9 replies to this topic

[kaiselin]

I have read that the Chinese keep crickets as pets, that to have a cricket in the house is good luck and that it is a sport to see whose cricket can win a battle.

I came across this site and found it quite informative. I had no idea there were so many varieties of crickets.
http://bolingo.org/c...s_nametable.htm

Edited by kaiselin, 13 January 2008 - 02:16 AM.

[kaiselin]

When it comes to Chinese superstition, the cricket plays a critical role. Throughout history, they have resembled intelligence and good fortune. In fact, if a person were to harm a cricket, it was believed they would have great misfortune. Even today, in parts of eastern Asian, the male cricket will be caged so people can enjoy the song they make.

The Chinese culture is filled with interesting and unique facts, with the cricket being one. Children in China still love catching crickets and placing them in cages. No doubt, this will be a favorite pastime throughout time.

The cricket culture in China dates back 2000 years and encompasses singing insects and fighting crickets. During the Tang Dynasty from 500 BC to 618 AD, the crickets were respected for their powerful ability to “sing”. It was during this time that they started being captured and kept in cages so their songs could be heard all the time. In the Song Dynasty from 960 to 1278 AD, a new sport was developed called “cricket fighting”.

This sport became so popular that China actually produced a Cricket Minister, Jia Shi-Dao who reigned from 1213 to 1275. However, he was accused of not managing his responsibilities because he was obsessed with the cricket-fighting cult. Then from 1427 to 1464, a Cricket Emperor, Ming Xuan-Zhong ruled in favor of cricket fighting, making his palace a major tribute to this insect. Literally thousands of crickets were sent to the capital every year to discover their financial fate. Amazingly, there are hundreds of documented stories of people committing suicide because of a losing or injured cricket.

Eventually, even the Chinese farmers would use the cricket to tell them when it was time to start preparing the fields for the spring harvest. This indicator of climate change is called Jing-Zhe, which translates to “Walking of the Insects”.

Many famous Chinese songs were written, keeping the sound of the cricket in mind. For example, the autumn words Qiu, which are used in songs, actually take on the shape of crickets that are inscribed on bones or the shell of a tortoise. Even well known collections of poems and proverbs have been written that show reverence to the cricket. Some of these include Shi Jing, Shi Zhong, Sha Ji, and Cu Zhi.

The combination of singing ability, strength and vitality, and life cycles are what make this a creature of appreciation. The fact that crickets lay hundreds of eggs lines up perfectly with the Chinese belief that of all the ingredients for life, the one most important for success is to have as many children as possible
http://www.asianartm...cagearticle.htm

[kaiselin]

There are some assorted things about crickets


Illustration from Er-Ya
(ca. 500-200 B.C.),
copied from Meng, 1993




Cicada (top three and
crickets (bottom two)
glyphs from Zhow, 1980


Listen to the Cricket
by Bei Ju-Yi, Tang dynasty

The Singing cricket chirps throughout the long night, tolling in the cloudy autumn with its rain. Intent on disturbing
the gloomy sleepless soul, the cricket moves towards the bed chirp by chirp.




Cricket by Yi ? Ming dynasty

What's the matter with the crickets? Their sad melodies fill the night. So few they are, yet so loud their song. It cuts through the breeze and coagulates in the drizzle. No sleep in sight for the anxious lady within her home.
http://www.insects.o...nese_crcul.html

Edited by kaiselin, 13 January 2008 - 02:49 AM.

[fireball]

I think it would be interesting to have crickets as pets, but I generally stay away from insects as pets.

[kaiselin]

I think it would be interesting to have crickets as pets, but I generally stay away from insects as pets.

We had a a Spotted Gecko for about 12 years and the only thing it ate was crickets. So I got quite used to listening to them chirp. It was amazing how long it could go without eating.
In August and September we did not have to buy the crickets, but just catch them in the yard. It wasn't all that gross, they tickled your hand as you carried them, but not any worse then holding a firefly or a daddy long-legs.
And at least they don't spit in your hand the way grasshoppers do. yuck
We tried to raise them so that we wouldn't have to go buy them all the time, but could never get the conditions right.

[Yun]

Kaiselin, here's an interesting read for you, from an article published in 2004:
http://books.google....E...1&ct=result

It's in a book entitled Les Insectes Dans La Tradition Orale/Insects In Oral Literature And Traditions, edited by Elisabeth Motte-Florac and Jacqueline. M. C. Thomas, and published by Peeters Publishers, 2004. Most of the articles are in French, but several are in English.

The author of the article, Robert W. Pemberton, is an entomologist working in the Invasive Plant Research Laboratory of the USDA:
http://www.weedbiocontrol.org
http://www.weedbioco...tists/staff.htm

[kaiselin]

Kaiselin, here's an interesting read for you, from an article published in 2004:
http://books.google....E...1&ct=result

It's in a book entitled Les Insectes Dans La Tradition Orale/Insects In Oral Literature And Traditions, edited by Elisabeth Motte-Florac and Jacqueline. M. C. Thomas, and published by Peeters Publishers, 2004. Most of the articles are in French, but several are in English.

The author of the article, Robert W. Pemberton, is an entomologist working in the Invasive Plant Research Laboratory of the USDA:
http://www.weedbiocontrol.org
http://www.weedbioco...tists/staff.htm

Thanks Yun,
I will try to find it.

[Yun]

Kaiselin, you can actually read most of the article online using Google Book Reader, if you have a Google account.

The article mentions another type of singing grasshopper that the Chinese keep: the katydid or large long-horned grasshopper, known in Chinese as the guoguo 蟈蟈.

When I was in Beijing some years ago I actually saw some of these katydids in small baskets hanging from a willow tree. This was outside a restaurant on the shore of the Shichahai lakes ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shichahai ), and the katydids were used to lend a more rustic atmosphere to the place:


Here are some pictures of guoguo:




Apparently guoguo are also eaten in China, and here is a Chinese site on their cultivation as a food resource:
http://www.cngghc.co...18172448767.jpg

Check out the site's video clip (taken from a Chinese TV program), which shows scenes of guoguo being reared on a farm and deep-fried in the kitchen.

[kaiselin]

I read the English part, but like you said most is in French, and while I can read a bit, it is not enough to get the full jist of the articles.

Here is a site that I ran across a while ago that lists the different names and types of crickets

http://bolingo.org/c...s_nametable.htm

[Kenshinng]

I read the English part, but like you said most is in French, and while I can read a bit, it is not enough to get the full jist of the articles.

Here is a site that I ran across a while ago that lists the different names and types of crickets

http://bolingo.org/c...s_nametable.htm

hehe and good fortune is also why they put a cricket into the Disney cartoon Mulan? some people even listen to the sound of crickets