I have lived in Qinling Mountains all my life and have been working with native beekeepers in the mountains for nearly ten years, but I never thought that a documentary about female beekeepers in the mountains of North Macedonia, Europe, tens of thousands of kilometers away, could give me such a deep understanding The resonance of her: "Her beekeeping method is exactly the same as the ancient Qinling beekeeping method we conserved!"
But after watching the "Land of the Bees", which has won many awards and nominations around the world, I felt a little lost and couldn't help but wonder: Will the beekeepers in Qinling have this day too?
Hatiz, the protagonist of the documentary, always said: take half, keep half. In her opinion, the price is fair and no one is greedy, so that livelihood can continue. But this is an ideal state, and there are too many real factors that can upset this balance: development, raising a family, market changes, the agitation of business capital...
As Hussein, a beekeeper who broke into Hatiz's territory, said to his son: "I don't need to keep bees, it's all for you."
After reading it, I made up my mind to myself: I can't let Qinling become the last "Honey Land", and I must keep the ancient method of beekeeping in Qinling.
1. The unique beekeepers of Qinling Mountains in Shaanxi
I have given many names to the ancient Qinling beekeepers: beekeeper, bee herdsman, bee gatherer, honeymaker, honey hunter... When I started writing the series "The Last Beekeeper in Qinling", I just discovered that they are guarding - guarding the mountain, guarding the bee, guarding the livelihood. Since then, I have called the people who insisted on using the ancient method of beekeeping in the Qinling Mountains as "beekeepers".
"The Land of Honey" Hatiz's hometown is overgrown with bushes and wild grasses. It is not considered barren, but there is no forest, so there are relatively few sources of honey.
The Shaanxi section of the Qinling Mountains, where I am located, has obvious climate and geographical advantages.
The northern foot of the Qinling Mountains in Shaanxi has a temperate monsoon climate, while the southern foot is in the subtropical monsoon climate zone. The climate difference between the north and the south is obvious: the north is dry, the south is rainy, and the west is slowly transitioning from the Loess Plateau to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, which is cold and snowy.
From the satellite map, this place and Xishuangbanna, Daxing'anling and other areas are dark green, which is the greener place in China and even the whole world. There are 19 national-level nature reserves[1], which nurture 345 wild giant pandas[2]. This area is the core area of the Giant Panda National Park.
Compared to Hatiz in "The Land of Honey", the Qinling beekeepers are lucky; because they keep bees in the greenest place on the map, accompanied by giant pandas, who are beloved all over the world.
The beekeepers we assist are mainly distributed in the southern foothills of the Qinling Mountains. It slowly extends south from Taibai Mountain to the Hanshui River Valley, with an altitude of more than 3,000 meters to 600-700 meters. The ancient beekeeping area is concentrated in the range of 2000-1000 meters. From the beginning of spring until the cold dew, that is, from the end of February to the end of October, there is pollen or nectar available for local bees to brew.
[1] http://www.snrmt.com/wap/article/index/112480
[2] https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_1314999
2. North Macedonia and Qinling Mountains are thousands of miles apart
In the film, Hatiz adopts the local traditional beekeeping method, which is to recruit local wild bees and put them into beehives built for wild bees in advance. This hive is built to simulate the natural selection of wild bees to live in. After the bees live in the beehives, they build their own hives, breed themselves, and brew their own honey. The beekeepers, according to the annual honey brewing situation, take a certain amount of honey in exchange for their livelihood, and leave the rations of the bees so that the bees can spend the winter.
Rock crevices, tree hollows, and mud caves are all ideal spaces for native bees to choose to nest and breed.
Brother Xiong, the beekeeper we assisted, said: "The older generation first discovered honey in the crevices of the rocks and collected it regularly. Later, for the convenience of taking care of it, they had honey to eat every year, so they recruited the bees to take care of them. , I eat honey every year.”
But we have traveled through the Qinling Mountains for 10 years, and we have never seen the phenomenon of bees building their nests in the cracks of the rocks—but I have seen a few nests in the hollows of the trees. Mr. Fang from the Niuweihe Nature Reserve said: "In the past, when someone found bees in the tree holes, they sawed off that section of the tree and moved it home to raise it. It is too cumbersome to move with the wood, and the bees are easy to run away halfway. , they imitated this tree hole, made a bee barrel, placed it on the cliff, and they could attract bees."
Why do bees at the southern foot of the Qinling Mountains rarely build their nests in rock crevices? Because it is humid and rainy here, even the stone cracks in the sun are inevitably a little damp. Whereas Hatiz has high altitude, high latitude and little rainfall. When you see her prying open the cracks, the surrounding is very dry, so the bees choose to build their nests in the cracks.
Hatiz's beehives are made of stone chips. What about the Qinling beekeepers? It is to divide wood with a diameter of 30-40 cm or more into tree segments of about 120 cm, split it from the middle, hollow out the wood, and dry it to become a bee barrel. There is no forest in Hatiz, but there are many stone flakes; in Qinling, there are many trees. Therefore, people in both places are very good at using local materials to help bees build their favorite houses.
