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Veterinarians and Animal Scientists

Tang Xiangfang and the Next Round of Huaxi Cattle Selection

A deputy director in Beijing who pledged faster genetic progress for China's home-bred beef breed.

Who is Tang Xiangfang?

Tang Xiangfang (唐祥芳) is a deputy director of the Institute of Animal Sciences at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) in Beijing. He appears in a September 2026 report on the Guangming Daily mobile site about Huaxi cattle, China's home-bred specialized beef breed. The same piece is the main public source on his role.

Because the available record is limited to that article and its companion pieces, this entry is marked thin. It reports his public statements and the documented history of the program, not his education or earlier posts, which were not found.

The new round of selection at Wulagai

According to the report, Tang announced a new round of intensive selection on the Wulagai platform, the breeding base where the Huaxi core herd was set up in 2003. The new round combines genomic selection with intelligent phenotype measurement, meaning automated recording of the traits of live animals.

His stated target is to raise annual genetic progress in the core herd by more than 3 percent. He also announced plans to build what he described as the world's first Huaxi cattle genome reference database, a collection of genotype and trait records against which new animals can be scored.

What is Huaxi cattle?

Huaxi cattle were bred by CAAS over 43 years, from 1978 to 2021, and received national variety approval in December 2021. The report gives adult bull weight of about 900 kilograms, finishing daily gain of 1.52 kilograms and dressing percentage of 61.3 percent. The aims were high dressing percentage, high lean meat yield, fast growth, and wide adaptability.

The institute led a progeny testing launch in 2015 at 14 bull stations and helped found the Huaxi Cattle Breeding Alliance in 2017 with more than 40 breeding companies. The report says genomic selection cut the generation interval by 40 percent and raised genetic gain by 20 percent.

  • The population covers 14 major provinces with 31,600 head, as reported.
  • Frozen semen reportedly holds a 25 percent market share.
  • Huaxi cattle were exported to Laos, described as the first self-bred Chinese beef breed to go abroad.

The Key to the Program's Success

Tang's public role is that of an institute leader setting the next goal, so the key lessons are those the documented program shows. The sources do not describe his personal contribution to the breed, and credit is given here to the team.

A cost worth noting is time. Even with genomic tools, a generation takes three to five years in the core herd, and the program ran 43 years before approval.

  • Set a numeric target, such as more than 3 percent annual genetic progress.
  • Combine genomic selection with automated phenotype recording, instead of relying on one.
  • Build a reference database so new calves can be scored early.
  • Keep the core herd at a single platform, Wulagai, while spreading bulls nationally.
  • Back the work with state support: a scientist quoted in the report called national backing for the seed industry the strongest support.

The Cattle110K chip behind genomic selection

Genomic selection depends on genotyping tools. The report says the Cattle110K chip, with 110,000 loci, was completed at the end of 2022 as China's first commercial beef cattle gene chip, and that its domestic market share reached 85 percent after a 2023 launch. A colleague, Chen Yan, is quoted as saying foreign related products dropped significantly in price after the research succeeded.

A separate report on the chip gives a price of roughly 400 yuan per chip, so the reported figures differ by source and date.

Why it matters for global beef

A national beef breed with its own genome reference would reduce reliance on imported breeding stock. Beef readers can compare with North American breed association practice in the ranching section of farm.FM and a farm.FM story about genomic selection in beef cattle.

What is not known

The reviewed sources do not give Tang's career dates, qualifications or publications. A companion article, a People's App column, appeared in search results and was not opened for this entry.

Timeline

  1. 1978Start of the 43-year Huaxi cattle breeding program
  2. 2003Breeding core established at Wulagai
  3. 2015Progeny testing launched at 14 bull stations
  4. 2017Huaxi Cattle Breeding Alliance founded
  5. 2021-12Huaxi cattle receive national variety approval
  6. 2022Cattle110K beef genomic chip completed
  7. 2026-09Tang announces a new round of intensive selection and a planned genome reference database

Frequently asked questions

Who is Tang Xiangfang?

Tang Xiangfang is a deputy director of the Institute of Animal Sciences at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences in Beijing, named in a 2026 report on the Huaxi beef cattle program.

What did Tang Xiangfang announce?

He announced a new round of intensive selection at Wulagai combining genomic selection with intelligent phenotype measurement, aiming for over 3 percent annual genetic progress, plus a planned Huaxi genome reference database.

What is the Huaxi cattle breed?

Huaxi cattle are a Chinese beef breed developed by CAAS from 1978 to 2021 and nationally approved in December 2021, with adult bulls near 900 kilograms and a 61.3 percent dressing percentage.

Sources and further reading

Profiles are compiled from public sources and reviewed against them. See our editorial policy to suggest a correction.

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