Apis cerana cerana has the biological characteristic of gnawing off the old brood cells for rearing multiple generations of workers. This study investigated the internal structure of newly built, old, and semi-rebuilt brood cells and their effects on the morphological development of workers to understand the significance of Apis cerana cerana gnawing off the old brood cells. The structural dimensions of the brood cells and the morphological characteristics of the newly emerged workers were measured. The results showed that Apis cerana cerana gnaw off the old brood cells mainly in two ways either by removing the whole cell or only the cell walls keeping the bases. The workers construct semi-rebuilt brood cells on the foundation of these old cell bases. The main shapes of the newly built, old, and semi-rebuilt brood cells are hexagonal prism, hexagonal prismatic table, and hexagonal prism having three rhombuses, hemisphere, and hemisphere-shaped bases, respectively. The average thickness of the newly built or semi-rebuilt brood comb was significantly smaller than that of the old brood comb (P<0.05), while it was almost the same for the newly built and semi-rebuilt brood combs (P>0.05). The depth of brood cells showed no significant difference between the three types of brood cells (P>0.05), but the brood cell volumes were significantly different (P<0.05). There was no significant difference among the three diameters (at the top, middle, and bottom positions) of newly built or semi-rebuilt brood cells (P>0.05), but these changed within the old brood cells (P<0.05). The top, middle, and bottom diameters of the newly built or semi-rebuilt brood cells were significantly larger than those of the old brood cells (P<0.05), but were almost the same between the newly built and the semi-rebuilt brood cells (P>0.05). The weight and base thickness of the cocoon were significantly greater in the old brood cells than those in the semi-rebuilt brood cells (P<0.05). Importantly, the birth weight, body length, and the tested 6 external morphological indices did not show a significant difference between the newly built and the semi-rebuilt brood cells (P>0.05), but were significantly larger than those of old brood cells (P<0.05). The size of brood cell and the external morphology of the workers showed a positive correlation. This study highlights the significance of Apis cerana cerana gnawing off the old brood cells providing a reference for its scientific breeding.