Coincidentally, they all recruit bees from the cliff. Brother Liu, a beekeeper in the Hanxi Forest District, said: "The bee barrels must be placed on the red and white cliffs before the bees are willing to come." I asked Brother Liu why, and Brother Liu said that the older generation did this of.
Only later did I know that on such a cliff, the light time is long and it is relatively warm. Bees are a kind of warm-blooded animals, they need to keep the temperature in the hive constant at 36-38 degrees, and to maintain this temperature, they will consume their "food". If the place where the nest is built has sufficient sunlight and high natural temperature, when the bees maintain the temperature in the nest, the consumption of "food" can be reduced. This is the knowledge researched by scientists later. The beekeepers in Qinling don't know this knowledge, and Hatiz doesn't necessarily know it, right? But they can use their experience to figure out the "mind" of the bees and do what they like.
When Hatiz went to the cliff to recruit bees, he carried an upside-down funnel-shaped hood; the Qinling beekeeper also had such a hood. Although they are on opposite ends of the earth, their ways of using nature are surprisingly similar: both make up a cover, and both use cow dung to stick the cover tightly... If there is any difference, it is Hatiz's use of The material is not bamboo, but a kind of rattan, which is larger in size; while the Qinling beekeepers use bamboo, which is slightly smaller in size.
So why make this cover?
It's called a beehive. We can understand it as a temporary beehive for turnover. Bees always like to stay in dark places, so whether in North Macedonia or Qinling, China, when beekeepers make this beehive, they want to create a "hole" that can be easily transported. They lure the bees from their previous holes into this temporary "hole" of cow dung; they eventually move to a new, safer home built for them by beekeepers.
Although they are thousands of miles apart, North Macedonia and Qinling share the same idea of collecting materials locally, following the habits of bees, making beehives, and making beehives to attract bees.
3. "The bee is the treasure of heaven"
Ten years ago, I felt that my fourth dad's bee colony was never going to grow, and I self-righteously suggested that he learn new technologies, scale up, and commit to underwriting. But the fourth father was indifferent, and only said calmly: "The bee is a treasure, it mainly depends on your fate."
When he said that alone, I didn't agree. But almost all of the hundreds of beekeepers I've met over the past decade have said the same thing. Uncle Li of Taibai Nature Reserve told me earnestly: "Beekeeping is only a hundred barrels, and after a hundred barrels, you have to be careful when you do things."
Beekeeping depends on fate? Is it a treasure? Does that mean that when we lie at home and wait, the bees will come by themselves?
of course not.
First of all, the source of honey is the key. When the source of nectar is good, the bees are prosperous. Generally speaking, beekeepers with more than 100 barrels live in the Qinling core reserve. There is almost no agriculture here, and the surrounding hundreds of kilometers are all forest areas, the road is difficult to walk, and the people are sparsely populated. Living here, you must be able to endure loneliness and endure hardship.
Secondly, the more buckets, the more likely to be selected by bees. Placing several buckets of different sizes on a cliff can increase the success rate of bee recruiting. Applying beeswax to the inner wall of the bee barrel not only attracts the bees to the smell, but also lays the foundation for the bees when they build the nest, reducing the effort they need to secrete beeswax.
In addition, even if you recruit bees, when placing the bee barrel, if the sun is not enough, the wind is too strong, and the rain is not enough, the bees will leave you.
And if the beekeeper always uses pesticides in the field, the bees are reluctant to come.
So, although fate is very important, if you have a relationship with a girl, but don't really love her, will she really want to be with you?
If you are hypocritical and don't give your heart, the bees will not want to be with you.
4. You can't live on it alone
Hatiz is not seen in the film engaging in other agricultural activities, and life would be difficult to secure if beekeeping presented an irresistible risk.
In Qinling, few beekeepers rely on only one income to make ends meet. The ancient method of beekeeping in Qinling Mountains is like raising chickens and ducks. Every household has it, but more or less.
If the beekeeper's geographical location is good, the source of honey is good, and if they can stick to the ancient method, the proportion of honey income will be higher. The beekeepers we assist earn from one-tenth to three-quarters of their income from honey, but none of them rely on honey alone.
Brother Liu in Hanxilin District grows Gastrodia, Polyporus, Chonglou and other medicinal materials, and keeps about 100 barrels of bees; Fangjia in Niuweihe Nature Reserve keeps more than 100 barrels of bees, grows dogwood, Chonglou and other medicinal materials, and collects Phellinus japonica , Chonglou and other medicinal materials; Brother Wang of Xiaolongshan Nature Reserve, keeps more than 80 barrels of bees, and grows medicinal materials such as Tianma, Huangjing, and peony...
Compared to the Qinling beekeepers, Hatiz's income structure does seem to be a bit single. Without the bees, there is no livelihood. Judging from her conversation with her mother, she fell into despair.
