Beekeeping Industry In China

Abstract

China is situated in Eastern Asia on the Western Pacific, with an area of 9.6 million square kilometres and 7 million managed bee colonies. It is the largest producer and exporter of bee products in the world. The Chinese economy is developing rapidly, and its beekeeping industry plays an important role in world trade.

Full text

Introduction
Witharecordedhistorygoingbackover5,000years,China
isoneoftheworld’searliestcivilizations.ThePeople’s
RepublicofChinawasfoundedonOctober1,1949.The
majorityoftheterritoryhasatemperateclimate,with
subͲtropicalandtropicalareasintheSouthandacold
temperateregionintheNorth.Suchvariationoffersa
diverseecologicalenvironment.Withinthecountrythere
are56ethnicgroups,andthetotalpopulationnowexceeds
1.3billion.AFamilyPlanningPolicyhasbeenimplemented
sincethe1970’s.UndertheleadershipofDengXiaoping,
Chinabegantoreformitseconomyin1978therebycharting
thecourseformodernization.

Overviewofbeekeeping
Althoughsixspeciesofhoneybeegenuscanbefoundin
mainlandChina,onlytwo,ApismelliferaandApiscerana,
aremanagedfortheirproduce.Thereareanestimated7
millionmanagedcoloniesinChina(FAOrecorded8.77
millionin2008),ofwhichabout5millionareWestern
lineages(Apismellifera)andtheothersareindigenous
Easternhoneybees(Apisceranacerana).

ThedensityofcoloniesinChinaisonly0.73coloniesper
squarekilometre,whichismuchlessthanthatofSouthKorea
(18.8)andTurkey(5.1).Thenumberofcoloniesperapiary
usuallyrangesbetween50and150withupto140thousand
apiariesinChinaasawhole.Couples,sometimeswiththe
helpofoneortwoassistants,runmostoftheapiaries.
However,therearesomewiththousandsofcoloniesrun
bybeeͲproductcompanies.ColonymanagementinChinais
stilllabourͲintensivewithfrequentinspectionandelaborate
managementtogetahigheryieldofproducts.
Thedistributionofthecoloniesoverthewholecountryis
notuniform.TheProvinceofZhejiang,whichislocatedin
China’seasterncoastalregionnexttoShanghai,isa
provinceofimportantstatusinthebeekeepingindustry.
Therearemorethan1millionbeehivesregisteredto15,000
householdsintheprovince,whichaccountsforoneseventh
ofthenationaltotal.Thesehivescontributeonethirdof
thehoneyandhalfoftheroyaljellyproductionofthewhole
country.Insomeotherprovinces,however,especiallyin
WesternChina,thebeekeepingindustryisstillinitsinfancy.
Localgovernmentandbeekeepingassociationsaremaking
effortstopromoteitsdevelopmenttohelpruraleconomy.

Mostofthecommercialandprofessionalbeekeepersprefer
tokeepWesternbees,mainlyApismelliferaligustica,
becausetheyaremoreproductivethantheAsianhoneyͲ
bees.Thelessprofessionalbeekeepers,orthehobbyists,
prefertokeeptheindigenousChinesebees(A.c.cerana)
becausetheyaremoredocileanddonotrequiresuch
elaboratemanagementastheWesternbees.These
indigenousbeesarealsowidelychoseninsedentary
apiariesinthemountainousareassincetheyarebetterat
foragingfromdispersednectarorpollensources(Yang,
2001).Moreover,sinceApisceranaisthenaturalhostof
varroadestructor,itisresistanttothemajorhoneybee
pestandmitecontrolisnotnecessary.

