Yip Ki-hok: Owner of Wing Wo Bee Farm
Beekeeper Yip Ki-hok owns Wing Wo Bee Farm in Sha Tin, one of the few apiaries (bee farms) left in Hong Kong. He tells June Ng about the beauty of bees.
HK Magazine: When did you start this apiary? And when did you become interested in bees?
Yip Ki-hok: I founded it in 1983, although I was first interested in bees at age seven. I have eight siblings. When we were young, sugar was such a luxurious item—you could only get one tael per week. Then I started to think, if I could set up my own source of honey, I wouldn’t need to depend on the government rations. I could even sell the surplus! My uncle used to keep a little bee box in his backyard and that’s how I became inspired.
HK: Why are you so fascinated with bees?
YK: Somebody once told me that the bees are actually a gift from a Buddhist deity because they offer honey to mankind for free. I don’t know if that’s true or not, but they’re lovely because running an apiary requires almost no capital! All you need is the skill to find the beehives, domesticate the bees, and know how to harvest the honey, and you’re set. It doesn’t take big money to get started. That’s why I chose to become a beekeeper. Bees have a funny character as well, just like humans. If you leave too much honey in the hive, they will get lazy and won't work as hard as before since they know their stock is full.
HK: So what kind of training do you have to go through in order to become a beekeeper?
YK: I sort of just taught myself when I was in secondary school. I just tried to remember what my uncle used to do. I stalked bees, learned where their hives were located, and tried to experiment. I mastered the skills—after being stung many times, of course.
HK: Sha Tin was just a serene village two decades ago but now it's a totally urbanized new town. How does that affect the bees?
YK: Even though Sha Tin looks very urbanized, the bees can still gather honey from the flowers near Lion Rock and Needle Hill, and even as far as the woods of Tai Po. But at the same time, this is still a very convenient location—we can attract the crowds who come here to visit the Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery. That’s how we managed to keep it a family-run business while still making a living.
HK: Have you heard of bee sting therapy? Do you offer such services at your apiary?
YK: Maybe I count as an unintentional practitioner, because I am stung very often, and I do think my immune system is stronger than average. However, I don’t sting people with bees here. More often than not, patients or doctors come here, buy a dozen of bees or so, then go home and sting themselves.
HK: Apart from selling honey, pollen, and the bees themselves, is there any extra cash you make from them?
YK: A long time ago there was a soap commercial that required lots of bees, and I literally took a whole hive to a studio in Chai Wan for a shoot. And in the 80s, there was a TV drama production that needed killer bees. They asked us for my help because killer bees feed on honeybees, so there were a few around our apiary. It’s such good money. They offered $80 for a big one and $50 for a small one, even if they were dead, and they’d take as many as we could find.