Hanshou Soft-Shelled Turtle Goes Global

"Our soft-shelled turtles weighing more than six jin generally sell for 128 yuan per jin (0.5 kg), and when market conditions are good, they can fetch up to 200 yuan per jin." Every morning, Huang Guichun, a soft-shelled turtle farmer in Hanshou County, Changde, Hunan, works with other farmers in the cooperative. They row a small boat to patrol the contracted water area, checking for damage to the anti-escape facilities along the shore, monitoring water quality, and assessing the growth of the soft-shelled turtles.

The soft-shelled turtle Huang Guichun mentioned is the Hanshou soft-shelled turtle, the only aquatic product in China's turtle and soft-shelled turtle category to hold both national geographical indication protection product status and agro-product geographical indication certification. Recently, participants of the "Gifts from the Land" Hunan Geographical Indication International Communication Press Tour visited Hanshou County to explore how this dual geographical indication product "swims" onto the dining tables of more than 10 countries and regions worldwide, building a 10-billion-yuan industry in the Dongting Lake area.

Hanshou County Lotus-Turtle Ecological Soft-Shelled Turtle Base. (Photo/Fu Jingyi)

Hanshou County is located on the western shore of Dongting Lake, with vast waters and selenium-rich soil. The county has the authentic premium Dongting Lake strain of Chinese soft-shelled turtle, with a breeding history of over two thousand years. It is the hometown of Chinese soft-shelled turtles, the starting place of China's turtle and soft-shelled turtle industry, and a strong county in the quality of ecological soft-shelled turtle in China.

In 1974, You Hongtao, a technician at a Hanshou-based foreign trade company, overcame the technical challenge in artificial incubation of soft-shelled turtles, pioneering artificial incubation and breeding of soft-shelled turtles. In 1979, Hanshou County established China's first special aquaculture research institute.

In 1975, when the King of the Netherlands hosted a coronation banquet and sought to source two tonnes of live soft-shelled turtles from around the world to entertain distinguished guests from various countries, many countries were unable to meet the required supply. You Hongtao, a technician from Hanshou County, relied on his independently developed artificial breeding and farming techniques to deliver the Hanshou soft-shelled turtles on time and in full. They were served at the Dutch royal banquet, earning high praise from international guests, and since then, Hanshou soft-shelled turtles have gained fame overseas.

Over more than 50 years, the Hanshou soft-shelled turtle industry has evolved from scattered wild harvesting to standardized ecological farming, continuously driving stable income growth for people in the lake area and earning a reputation both domestically and internationally for its “pure breed, delicious taste, attractive color, and pollution-free” products. In recent years, Hanshou has further built a complete industrial chain centered on the soft-shelled turtle industry, covering seedling breeding, ecological farming, deep processing, online and offline sales, and cultural and tourism integration, with total full-chain output exceeding 10.8 billion yuan.

"The unique geographical advantages and climate environment of the Dongting Lake area, and our distinctive ecological farming give our Hanshou soft-shelled turtle a unique natural flavor, which is the essence of a geographical indication product." Fu Xiaojun, secretary general of the Hanshou Soft-Shelled Turtle Full Industry Chain Association, noted that Hanshou soft-shelled turtles have dark green backs, white bellies, well-proportioned bodies and thick, broad calipash. They are highly nutritious, rich in selenium and high in umami amino acids. According to Compendium of Materia Medica, Hanshou soft-shelled turtles nourish yin and tonify the kidneys, clear heat and dissipate blood stasis, and surpass other varieties in nutritional and medicinal value.

At present, Hanshou County adheres to the aquaculture philosophy of "large water surface, low density, and eco-friendly practices," promoting four ecological models: rice–soft-shelled turtle co-culture, fish–soft-shelled turtle polyculture, lotus–soft-shelled turtle intercropping, and open lake ranching. The county's total standardized soft-shelled turtle farming area reaches 190,000 mu (approximately 12,667 hectares), with an annual output of 55,000 tonnes of marketable soft-shelled turtles and 120 million hatchlings, directly helping 54,000 people find jobs and increase incomes.