Beeproductsarethemainincomesourceofbeekeepers,
whilethedemandforpollinationservicesisobviously
increasing.NopackagedbeemarketexistssinceallbeeͲ
keeperskeeptheircoloniesoverwinterandbuildupthe
populationinearlyspring.Withoutexceptionhoneyisthe
mostimportantprimaryproductbothfromaquantitative
www.ibra.org.uk          June2011ŇBeeWorldŇ41
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BeekeepingIndustryInChina

HuoͲQingZheng,WenͲTingWei,FuͲLiangHu
CollegeofAnimalSciences,ZhejiangUniversity,Hangzhou,China.
ChinaissituatedinEasternAsiaontheWesternPacific,withanareaof9.6millionsquarekilometresand7
millionmanagedbeecolonies.Itisthelargestproducerandexporterofbeeproductsintheworld.The
Chineseeconomyisdevelopingrapidly,anditsbeekeepingindustryplaysanimportantroleinworldtrade.
Photo.1.TheimportanceofroyaljellycanbeseenbyextentofthisworldclassbeeproductsfactoryinChina.

andaneconomicalpointofview,followedbyroyaljelly,
beepollen,propolisandbeeswax.Someskilledbeekeepers
alsoproduceandselldronepupaeandvenom.Queenlarvae,
asabyͲproductofproducingroyaljelly,hasalimitedmarket
butbringsinsomeextraprofit.Afewcommercialhealth
foodsconsistingofqueenlarvaehavebeendeveloped,
‘queenlarvaewine’,whichisregardedtohaveasimilar
biologicalfunctionasroyaljelly,ismadebyimmersingthe
larvaeinwineforaperiod.

Theannualyieldofhoneyisapproximately300,000metric
tonnes,halfofwhichisexported,mainlytoJapan,USA,
CanadaandUK.Othernationwidebeeproductproduction
estimatesforrecentyearsarearound:3,000metrictonnes
ofroyaljelly;5,000metrictonnespollen;4,000metric
tonnesbeeswax;350metrictonnespropolis.Theannual
profitfromexportedbeeproductsforChinaisabout
US$100,000,000.

Honeyproduction
TheaverageannualyieldofhoneyproductionofanApis
melliferacolonyis50kilograms.Therearemorethan20
kindsofmonofloralhoneywhichcanbeputintomass
production,theseinclude:


Rape   Brassicacampestris
ChineseMilkVetch Astragalussinicus
Lichee  Litchichinensis
Longan Dimocarpuslongan 
Locusttree  Robiniapseudoacacia
VetchleafSophoraSophoradavidii
Eucalyptus
HairyVetch ViciaVillosa
ChineseDate Ziziphuszizyphus
WhiteSweetCloverMelilotusalba
Linden  Tilia
Chastetree Vitexnegundo
Sesame Sesamumorientale
Sunflower Helianthusannuus
ElsholtziaRugulose
Swallowwort
Cynanchumkomarovii
Buckwheat Polygonumesculentum
EuryaThunb
IvyTree Scheffleraoctophylla
ThemajorityofbeekeeperskeepingApismelliferamigrate
throughoutthecountrytohitpeakbloomingtimes,thus
thehoneyflowcouldlastupto8months.Mostbeekeepers
arefromtheSouthofChina.Normallytheymovefromthe
SouthtotheNorthaftertherapeseasoninspringandback
totheSouthinlateautumntotheteafloweringseasonin
ordertocollectteapollen,whichisoneofthemost
importantkindsofbeepollen,andtoprepareforoverͲ
wintering.Afewofthemdonotmigrate,atleastovera
longdistance,keepingthebeesneartheirhousesall
aroundtheyear.UsuallythelongͲdistancemigratorybeeͲ
keepersproducemorehoneywhilethesedentaryorshortͲ
distanceonesfocusmoreonproducingroyaljelly.

ComparedwithApismellifera,Apisceranamaintainsa
smallerpopulationandislessproductive.Onlytento
twentykilogramshoneycanbeproducedperyearbyeach
colony.However,thepriceofApisceranahoneyisseveral
timesofthatofApismelliferahoney.

Royaljellyproduction
Chinaenjoysahighreputationforitshighyieldofroyal
jellyproducingover95%oftheproductinworldtrade.
ThereareseveralreasonswhyChinacanproducesucha
largeamountofroyaljelly.

