Of all languages, Tibetan would lend itself well to spelling bees. They use an alphabet, unlike Chinese. Most Tibetan words are spelled as they were pronounced centuries ago, so there are a lot of extra, silent letters.
An example is the Tibetan word pronounced ree-may (Romanized to rime) that is spelled in Tibetan with extra, long-gone consonants as ris-med. Similar are Romanized gya-tso (or dja-tso) spelled in Tibetan as gyam-tso; and jih-mee (sounds like English name “Jimmy”) spelled in Tibetan as jig-me.
As already mentioned by a number of non-American dopers, Spelling Bees are very closely associated with America and are foreign to most non-Americans. When I was a child in the UK, then in Ireland, there were no such things and I have never heard of one in either country, since I have been an adult.
The only times I have ever heard of a something Bee would be a Spelling Bee and a Quilting Bee and the only people I have ever heard of doing either were Americans.
Is bee the full word or is it short for something? A bee to me is a buzzy yellow and black flying creature (insect?) which makes honey.
Speaking from my personal experience, I have entered national schools quizzes and debating competitions, so maybe that’s what we do instead of spell - to stimulate intellectual competition in school children