Cricket fighting is a hobby and gambling activity involving the fighting of male crickets. Unlike blood sports such as bullfighting and cockfighting, cricket fighting rarely causes injuries to the animals. It is a popular pastime in China and dates back more than 1,000 years to the

Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, c=唐朝), or the Tang Empire, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907, with an Wu Zhou, interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed ...

. However, the sport has been losing its popularity in China.

History

Cricket fighting was nurtured by Tang dynasty emperors more than 1,000 years ago, and later popularized by commoners. In the thirteenth century, the Southern Song dynasty prime minister Jia Sidao wrote a how-to guide for the blood sport. Jia's obsession with cricket fighting is believed to have contributed to the fall of the empire. During the

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a Social movement, sociopolitical movement in the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). It was launched by Mao Zedong in 1966 and lasted until his de ...

(1966–1976) China's Communist government banned cricket fighting as a

bourgeois The bourgeoisie ( , ) are a class of business owners, merchants and wealthy people, in general, which emerged in the Late Middle Ages, originally as a "middle class" between the peasantry and Aristocracy (class), aristocracy. They are tradition ...

predilection, but it is now undergoing a revival among a younger generation eager to embrace traditional Chinese pastimes.

Culture

Cricket season begins in summer and championships take place after the autumn equinox in late September. In

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

, the Association for Cricket Fighting organizes cricket fighting events and championships. While it is illegal in China to gamble on cricket fights, the fights themselves are legal and occur in most big cities in China. Crickets are sold openly in street markets, with more than a dozen cricket markets in

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

alone. In 2010 more than 400 million yuan (US$63 million) was spent in China on crickets. Hotels in Macau have held cricket fights where bets up to thousands of patacas were waged on a single fight. Prized crickets have become famous, with funeral services on their death. In Hong Kong, the popularity of cricket fighting has declined since the 1950s and 60s, partly due to pesticides reducing the supply of fighters. In 2004, a champion cricket could cost more than $2,500. Lesser fighters could be bought from bird stalls for up to $30, or searched for in rural areas.

Care and breeding

The best crickets are from a few counties in northeastern Shandong Province. Crickets have pedigrees and would be carefully bred by knowledgeable keepers. Each cricket must be kept in its own clay pot and their diets include ground shrimp, red beans, goat liver, and maggots. Before fight night, female crickets are dropped in the pot to increase the male's fighting spirit.

Flight and anger

Crickets fights are arranged according to weight class. In a fighting container, handlers stimulate their cricket's antennae using a straw stick, causing the crickets to become aggressive. When both crickets are sufficiently agitated, a divider separating the pair will be lifted, and the two crickets will begin the match. The loser is the cricket that first begins avoiding contact, runs away from battle, stops chirping, or jumps out of the fighting container. Studies done indicate that the sense of "flying" encourages a cricket's fighting spirit. In one such study, a losing cricket put back into the ring will only go back to fight one out of ten times. If crickets are shaken and thrown in the air repeatedly, they will fight again six out of ten times.

Tournaments

The Yu Sheng Cup,Kaushi
"Cricket Fighting Contests in China"
. ''Amusing Planet'', 9 Nov 2011. Accessed 11 Jan 2015. another national cricket fighting tournament,"Chongming County" in the ''Encyclopedia of Shanghai'', pp. 50 ff.
Shanghai Scientific & Technical Publishers (Shanghai), 2010. Hosted by the Municipality of Shanghai. is held annually outside the Xilai Ranch in Lühua during the National Day holiday in early October, with a purse of .

References

External links

History of both singing and fighting crickets in China

Account of contemporary cricket fighting reprinted from American Way magazine

Article in ''Science Advances''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cricket Fighting Fighting Chinese culture Insects in culture Insect-related occupations or hobbies Animal combat organized by humans