SincetheWesternbeeswerefirstintroducedintoChinain
1896(Chen,1993),theyhavebeenhighlyselectedand
bredspecificallyfortheproductionofroyaljelly.
Professionalbreedingprogramswerecarriedoutin
governmentalbreedingapiaries,aswellinsomeprivate
breedingapiaries.Artificialinseminationwasconductedin
thesebreedingapiariestocontrolthemating.Moreover,
selectionandbreedingschemesarealsoimplementedby
somehobbyistbeekeeperswhentheyrearandreplace
queenseveryoneortwoyears.Theyobserveandrecord
theyieldandcharacteristics,suchasdiseaseresistanceand
aggressiveness,ofallthecoloniesandselectthebestones
fromwhichtorearnewqueens.Thisprocessalsocontributes
alottohoneybeebreeding,despitethequeensbeingallowed
tomatenaturally.Whencarriedoutinarelativelyisolated
areainwhichalltheapiaries,aiminginthesamebreeding
direction,areinvolvedasthebreedingstock.Actually,the
firsthoneybeelineagewithhighroyaljellyproductionwas
producedbysuchhobbyistbeekeepersinlate1980’sinPinghu,
Photo.2.Anapiaryamidacresofrapebloom.Photo.3.Anapiaryinsummer.
42ŇBeeWorldŇJune2011www.ibra.org.uk

acountyofZhejiangprovince.Thesucceedingefforts
conductedinprofessionalbreedingapiariesafterthe
discoveryofsuchlineageshasmadethegeneticsmore
stable.Nowadayshoneybeelineageswithhighroyaljelly
productionthatoriginatedfromZhejiangprovince,also
namedZhejiangJiangFeng(ZhejiangRoyalJellyBee),have
spreadtoalmostallprovincesofChina.

Secondly,thedevelopmentofrelatedtechniquesandtools
contributedgreatlytothehighyield.Thetechniquemostly
involvedbuildingupandmaintainingalargecolony
population.Itappearsthatlargercoloniestendtoproduce
disproportionatelymorebeeproductswhencomparedto
smallercolonies.Thehoneybeelineageswithhighroyal
jellyproductionbuilduptheirpopulationmorerapidlyand
canmaintainthatpopulationwithoutswarminggiven
sufficientfoodsupplyandtheeliminationofqueencells.
Intensivemanagementprovidesanothersupporttothe
strongpopulation.Thisisespeciallytrueinearlyspring
whenthepopulationisexpectedtobebuiltupfromabout
oneortwocombstotwelvetopreparethecoloniesforthe
honeyflowafterwintering.

Themostimportantdevelopmentforroyaljellyproduction
wasthatofplasticqueencupsintowhichonedayoldlarvae
aregraftedandnursebeessecreteroyaljellytofeedthe
larvae.Theinventionoftheplasticqueencupsmakesit
possibletoproduceroyaljellyonalargescale.Beforethat,
waxqueencupshadtobemadeandlocatedonwooden
stripsbeforegrafting.Thecombineddevelopmentof
techniquesandtoolsraisedtheyieldofroyaljellyfrom
about300gupto5kgperhiveayearbytheendof1980’s
insomeareasofZhejiangprovince.Theyieldofroyaljelly
percolonyofhighyieldlineagesaverages200gramsina
72Ͳhourproducingperiodandtheannualyieldreaches10
kilograms.

Chinesescientistsaredevelopingnewtechniquesand
instrumentstofacilitateevenhigherroyaljellyproduction.
Forexample,honeybeemultiplequeencolonieswere
createdtoprovideyounglarvaewithauniformagefor
grafting(Zhengetal.,2009a,b).Techniquestoproduce
royaljellywithoutgraftingandinstrumentsforautomatically
extractingroyaljellyarebeendeveloped.
Apisceranadonotproducecommercialroyaljellysince
theymaintainsmallerpopulationsandaremoreproneto
swarm.

Domesticconsumptionofbeeproducts
Therearemorethan2,000companiesspecializinginthe
manufactureandsaleofbeeproductsinChina,withatotal
annualsalesvolumeofaboutUS$1.2billion.Themajority
ofthesecompaniesaresmallormediumͲsizedenterprises.
OnlytenofthemhaveannualsalesvolumeoverUS$15.2
million

Beeproductsareconsideredashealthyfoodandwidely
usedintraditionalChinesemedicine.Withthedeveloping
economyandtheincreasingdemandtokeephealthyunder
highcompetingstress,growthinbeeproductconsumption
istakingplacewithinthehomemarket.Reportedly,raw
honeyconsumptionisgrowingbetween5Ͳ10%ayear.
Consumptionofotherbeeproductssuchasroyaljellyis
growingatabout20%ayear.Nowadays,onecansee
hundredsofshopsspecializinginbeeproductsinurban
centressuchasBeijing,Shanghai,NanjingandHangzhou.

