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They are then kept in quarantine for 14 days on the Chinese side of the border. The live donkeys arrive at the port in Xinjiang after a two-day journey through Kyrgyzstan. Companies involved in the live donkey trade need to have a Chinese quarantine permit. Since then, the number of companies importing live donkeys has increased from one to six, with more expected to join the trade this year. Irkeshtam Port began importing live donkeys from Kyrgyzstan in August 2016 and has handled more than 27,000 to date. It later apologized for "creating misunderstanding". However, an online post in February by a health service center under the former national health authority advised the public not to purchase ejiao, saying the traditional medicine is "not as nutritious as chicken eggs for the human body". The gelatinous medicine is mainly used as a treatment for anemia and menopause-related ailments. The live donkey trade was worth 10.03 million yuan ($1.57 million) last year. The donkeys are mainly sold in Shandong province, which produces about 90 percent of all ejiao products in China.
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Imports in the first quarter through the Irkeshtam Port - the only port in Xinjiang that handles live animals - more than doubled year-on-year to 8,000, according to data from customs authorities in Urumqi. The number of live donkeys being imported to the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region from Central Asia has soared in the past year to meet demand for ejiao, a traditional Chinese medicine made from boiled donkey hide. Xinjiang port handles 8,000 animals in first quarter of year A woman shows a box of ejiao at a pharmacy in Qingdao, East China's Shandong province in 2011.