In Depth: China Struggles to Wean Itself off Bear Bile Farming

On a stifling summer’s day in June, after driving through dense forest along the eastern border of South China’s Guangdong province, Caixin’s reporter arrived at Raoping Black Bear Farm.

The metal gates roll open to reveal a roughly 5,000-square-foot facility, around the size of two tennis courts housing some 100 mature black bears, each confined in an iron cage measuring around 1 cubic meter (35 cubic feet). The thumping sound of their 300-pound bodies colliding with the bars of the cages fills the air.