A Northern Beekeeper in South Jinni Luo
35 years living with bees, the meaning of apiculture is more than a way to make living for this 62-year old man.
He has got used to be accompanied by his bumming little creatures since the time the disease took his wife away from him.
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I enjoy the isolated life, with my bees. I’m a beekeeper in south, with the ardent love for my homeland in north.”
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very year from September to December, each beehive will have spawn coming with new queen bees. Thus, Yang has to check each beehive every morning for new born, which is an onerous task. Once the new queen is hatched, the old queen of the beehive will lead half of the bees to leave within two days. With 35 years of experience, Yang can identify a new born queen among hundreds of other bees in the same beehive, even in the period that the queen looks exactly the same as others. “A new born queen always occupies a bigger space that others will leave a circle shape space for it.” While other beekeepers use seven collection boards in one beehive, Yang only arranges five. In this way, bees have more space to take action, thereby producing more honey with better quality.
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uring this season, Yang usually ask some other beekeepers for assistance. Because he has to make new beehives in advance to accommodate the new queens and their followers. Since he has alrady kept 117 beehives boxes that his farm can hardly load more. So Yang sometimes has to cut wings of the new queens in case of the shortage of new beehives.
35 Years Living with Bees
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aking a new beehive usually takes two or three days by hand making because each of the board needs to be coated with large sum of syrup, carefully and evenly. The syrup Yang use is usually from the honey storage of the last year. He melts them with water and spreads them over the beehive to provide better nutrition for his bees.
Yang Wanxiang left his hometown in Jilin for south with his “home bees” in 1997, in an attempt to escape from the economic stagnation of local bee industry. When Yang arrived Zhongshan, a city in Guangdong province, his home bees can not adapt to local environment. Also, the vicious competition within local apiculutre made Yang exhausted. Some local beekeeper use their relatives’ connection in government to defame the reputation of Yang’s honey. With pressure, Yang moved to Zhuhai. With the help of local government, Yang established his own bee farm on a small and uncivilized island, Qi’ao. In the very first couple of years, the fields offered by local government did not have independent water and electricity
system. Thus, Yang had to ride motorcycle for miles to buy water and woods for domestic use. Gradually, with the help of the nearby villagers, Yang now has already had a place to properly accommodate himself, though humbly. During the past years, Yang has successfully raised local bees and his bee farm has alrady has 117 beehives. 600 kilogram of honey were produced each year in his farm. For the past 14 years living in his small hut on this southern island, Yang feels satisfied. In his leisure time, he loves to invite villagers to his place, chatting and drinking. His honey business has been a success so he sometimes generously gives away honey to neighbors. Yang has been appraised as one of the four excellent beekeepers in Qi'ao island
and invited as a member of association of apiculture in Gongdong province. Through the past decades, Yang no longer regards raising bees as a mean for money. It is rather a lifestyle that he enjoyed through his life, which made him feels free and peaceful. Unlike the urban citizens, Yang never worries about living condition or health problems because the island Qi’ ao is a rare pure place. However, the fallen leaves may finally return to their roots. Yang is going to return his hometown within two or three years. He plan to build a house for himself, which he could never image at the time he left home. As for his bee farm, he is searching someone to take over so that his life career and skills will have a way to pass through.