Besidesrawconsumption,honey,asasweetener,isused
inthepreparationofsomefoodslikeBeijingRoastDuck
andalsoinsomehealthdrinksandcarbonateddrinks.
Royaljellyhasalsobeenintroducedintosomebeverages.

Ofallthebeeproducts,beeswaxhasbeen,andremains,
themostversatileandmostwidelyusedmaterial.Its
marketinChinaislimitedandlessthan10%isconsumedat
home,evenincludingtheincreasinguseincosmetics,with
themajorityexportedtotheUSAandtheEU.

Propolisisrelativelynewasacommercialbeeproduct.It
hasbeenrecentlyprovedtobeantibacterial,antiͲdiabetic,
andcapableofreducinginflammation(Hu,2005).However,
judgingfromtheprofittomanufacturersanditspopularity
inChina,ithasbecomeoneofthemostvaluablebee
products.Itmaybetheonlybeeproductthatrequires
importationtomeettheboomingdemandofthedomestic
marketduetotheweaknessofApismelliferaliguisticato
producequantitiesofpropoliswhileApisceranadoesnot
collectresinatall.

Themostchallengingproblemsinbeeproductindustryare
thedetectionofadulterationandthefurtherprocessingof
rawmaterials.Varioustechniques(e.g.vacuumfreezeͲdrying,
supercriticalfluidextraction,nanoͲtechnology,enzyme
engineering,membraneseparation,microencapsulation,
radiationtechnology)arenowusedtodevelopnewproducts
andmuchattentionhasbeenpaidbyresearchersto
developmethodstodetectadulteration(Zhangetal.,2011).

Theadministrationofbeekeepingindustry
Theindustryisofficiallyinspectedandregulatedbythe
MinistryofAgriculture.Chinesebeekeepersarenolonger
onlyconcernedabouttheiryieldsbutpaymuchattention
tothequalityoftheirproducts.Educationalcourses
concerningthetechniquestoproducehighqualityproducts
arearrangedeveryyearbylocalbeekeepingassociations.
Thereisalsoanannualnationalbeeproductsconference
organizedbyApiculturalScienceAssociationofChina
(ASAC)andChinaBeeProductAssociation(CBPA)which
morethanonethousandattending.
www.ibra.org.uk         June2011ŇBeeWorldŇ43
Photo.4.Anapiaryinateaplantation.

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
Besidesthenationalandlocalbeekeepingassociations,
companiesspecializinginbeeproductsalsoplayan
importantroleincontrollingthequality.Toensurethat
theyhavehighqualityproductsfreeofresiduesmostof
theenterprises,especiallythebigones,havetheirown
beekeepingbasesandmakecontractswiththeirsupplying
beekeepers.

References
Chen,YC(1993)ApicultureofChina.ChinaAgriculture
Press.inChinese
Hu,FL(2005)Studiesonpharmacologicalactionsofpropolis.
ZhejiangUniversityPress.inChinese
Jin,SH(2003)IntroductionofPinghuhoneybeebreedof
highroyaljellyproducingcharacteristic.Apiculture
ofChina54(1):25.inChinese.



Introduction
TodateapicultureisstillahighlabourͲintensiveindustryin
particulartheproductionofroyaljellyisalmosttotally
dependentonmanualoperation.Royaljellyisoneofthe
mostimportantbeeproductsinChinawhichsuppliesmore
than90%oftheworldmarket.Withtheboomingofsocial
economymechanizedbeekeepingisurgentlyneeded.

Originally,beeswaxcupswereusedforroyaljelly
productionbutwerenotefficientandgavealowyield.In
the1980’sthequeencupplasticstripwasintroducedand
representedaninnovativestep.Themosttypicalwasthe
highlyproductivequeencellcupstrip,whichwasinvented
byZhejiangAgriculturalUniversity.Thiskindofplasticcup
washighlyreceptive,labourͲsaving,gaveahighoutputand
washealthy,durableandeasytooperate.Royaljelly
productioncouldbeimprovedby20Ͳ30%byapplyingsuch
anewplasticstrip.Itwaspatentedaroundtheworldin1987
withitsspecialdesignandcapmakingagreatcontribution
totechnologyofroyaljellyproduction(Chenetal.,1987).

