​​more than 30 square meters.

Generally speaking, slime mold complexes cannot grow this big, but the environment in which the Tai Sui lives is quite special. It is mostly found in deep soil or caves, which are moist and hidden. Therefore, as long as there are enough nutrients and time, it is possible for it to grow this big.

What are the main ingredients of Tai Sui?

In 2009, Northwest University conducted another test on some Tai Sui samples[2]. Two samples were tested. One was a Tai Sui found by Du Zhanmeng in 1992 and kept by Northwest University. The other was provided by Mr. Niu from Hebei Province and was found in 2005.

The results show that:

1. Tai Sui contains many types of microorganisms such as slime molds, bacteria and molds, and the types are different;

2. The Tai Sui samples contained polysaccharides, accounting for about 14.48%;

3. After processing, both samples of Gastrodia elata produced a large amount of white flocculent precipitate. After testing, it was found that this substance was polyvinyl alcohol, and the content was astonishing. After vacuum drying, the Gastrodia elata collected in 1992 had a polyvinyl alcohol content of up to 70%.

Research shows that, taking these two Tai Sui as an example, Tai Sui is a mixture of polyvinyl alcohol as the main substance, combined with a variety of microorganisms such as slime molds, molds, fungi and yeasts, as well as a variety of metabolites of these microorganisms.

What is polyvinyl alcohol? It is a white, water-soluble organic compound, a chemical raw material used in many fields, including glue and eye drops.

Industrial-grade polyvinyl alcohol is toxic and was listed as a Class 3 carcinogen in 2017. Medical-grade polyvinyl alcohol is non-toxic and has no side effects. A large amount of polyvinyl alcohol appears in the Gastrodia elata. Researchers speculate that this is because humans widely use polyvinyl alcohol and only a part of it is degraded. Those that are not degraded are used by slime molds, which rely on their strong microbial survival ability to gradually form slime mold aggregates as large as the Gastrodia elata.

Are the miraculous healing effects of Tai Sui that are passed down by word of mouth true?

Many people have shared real cases of physical improvement after using Tai Sui meat or Tai Sui water. So what substance is the effect?

In fact, there are no special ingredients. Generally speaking, the nutritional value of Tai Sui is relatively high.

Tai Sui contains a lot of protein and nucleic acid, as well as a small amount of polysaccharides and pyrroloquinoline quinone and other substances that are good for the body. After these substances enter the human body, they are obviously good for the body. In addition, Tai Sui is relatively scarce, so it is easy for people to have a placebo effect. Once the mood is good, the body will naturally be better.

Despite this, it is not recommended to eat Tai Sui.

The nutritional components of Tai Sui can be replaced by other foods, there is no need to spend such a high price.

In addition, the risk factor of eating Tai Sui is very high. First, Tai Sui contains a variety of microorganisms, and no one can guarantee that these microorganisms are harmless to the human body. Second, some Tai Sui are not naturally formed and may polymerize a large amount of polyvinyl alcohol. If you eat it rashly, if you are lucky, it will be non-toxic and have no side effects to the body. If you are unlucky and encounter unscrupulous vendors who maliciously counterfeit it, you will have big problems.

at last

The formation of Tai Sui is relatively rare, and scientists have done relatively little research on Tai Sui. In addition, there are large differences between different Tai Sui, so some existing Tai Sui experiments cannot fully and accurately define Tai Sui.

But it is certain that many Tai Sui related products on the market are basically fake. Sometimes you think you are lucky to pick up a "Tai Sui", but you don't know it is just a trap: they just want you to pay for the appraisal fee (this is true).

As Tai Sui is so mysterious, it is natural that there are many pursuers flocking to it. People's fear of aging and death, coupled with artificial publicity and hype, have led to the ridiculously high price of Tai Sui. I still hope that everyone can look at Tai Sui rationally!

References:

[1] Huang Jianxin and Dong Zhaolin, 1993, “A practical study on “unidentified organisms”: experimental observation of a very large slime mold complex”

[2] Zheng Keyan and Dong Zhaolin, “Preliminary Study on the Unidentified Object “Tai Sui””, 2010

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