"Hanshou County ranks first among county-level cities nationwide in the three core indicators of farming scale, output, and industry output value," said Fu Xiaojun, adding that the county is home to 33 large-scale soft-shelled turtle farming enterprises, 20 deep-processing enterprises for soft-shelled turtles, and 72 specialized soft-shelled turtle cooperatives. As the regional brand influence of "Hanshou Soft-Shelled Turtle" continues to expand, local enterprises have successively developed 18 categories of derivative products such as prepared soft-shelled turtle dishes and ready-to-eat sauce-marinated soft-shelled turtles, allowing this authentic delicacy from Dongting Lake to "swim" abroad again.

Liu Yuejun, deputy director of the Hanshou County Institute of Special Fishery Sciences, explained that Hanshou soft-shelled turtles have long accounted for a significant share of China's edible soft-shelled turtle exports. In 2025, the annual export volume peaked at 1,500 tonnes, with products exported to more than 10 countries and regions including Southeast Asia, North America, and Africa. The main export products are live soft-shelled turtles, fresh pre-processed products, and deeply processed products.

In the mid-to-late 1990s, the Hanshou soft-shelled turtle industry also suffered from frequent incidents of inconsistent quality and counterfeit products due to reckless expansion, which severely damaged the brand’s reputation. In response, the Hanshou County Institute of Special Fishery Sciences collaborated with Academician Liu Shaojun's team to launch a project aimed at purifying and revitalizing the breeding stock. They established a national-level breeding base for high-quality soft-shelled turtles, thereby ensuring consistent quality for the geographical indication product from the source.

Hanshou soft-shelled turtles are fully traceable through the "one soft-shelled turtle, one chip, one code" system. (Photo/Fu Jingyi)

Hanshou County also adheres to ecological protection and standardized farming. Leveraging the advantages of its soft-shelled turtles as a geographical indication product which also holds the agro-product geographical indication status, the county has built an "one soft-shelled turtle, one code, one chip" Internet of Things traceability system. It regularly carries out assessments of geographical indication-authorized enterprises and joint market law enforcement, strictly cracking down on acts such as the unauthorized use of geographical indications and the passing off of inferior products as superior ones.

"Every authentic Hanshou soft-shelled turtle has its own 'digital identity card.' From seedling hatching to adult turtle harvesting, from water quality monitoring to pre-market testing, all process data can be traced by scanning the code," said Liu Yuejun. He noted that Hanshou County has issued anti-counterfeiting traceability QR code tags to enterprises authorized to use the "Hanshou Soft-Shelled Turtle" geographical indication. The "one soft-shelled turtle, one chip, one code" dual traceability model achieves full traceability from "pond to dining table," both safeguarding the reputation of the "dual geographical indications" brand and providing a quality guarantee for export trade.

Relying on geographical indication brand empowerment and industrial technology upgrades, the Hanshou soft-shelled turtle has achieved a significant leap in product value. In 2025, 34 enterprises were authorized to use the Hanshou soft-shelled turtle geographical indication trademark, and the geographical indication industry's output value reached 4.75 billion CNY. This marks a transition from primary aquaculture products to high-value-added, deeply processed products, with the product's core competitiveness and market value continuing to rise.

Zeng Yaosheng, director of the Intellectual Property Affairs Center of the Hanshou County Market Supervision Administration, noted that as a national pilot county for building a strong intellectual property county, Hanshou County is focusing on innovating the "patent + geographical indication" integration model. The county has continuously improved its working mechanisms, and comprehensively enhanced the economic, social, brand, and ecological benefits of the soft-shelled turtle industry, fully unleashing the power of geographical indications in empowering characteristic industries and driving regional economic development.

Chinese source: Chinanews