Social Result
The current condition of termite damage in China
Housing Construction Damage
The graph above shows the current condition of Chinese housing construction damaged by termites. We pick 8 typical provinces, which locate from south to north: Hainan; Guangxi; Guangdong; Fujian; Anhui; Hubei; Shandong and Liaoning, and then gather the rough data for termite damage to the housing construction.
Obviously, provinces seated in the region south of the Yangtze River suffer more from termite damage.
It is worth mentioning that the destruction left by termites seems to be much more serious on historic buildings. In Zhejiang province, more than 50% of historic buildings have reported to be invaded by termites.
Fig1: Stand column invaded by termites from: Termites in Zhejiang
Fig2: Wooden roof destroyed by termites from: Termites in Zhejiang
Forest Trees
It is reported that increasing number of forests are suffering from termite damage these days. In the campus of Zhejiang University, in spring and summer it is easy to see the trees intruded by termites.
Fig3: trees intruded by termites in Zijingang Campus, ZJU photo by: ZJU-igemer
Fig4: trees damaged by termites in German Park photo by: Ming Chen ZJU-instructor
Public Facilities
Electric Wire
Every southern city in China has experienced the electric problem caused by termite invasion beneath the surface of ground.
Fig5: Electric wire eroded by termites in Hangzhou From: Termites in Zhejiang
Water Conservancy Project
The terrible damage to water conservancy projects caused by termites is still a great threat to the water project planning in China. 80% of the dam breaks in the Middle and Lower Yangtze River Region are due to termites.
Termite Control In China
History of Termite Control
The integrated control of termites begins in 1950s in China. At the beginning, people who focused on fighting against termites were the commons who did not have enough knowledge to deal with termites. They used the chemical insecticide and dug out the whole nest to control termite damage.
Fig1: People held a meeting to discuss how to control termites in 1950s. Words on banner: We Have To Win The War Against Termites
Institutes of Termite Control in China
The Government Of China has set up institutes of termite control in various provinces since 1960s, in order to have better effects for fighting against termites. The professional institutions allowed experts to design the plan for termite control systematically.
Fig2: Home Page of Chinese Termite Control Website
In this summer, igemers from ZJU-CHINA visited Hangzhou Institute Of Termite Control to get more information about the current situation of termite control and consult with them about our project design. We really felt the benefits brought by professional strategies and systematical methods.
Fig3: The Service Hall Of Termite Control Institute Photo by Zju-igemer
Fig4: Booklets presented by Hangzhou Institute of Termite Control Photo by: Zju-igemer
Fig5: ZJU-igemer consulting staff of Termite Control Institute Photo by: Zju-igemer
Termitcide Market
Although China has already earned a profound system for termite control, people who suffer from termite damage would not always choose professional institution to deal with termite invasion. For reasons of cost, some people might buy those low-price termitcides on shopping websites. However, those cheap drugs have a great possibility to be harmful to nature environment. For this reason, ZJU-IGEMers tried to promote the idea of ‘From Nature For Nature’ to realize the environment-friendly synthetic biological method to termite control--------Termite Terminator.
Fig6: low price of insecure termitcide on shopping website
Fig7: The theme of Termite Terminator---Form Nature For Nature
Termite control companies
Termite control in the U.S consists of two main parts------commercial corporations and government agencies. Commercial corporations often provide citizens housing termite control services, and government agencies do better at the maintenance of public facilities.
The U.S has a complete service system of pest-control companies. When people have problems of termite damage, they usually look for a company to solve them. However, as what is happening in China, some people would like to deal with termites by themselves, so some companies also provide customers advisors to treat termites in a suitable way.
Fig1: Page of termite control of a pest control company in the U.S http://www.doyourownpestcontrol.com/termite.htm
Fig2：the top 5 pest control companies on consumer affairs http://www.consumeraffairs.com/homeowners/aaa_pest_control.html#buyers-guide
Termite Control: China vs. America
Although Chinese has a much higher population density than America, there are more wood structure buildings in America, the level of termite damage in both countries are randomly the same.
Fig3: termites in the U.S
Fig4: termite nest in China
Both Chinese and American governments have done a lot to deal with termite damage, but they are different in some way.
