Life in Hong Kong is tense and hectic. Everyone rushes towards one deadline after another in their jobs. They are making a living at a frenzied pace like the busy bees.
What is the point of this compulsive need to hustle?
If bees were to vanish from the world, humans would only be able to survive for four years. Of the 1300 kinds of vegetations used by humans, over 1000 rely on pollination by the bees. They are the largest group of pollinating insects and the only pollinators that can be farmed by humans. With increasing urbanisation, agriculture continues to shrink. The source of nectars for bees is also decreasing. The bees in Hong Kong now rely on native trees and fruit trees grown by fruit farmers in the past. When this limited supply is exhausted it will hurry us along to our ultimate deadline.
Cheung Chi who once rode the crest of the wave in his working life has now learned to take things slowly. Beekeeping has taught him that everything in nature moves at its own pace. Nothing can be rushed. As farming or beekeeping is a symbiotic relationship with nature, it is dependant on the elements and must follow the natural rhythm. This modern farmer advocates vegetarianism because he is focused on a possible deadline in the future if we do not mend the ways we interact with and exploit nature. If we do not overdraw on nature’s resources but allow them to renew themselves, the future will continue much further for everyone.
Let’s take a step back and look at the ecology of bees to ponder the value of our frenzied human life.