In the beginning, we also hoped that the beekeepers could develop professionally and increase the honey production. Later, it was found that limited nectar sources, abnormal climate, spraying of pesticides in forests... These uncontrollable factors may lead to the death of the bee colony or the decline of honey production, and even lead to no harvest.
Therefore, the ancient method of beekeeping and conservation is to encourage beekeepers to use local natural resources and wisdom to diversify their sources of livelihood. That way they don't put all their hopes in life on beekeeping.
5. Moderate honey collection: adjust with price
Hatiz's bees are gone, mainly because of Hussein and businessmen.
At the instigation of the businessman, Hussein took so much honey that his bees eventually ran out of honey to eat. Hatiz's bees are threatened and honey stolen. The businessman was not satisfied, and instigated Hussein to go with him to find wild honey—and those wild bees were precisely the source of Hadiz’s bees. They sawed down trees and hollowed out the hive, and the bees had no choice but to flee.
The businessman only wants more honey, but he doesn't consider whether Hussein's beekeeping career will last, and he never thinks that what he does will drive Hatiz to a dead end. The fact that businessmen do this also shows that there are a group of consumers waiting to grab honey in the market. If there is no demand, where will the harm come?
Qinling is also similar here. "Take half and keep half" is the principle that Qinling beekeepers have adhered to for many years. But as demand for native goods increases, beekeepers are also driven to fetch more honey. Some beekeepers did not listen to the advice of the elders and took too much honey, which made the bees unable to survive the winter. After transitioning from traditional beekeeping to new-style beekeeping, some people take too much honey and feed white sugar in winter, which makes the health of the bees worse, and is infected with rotten disease, and most of the bees die.
In addition, some Qinling "Hussain" will use modern living frame beehives to raise bees, and want to produce more honey. However, because Qinling's own honey source is better than that of North Macedonia, the honey of the "Husseins" does not show any additional advantages, and sometimes even slows down sales - the market itself is also undergoing natural regulation.
But without merchants, beekeepers can't make concrete connections with urban consumers, which obviously won't work either. So, can there be businessmen to help create or even maintain balance?
Bees build their own nests, breed themselves, divide bees naturally, and eat their own bees for the winter; the ancient method of beekeeping should be more in line with the natural habits of bees, and take care of the integrity of the bee colony. livelihood. If some merchants use price leverage to moderately increase prices, it can make the beekeepers themselves more stick to their traditional practices.
Adhering to appropriate collection and diversified operations can completely take into account the lucid waters and lush mountains and reasonable income. For those beekeepers who want to try new beekeeping, we can also support and explore together. On the premise of taking care of the natural habits of bees, we can help them increase their production and reduce the price appropriately, so that some consumers can buy it. Cheaper natural honey.
6. A mountain that cannot be returned?
Hatiz from North Macedonia is in her 50s, guarding her 85-year-old mother at home, picking honey alone in the mountains. The beekeepers in Qinling Mountains rarely see anyone under the age of 40. The age group of 50-70 accounts for more than 80%. Younger people almost all go out to work. Many people who can stay are also because they have to take care of the elderly or children.
Brother Liu from Hanxilin District, in his 40s, grows Gastrodia elata alone in his hometown, and his wife takes the children to school in the town. He said that he could not adapt to urban life and was reluctant to go out to work, so he mainly relied on Gastrodia elata cultivation and beekeeping; Wang Mingchun, in his 50s, stayed with his wife in a big ravine in Xiaolongshan Nature Reserve, digging medicines, planting medicines and raising them. Bee, at the same time guarding his elderly parents; Brother Xiong from Hanxilin District, in his 50s, grows Gastrodia elata and feeds sows and cattle with his wife. Brother Xiong has a son in the army, a daughter in school, and a daughter who is married. He wants to save money to buy a house for his son and earn tuition for his daughter.
Young people can't go back. Although it is possible to earn more money than in the city, it is too lonely and too hard for young people to bear.
The people on the top of the mountain moved to the middle of the mountain, the people on the middle of the mountain moved to the foot of the mountain, and the people at the foot of the mountain moved into the city. Like the water on the mountain, people slowly flow to lower, more open, and more developed places.
What will happen in 10 or 20 years? There is probably no one living in the mountains, and there is no more ancient beekeeping. Like "The Land of Honey", there are only tombs left.
What will happen to the bees? If there is no one to guard them, will they be hurt by the bear? Wouldn't they be healthier if no one took their honey? No one catches them with a beehive, isn't it freer?
Neither Hatiz nor the Qinling beekeepers regard the bee as a worker on the assembly line. They love bees. They know deeply that they cannot do without bees.
Since there are still beekeepers living in the deep mountains of Qinling Mountains, and since everyone still needs the sweet honey brewed by bees, let humans and bees get along well together.
Photo: Still Frame from "Land of Honey", Liu Mishu
Editor: Chunhui
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