The Chinese no longer want to eat turtles, an entire industry is dying (7 photos)

It's a sad story, but turtles are becoming less popular in China. You might not know, but there used to be very successful turtle farms scattered all over the country that raised up to 1 million shells at a single location.





Look at the turtles they raised! They're plump!

The Turtle Boom, Their Meat, and Other Body Parts

A real turtle boom happened in China in the 90s. A good advertisement was provided by national track coach Ma Junren, whose long-distance running team broke several world records at the 1993 World Championships in Stuttgart and the Chinese National Games in Beijing.

Ma attributed his athletes' success to a formula made from soft-shell turtle blood and caterpillar fungus. The following year, at the 1994 Asian Games in Hiroshima, his soft-shell-based elixir, Ma-One, sold for US$7 per 20-milliliter bottle.



The same legendary trainer who delighted China

Then the Chinese were crazy about turtles! Hundreds of people started breeding them.

And from a farm of 600 square meters, the income was up to 300,000 yuan. Half a kilo of turtle cost 70 yuan.

At the same time, small turtles were valued higher than large ones.

“At wedding banquets, they liked to serve one turtle to each guest, so it was more profitable for them to buy several small turtles at once.”



And I was amused by the turtle farms in Sri Lanka, do you know what the signs are for? Different eggs are buried there

But by 2012, the income from this farm had dropped to 10,000 yuan. The income fell simply catastrophically, and the turtles are no longer worth anything.

Many turtle ponds were hastily converted into fish farms. And soft-shelled turtles almost completely disappeared from city markets.



Even turtle mugbang couldn't save the situation

It's sad because turtles have been farmed in China since the Zhou Dynasty (1046–256 BC). But back then, their meat was only available to the rich.

What's so great about turtles?

Softshell turtles have historically been considered a semi-mythical creature in China due to their medicinal properties. According to Chinese legend, turtles live for over 10,000 years, and their meat is prized as a cure for fertility problems, cancer, and rheumatism. And in southern China, they're a delicacy. In Humen, the stomach of a female turtle is cooked to regulate the flow of qi. And the males are roasted whole to… improve the texture of the skin.



The pond is dug up and rebuilt, removing all the turtles

I wonder how the Chinese came to such conclusions about the medicinal properties?

Why turtles are no longer needed

On the other hand, the younger generation is too busy to cook, and puts the convenience of their food above its freshness. They rarely visit seafood markets for live animals.

In 2020, reports of overuse of antibiotics on turtle farms published by regulatory bureaus across Guangdong Province further discouraged young consumers from buying turtles.

Now, like dog meat in Korea, turtles are only bought by grandmothers for their medicinal soups.



This is how I sell a live turtle in a net at a fish market

And at the same time, keeping turtles became more and more expensive. Land rent increased sixfold, turtle feed doubled in price, and labor costs increased. But the price of turtle meat remained unchanged, the same 70 yuan. There is practically no margin left.

But young people do not want to inherit a nearly unprofitable business, and as the owners of turtle farms age and retire, no new ones take their place. This is a slow process of the death of an entire food industry.



Healing turtle soup from grandma, brrr