China’s cricket catchers cashing in on insects that can float like a butterfly and sting like a bee
Ancient sport’s links to underground gambling mean prizefighters can change hands for huge sums of money
An annual cricket craze is sweeping a rural area of east China as demand for the leaping insects soars among “trainers” who use them for fighting and gambling, online media reported.
Throughout the breeding season of August and September, hundreds of people in Linqing, Shandong province, flock to the fields every night to hunt for the chirping beasts, which they later sell, Thepaper.cn reported on Tuesday.
Those who train the creatures for prizefights are prepared to pay big money for the chance to get their hands on the insect world’s equivalent to Floyd Mayweather.
“I catch crickets and can make 40,000 yuan (US$6,000) to 50,000 yuan over the two months,” Li Dong, whose day job is running a small food stall, was quoted as saying.
“That’s more than my yearly income from selling breakfast snacks,” he said.