Upto1989,morethan1.3millionplasticcupframeshad
beenpromotedthroughoutChinagivingrisetosignificant
economicandsocialbenefits.Later,intheearly1990’s,
withcontinuousexplorationofroyaljellymechanized
production,thesuctionmachine,thecentrifugalmachine
andthesemiͲautomaticmachinewereinventedsuccessively.
Thesemachinesextractedroyaljellyfromqueencellcups
withdifferentmechanisms,butallfailedtotrulymechanize
royaljellyproductionandwerenotwidelyacceptedby
beekeepers.
Yang,GH(2001)TheChineseHoneybee.ChinaAgriculture
Press.inChinese.
Zhang,CP;Zheng,HQ;Liu,G;Hu,FL(2011)Development
andvalidationofHPLCmethodfordeterminationof
salicininpoplarbuds:applicationforscreeningof
counterfeitpropolis.
FoodChemistry
127(1):345Ͳ350.
Zheng,HQ;Jin,SH;Hu,FL;Pirk,CWW(2009)Sustainable
multiplequeencoloniesofhoneybees,Apis
melliferaligustica.JournalofApiculturalResearch
48(4):284Ͳ289.DOI:10.3896/IBRA.1.48.4.09
Zheng,HQ;Jin,SH;Hu,FL;Pirk,CWW;Dietemann,V
(2009)Maintenanceandapplicationofmultiple
queencoloniesincommercialbeekeeping.Journal
ofApiculturalResearch48(4):290Ͳ295.DOI:
10.3896/IBRA.1.48.4.10




Anewadvancedmachinewasinventedbycooperation
betweenZhejiangSanyongBeeIndustryTechnologyand
theAnimalScienceCollegeofZhejiangUniversity.This
machinehasanewtypeofcupframemadesothatitcould
sustainitsshapeforalongtime.Anappropriatenumberof
cupswithsuitablediameterandheightwerefixedonthe
frame(Photo.1),contributingtoahighacceptance,upto
95%,forthefirstgrafting.

Themachinemeasures68×65×62(cm),withaweightof40
kg,andispowerratedat40W(Photo2).Itcanbedrivenby
solarenergy,directcurrent(12V),alternatingcurrent
(220V)orevenbyhand.Itcouldsavetimeandlabour,
improveefficiencyandcompletelyreplacethemanualwork.
Thedesignofthemachineimitatesthemanualoperation,
whichensuresthegoodqualityoftheproduct(Photo.3).

Allmaterialsusedintheconstructioncompletelymeetthe
requirementsofenvironmentalprotection,ensuringthe
safetyoftheproducts.Fatiguetestshaveprovedthe
reliabilityofthemachine,whichissimpletooperate.Itis
necessarytocutoffthebasewax,removethelarvae,clean
upthequeencupswithoutexceptionbeforecontinuously
placingthecupframesintothereceivingslotonthetopof
themachine(Photo.4)andstartingthemotor.Theroyal
jellyautomaticallyflowsintothebottlesalongthechannel,
leavingtheemptycupͲframes.

ThemachineworksonthebasisofapulpͲdiggingmechanism.
Itcouldcleanup32cupsatonetime,andcouldcomplete
extracting600stripsofroyaljellywithinanhour.Forexample,
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
AdvancedMechanizationOfRoyalJellyProduction
FangLiu,SongkunSu,YuxingWang,SongfuPan,XiaohuaZheng,
ShuangjinDai,ShengluChen,Hangzhou,China
ScientistsfromZhejiangUniversityandengineersfromtheZhejiangSanyongTechnologyCompany
havecombinedtoproduceanadvancedmachinehasbeenintroducedforroyaljellyextractionwiththe
potentialtoreducelabourintensityandproduceahealthyandsafeendproduct.
44ŇBeeWorldŇJune2011www.ibra.org.uk