Bee farmers check bees on a farm in Jiangshan, a county-level city in Quzhou, East China's Zhejiang province. [Photo/qz123.com]

Jiangshan, a county-level city in Quzhou, East China's Zhejiang province had generated an annual output value of 1.5 billion yuan ($218 million) in the bee industry as of March 27, according to the Quzhou agriculture and rural affairs bureau.

The city's beekeeping scale and economic benefits have been the highest among all counties, county-level cities and districts in the country for 31 consecutive years.

The city has been engaged in beekeeping and honey-making since ancient times.

In the 1940s, following the introduction of Italian bees to the local industry, a beekeeping craze swept across the city.

The city now has a national-level export quality and safety demonstration zone for bee products and the largest bee product distribution center in the country.

In 2020, Jiangshan created the province's first bee industry common prosperity alliance that raked in more than 90 million yuan for bee farmers in just three years.

In 2023, the processing capacity of bee products is expected to reach 30,000 metric tons, and the total output value of the bee industry is estimated to exceed 1.6 billion yuan.