Shilihe Market, cricket section
Wow, hit the singing insect jackpot today [Tues], which was great. Kelly, the Red Gate translator came with me to Shilihe Market [which I had not been able to find on my own] and here amongst the imitation Qing buildings were all the cricket sellers and buyers. All sizes of insects were for sale, in small what looked like adapted tins cans with lids. Groups of men gathered around them and poked at the creatures inside to hear their songs. One group of men were encouraging two crickets to fight. The paraphernalia associated with cricket rearing is really quite exquisite and detailed – I bought myself one clay cricket pot. There are what look like paint brushes with about 3 hairs at the end which are unceremoniously poked at the cricket to encourage a song. There is food plus tiny ceramic patterned food bowls to eat from – similar in size to doll’s house objects. I considered buying one, but their life span is 100 days, longer than I will be here in Beijing now. This is longer than they generally live for. The idea of having a pet cricket is to still hear their song during autumn and even early winter – a gesture that prolongs the sounds of summer. I must say that there is not much consideration of the need for leaves or soil or anything natural in these set-ups. Probably not much fun for the pet cricket. Kelly told me that in her opinion it is only ‘old Beijing men’ who are interested in these creatures, no one younger, and I don’t think it was the highlight of her week to go there with me! There were a few women selling the creatures, and also some younger men listening and buying.
The crickets I identified with Kelly’s help were the qu qu – the dark coloured fighting crickets [Velarifictorus asperses], the guo guo – which are katydids and big [Gampsocleis gratiosa], and also the zhu ling – the bamboo bell [Oecanthus longicauda].
