Chen Xiuying and her "Sweet career"

Essayist Yang Shuo praises bees in this way: they are making honey and brewing life, not for themselves, but for the sweetest life for mankind. Today, in Zanhuang County, Hebei Province, beekeepers say that in addition to bees, Chen Xiuying, president of the Beekeeping Association, is also praiseworthy. Under the leadership of Chen Xiuying, we have not only increased our income, but also launched the brand of honey in Zanhuang County. She is the "founder of the sweet cause."

Gather together and develop to a higher level.

Chen Xiuying, 56, was born in Nanpan Village, Zanhuang County, Hebei Province.

Located in Zanhuang County, which is located in the depths of Taihang, the planting area of jujube is 450000 mu, and the local people keep the rich honey source given by nature to keep bees and sell honey. At the age of 23, Chen Xiuying began formal beekeeping and mastered a lot of beekeeping skills. After getting married, she bought 10 cases of bees and started her own sweet business. At that time, the bee farmers in Zanhuang County were scattered in the depths of the mountains, the information was blocked, and beekeeping was basically "harvested by heaven." Chen Xiuying said: "at that time, the technology and concept of beekeeping were very backward and everything developed naturally. The queen bee yield is low, and the disease resistance and collecting ability of honeybees are low. It is common to lose money after a year of hard work. "

Chen Xiuying is very worried about loving bees but not keeping bees well. In 1994, she got the news that a training course on bee therapy would be held in our country, and she immediately signed up. Going out to study this time opened her eyes. "Beekeeping is a very good industry for farmers in mountainous areas, but it is scattered from one household to another, the information communication is not smooth, the technology is not easy to update, the industry is out of scale, and no one can make money." An idea floated into Chen Xiuying's mind: to set up an association to unite beekeepers for common development.

Chen Xiuying suffered a lot in order to get the support of retail beekeepers. For a long time, she cycled into the mountains every morning and went door to door telling bee farmers the benefits of joining the association over and over again. When she is hungry, she eats her own steamed bread; when she is thirsty, she drinks some mountain spring water. Thanks to her efforts, on January 15, 1995, the Beekeeping Association of Zanhuang County, Hebei Province was finally established, and Chen Xiuying was elected president.

After the establishment of the association, Chen Xiuying repeatedly invited domestic beekeeping experts and experts to the county for technical guidance, and successively sent 16 students to Zhejiang Agricultural University for further study. The association has set up a bee industry service department to provide beekeeping equipment for bee farmers; to buy high-quality queen bees, to breed queen bees and give them to bee farmers for improvement free of charge; and to order more than 20 kinds of beekeeping books and periodicals, such as "Beekeeping Science and Technology," for bee farmers to learn. Driven by the association, the beekeeping level of bee farmers has been greatly improved, and most of them have mastered a full set of beekeeping techniques.

Strengthen the industry and create a brand

Royal jelly, honey, bee pollen. A dazzling array of bee products after modern packaging, from Zanhuang Mountain to the whole country, they have a unified brand-"Ruiyuan".

Chen Xiuying realized that in order for products to gain a firm foothold in the market, they must build their own brands. In 1997, Zanhuang County Beekeeping Association registered the trademark "Ruiyuan" for beekeeping products, which implemented unified packaging and unified sales, which improved the market competitiveness of the products.

With good bee products, it is necessary to broaden the sales channels in order to lead the vast number of bee farmers to become rich. Chen Xiuying set her sights on Shijiazhuang, the capital of Hebei Province, more than 40 kilometers from Zanhuang. At first, she rented a small storefront in a densely populated urban area. In order to promote honey, she pedaled her tricycle to the market early in the morning to promote it. Sometimes, in order to catch up with the morning market, she pedaled three wheels to pull the goods to a residential area 10 kilometers away for sale before dawn. "even if it's snowing, I still go out." She recalled. Where there's a will, there's a way. With excellent quality products and honesty and trustworthiness, Chen Xiuying is gradually recognized. At first, a humble storefront of less than 10 square meters has also grown to more than 10 chain stores all over Shijiazhuang and sales outlets in surrounding counties and cities.

In 2004, Zanhuang County Ruiyuan Bee Industry Co., Ltd. was officially established and gradually developed into an integrated enterprise integrating the production and operation of a variety of pure natural high-quality bee products, with annual sales of more than 20 million yuan. Today, "Ruiyuan" bee products have passed the certification of pollution-free agricultural products of the Ministry of Agriculture and won the title of excellent products in Hebei Province.

Driven by the Zanhuang County Beekeeping Association, the beekeeping industry in Zanhuang County has developed step by step, with more than 2000 farmers, breeding bases throughout the county's 11 townships and 158villages, with an annual output of more than 2000 tons and annual sales of more than 50 million yuan. the annual per capita income of bee farmers reached 50, 000 yuan.

Cultivate and publicize bee culture

Walking into Ruiyuan Bee Industry Co., Ltd., which is located in Yongfeng Village, Zanhuang County, the advanced testing equipment, modern production and processing equipment and supporting cold storage facilities in the factory are running, honey, propolis, royal jelly and beehive. After scientific processing, it has become a good health product loved by consumers. The company has also established a quality traceability system, which can be traced back to the source by leaving samples and identification codes on the packaging to ensure product quality.

Chen Xiuying often said that beekeeping is a healthy industry and a sweet cause, and bees bring us not only wealth, but also happiness. In order to develop the apiculture industry and carry forward the bee culture, the Zanhuang County Beekeeping Association has held the "Jujube Honey Bee" Tourism Culture Festival for four consecutive years since 2012, so that more and more people know about this sweet cause and enjoy the happiness brought by bees.

Chen Xiuying has a bigger dream: to build her own "bee museum" in Zanhuang County. After several years of efforts, in the Ruiyuan apiculture factory area, the main body of a bee culture museum with an investment of more than 5 million yuan and covering an area of more than 2000 square meters has been completed. The museum will be divided into six functional areas: bee culture exhibition area, honey source plant and bee breeding research area, and bee product processing tourism area, which can not only introduce China's long history of beekeeping development and modern beekeeping science and technology in a vivid and intuitive form, but also have an experience area for people to experience the fun of collecting pollen and royal jelly and taste the original royal jelly and honey.

Chen Xiuying said that the whole body of bees is full of treasures, and she wants to present the splendid bee culture to everyone.