2. Incident
• 2011.2 Guizhentang attempted to list on HK’s alternative stock market.
This news was post on weibo by a journalist whose name is Yu Jichun
and related to huge amount of reposts. Most of which are against
Guizhentang’s bear bile extraction process. IPO plan was put off.
• 2012.2.2 Guizhentang was found on the GEM IPO declare list and this
message was post on weibo with some reposts from opinion leaders.
3. • 2012.2.9 CATCM show their supportive attitude towards Guizhentang.
Weibo voting results shows that the public are strongly opposed.
• 2012.2.11 Guizhentang was suspected of hiring astroturfers to vote for
their IPO plan’s approval.
• 2012.2.16 CATCM Chairman Fang Shuting’s statement that “the bears
are quite comfortable during the extraction process” made the issue
more complicated.
4. Bear Bile Extraction
The bear bile extraction process has gone through three
generations.
In the first generation, a bear is killed and the bile is taken.
In the second generation, techniques came from North
Korea in 1984 where “live bears” are used. Tubes are
stabbed into the bear for extractions.
The third generation is the present techniques where the
tubes are smaller, and there are other refinements.
Greentown’s method of extracting bile was legal in the
PRC and replaced older methods where the bear had to
be killed first.
7. Bear Bile Extraction
The annual yield of bile from 1
black bear through bear bile
extraction is equivalent to the
annual output of killing 220 wild
black bear.
