Catching cicadas for food brings small fortune

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A man sells cicadas by the roadside. [Photo/CFP]

Residents catch cicadas to sell as food, earning 500 yuan a night

For most people, cicadas mean endless annoying noise in summer. But for residents in Huaibei in East China's Anhui province, it means a bit more money in the bank.

When darkness falls, parents and children take flash lights and bamboo poles, and go to nearby woods to catch Golden Cicadas, whose prices shot to 0.5 yuan apiece this year from 0.05 yuan due to their rarity as a result of pollution in recent years.

"Our family of 4 could catch 1,000 cicadas in one night. At 0.5 yuan apiece, we could earn around 500 yuan," said Wang Tao, a local cicada catcher, adding that last summer they earned more than 10,000 yuan.

Fried Golden Cicadas are a popular local specialty. Cicadas live underground as nymphs for 5-12 years before they tunnel to the surface and emerge.

It has become increasingly popular in recent years to eat cicadas in east, central and north China, including Shandong, Shanxi, Henan, Hebei and Anhui provinces. Golden Cicadas are becoming endangered due to unbridled catching by locals. In some regions, people do not hear the call of cicadas anymore.

In our next story, parents pay big bucks for their children to gain "superpowers".