Chinese termite control institute has a low charging standard, because government pays them the fundamental funds and technical assistance for local institute. The institutes not only take charge of controlling termites, they also should broadcast the perniciousness of termites.
Fig5: the public promotion page of Chinese termite control institute http://www.zgbyfz.cn/byfz.asp?cid=%B0%D7%D2%CF%CE%A3%BA%A6
American institutes pay more attention to the customer experience. The website pages of American termite control company show a customer-friendly attitude and leave an effective impact to people scan their websites.
Community investigation by ZJU-CHINA team
Fig1&2: ZJU-igemer investigating citizens in community
Place of investigation: Wangyue community in Xihu District, Hangzhou
Time of investigation: 19/08/2015
Investigation content:
Question1#:
Do you know termites are sometimes harmful to human beings?
Do you know the current condition of termite damage in Hangzhou?
Question2#:
If your house was invaded by termites, what kind of choice would you make? Buy pesticide yourself or look for professional institute?
Question3#:
The governmental institutes VS. Termite control companies. Which one do you trust more?
Question4#:
Would you choose the pesticide, which has a bad impact to the environment but works fast and has a lower price?
Question5#:
Would you like to choose biological control method, which is much safer but costs more?
Investigation result:
Question1：
More than 70% of our interviewee have experienced termite damage, and they all know that termites can destroy woods with a super speed. One security told us his real experiment of termite damage.
“ I bought a small apartment in Xiacheng district in 2006, but I didn’t live in it because I got a job in Beijing that year. In 2008, I went back to Hangzhou and planned to marry with my girlfriend, so we went to that apartment together. I was totally shocked by the scene. All the wooden furniture had been damaged by termites. The door case became into powder, all the chairs could not be used, and the reproductive termites lay on the windows. We can’t even open the windows…… We called Hangzhou institute of termite control for help, and it took nearly one year to eliminate all the termites in my apartment. I threw the damaged furniture and fit my house again….”
Although some people have experienced the damage brought by termites, the public didn’t know much about the current issue about termites in Hangzhou. It still needs to be broadcasted.
Question 2: Almost 50% of interviewees would choose professional institute, and another 50% prefer to buy pesticide themselves. Some of people who choose professional institute are those who know the severity of termite damage, for example, the security mentioned above. The others are those who have a higher level of knowledge, they know that they couldn’t eliminate termites just by themselves. But those who didn't know much about the termites would like to buy pesticide, they think they can win the termites. (Too young too simple)
Question 3: 20% of our questioned people thought they might compare their cost, then make the decision. Most of the interviewees would choose governmental institutes, because they thought it would be more reliable.
Question 4：More than half interviewees prefer to choose cheap pesticide instead of safe environment-friendly biological drugs. The reasons are below: Pesticide is more convenient and cheap, it can be easily purchased by shopping website. It works fast and a little poison won’t do too much harm to people.
However, nearly 30% people thought health is at the 1st rank, so they would like to choose biological drugs.
Question 5：Citizens that choose biological way care more about safety. A majority of them are middle class and well-educated people. One female white collar pointed out that, it doesn’t matter how much it costs, the most important thing is to live healthily. People that do not choose biological drugs have two main reasons, one is that cheap and valid chemical is enough for them to use. The other is that the cost of biological method is too much, it is not necessary to pay for it.
Summary
1. Citizens do not know much about Termites’ living habits and their current condition, but they all have heard about the information of termites.
2. People are willing to choose professional institute to control termites, but if their scale is not very large, people may choose kill termites by themselves.
3. Governmental institutes have more public trust. People prefer to call for governmental institutes to eliminate termites
4. Chemical insecticide costs less and the low-dose poison won’t be harmful to human being. Most citizens do not know the significance of ‘environment-friendly’ and do not care about the problem, and they prefer chemical termitcide.
5. The biological control system of ZJU-CHINA cost more. Some of interviewees would like to choose environment-friendly lifestyle, but most people will make their decision depend on the killing effect.
Conclusion
The product made by ZJU-CHINA could be promoted by virtue of government’s official platform. We also have to advertise the idea of environmental-friendly and biological safety, devoting to lower the cost at the same time. We believe that, our product will be better supported and applied in the future.
