The Utilization of Insect-resources in Chinese Rural Area

Human beingsʹ uncontrolled exploitation leads to the rapid consumption and depletion of many natural resources. Mankind is facing an unprecedented dilemma in survival and development. Searching, development andutilization of new natural resources will be an important way to solve the current problems. Insects, as animportant natural resource needing to be further exploited, have aroused wide concerns and may play animportant role in tackling food crisis and natural resources depletion. In China, insects have been being utilizedfor a long time as an important natural resource and there were lots of practices and experiences in the use ofinsect, especially in the rural regions. In this paper, we presented the current situation of insect utilization inChinese rural regions and introduced edible insects being used by ethnic people in Yunnan province of China, theplace which is special for its diversity in ethnic culture and folkways. In addition, constraints and prospects inusing insect resources were discussed and analyzed as well. It was expected that the experiences in using insectresources in China could be helpful for other countries to promote the utilization of insect resources in nearfuture.