Abstract: The pine shoot beetle Tomicus yunnanensis (Kirkendall and Faccoli) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae) is one of the main pests of pine forest in southwest China. Its life cycle involves reproduction in the phloem of trucks or larger brunches of dead or weakened trees, followed by a long maturation feeding by callow adult in shoots of healthy trees which often cause massive tree death. A simple and practical method for rearing T. yunnanensis was set up using host timber segments and artificial pupal cells by continuous rearing works within past four years. Then its experimental population was established in laboratory and the living habits during the latent phase were observed using this new rearing method. The results show that it completes three generations in one year under laboratory condition in Kunming, Yunnan Province. The mean time of each generation is 101 days, and the mean survival rate is 92.4%. A mating female begins to oviposit after 6 days and may last 122 days. The average oviposition number is 429 per female in its life time. The method is easy to operate and may provide effective approaches for getting standard experimental insects for further research.