The aggressive general—Cricket

Crickets are commonly known as crickets. Many children have played with them, especially those who grew up in rural areas. Almost all of them have played with crickets. Perhaps when the little crickets fight, the spirit of being able to withstand trauma, endure the pain, and fight tenaciously, the spirit of "the general dies on the battlefield, the cold and unyielding ambition is rewarded", and the victor's " The unique charm of the triumphal sound of "Du, Du, Du..." is the fundamental reason why cricket breeding continues to thrive in our country.

Crickets belong to the order Orthoptera and the family Gryllidae. Their bodies are dark brown or yellowish brown. They are stout and about 15-40 mm long. Their heads are round and shiny. Their antennae are filamentous and have 30 segments, often exceeding the body length. Males are aggressive and vocal. The female is silent and mute, commonly known as the "three-tailed worm".

Crickets are insects that undergo incomplete metamorphosis. Adult crickets are solitary by nature and live alone. They usually live alone in one burrow. Only when they are mature and in estrus does the male recruit female crickets to live in the same burrow. If two males meet in the same cave, they will fight. This is the biological basis of cricket playing. But in the nymph stage, 30-40 of them often live together in one room and are very affectionate. The female can lay about 500 eggs in her lifetime, which are scattered in the soil and overwinter with the eggs. Crickets have one generation every year. They like to live in cool places with abundant food, and often come out to look for food at night. Adults like to jump, and their hind legs are very explosive. The jumping distance is about 20 times the body length; a few species have well-developed hind wings and can fly. The turn of summer and autumn every year is the prime period of adults, and it is also a good time to catch and play crickets. Crickets are extremely widely distributed and can be found in most parts of the world. There are more than 3,000 species of crickets, and there are more than 50 species in my country. Among the countless creatures nourished by nature, it is really ordinary. But it is so loved in China that it has developed into a special cultural phenomenon.

Cricket fighting with a long history is an important folk activity in my country and is also part of the most oriental Chinese ancient cultural heritage. According to the Tang Dynasty's "Heritage of Kaiyuan Tianbao": "In the Mid-Autumn Festival in the palace, the concubines and concubines kept crickets in small golden cages, placed them beside their pillows, and listened to their sounds at night. This was also the case in the homes of common people." Therefore, raising crickets has a broad foundation in our country. From the palace to the people, from cities to remote villages, from emperors and generals, celebrities to school children, there are thousands of people who are good at raising crickets.

Raising crickets began two to three thousand years ago. According to historical literature research, "the ancients played with crickets" began in the Tang Dynasty, was written in the Song Dynasty, and flourished in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. According to Gu Wenjian (Song Dynasty)'s "Fu Xuan Za Lu": "The game of fighting crickets began in the Tianbao Room. A rich man in Chang'an would carve ivory into a cage and keep it in a cage. He would pay ten thousand gold to peck it." . It can be seen that raising and fighting crickets not only started in the Tang Dynasty, but also became a popular gambling practice at that time. Our predecessors devoted great enthusiasm to this humble insect. In the process of practice, people have accumulated a lot of valuable experience. Whether it is the ancestral secret book or the raising method of contemporary folk cricket fans, its inner mechanism is profound and subtle, and has extremely rich connotations. Jia Sidao of the Southern Song Dynasty was my country's first expert on crickets. He compiled my country's and the world's first cricket monograph "Promoting Weaving Classics", which provided detailed research information on the capture, identification, raising, and fighting techniques of crickets. The scientific nature, artistry and interest of Chinese crickets have long formed a "Chinese cricket science".

The endless fun of cricket fighting is also a way for people to enrich their spiritual life. Watching the fierce scene of cricket fighting is very interesting. Two little bugs, although they are tiny things, seem to understand people's thoughts. They are fighting in the bottle, advancing and retreating well, attacking and defending well. Suddenly they move forward with their heads raised, and sometimes they retreat and change from attacking to defending. The winner raises his head and screams, while the loser flees in despair. . The whole process is full of fun and brings people spiritual enjoyment. As the saying goes, "Experts watch the door, while laymen watch the excitement." In the cricket fighting battlefield, experts watch and talk about it: the intensity and excitement of the fight between the two males are directly related to the species of cricket, the trial training before the match and the fighting method of the opponent. Human boxing has punches, and cricket fighting also has "routines." When two heroes fight, if the opponent just touches his teeth, he will be thrown out, making it impossible for the opponent to get close to him. Some people describe this fighting method as like a gust of wind blowing out of the mouth, blowing the opponent away, and it is called "blow pinch"; Contrary to "blowing the trap", if you can bite the opponent tightly at the beginning and keep dragging him back, and finally the opponent has to reluctantly escape, it is called "retaining the trap"; if you bite the opponent at the beginning The opponent's teeth are clamped violently, and then the head is quickly shaken from side to side, swinging back and forth, leaving the opponent with no room to fight back. This is called "swinging clamp". In addition, there are various fighting "routines" such as "back clip" and "collecting clip".

The fights and bites between the two male crickets are often exciting, intense and inseparable, a feast for the eyes of the spectators. Regarding the exciting scenes of cricket fighting, Wu Liang and others have a very vivid description in "New Cricket Score": "The two sides first tested each other's skills tooth to tooth, and then went head to head" to compete for the top, or Teeth grinding against each other. Sometimes one party overwhelms the other, and the other party pauses for a moment, then immediately attacks back; sometimes one party has strong teeth and can hold the other party tightly, but the other party bends down and kicks the other party away with its hind legs. One party is humiliated and then retaliates by pushing hard and pushing the other party far away. What's more, the two sides competed with each other to gnash their teeth and make scraping noises until one of the teeth was bleeding, but they still continued to fight fiercely. When both sides are evenly matched, it's like going up to a bull. When the two sides throw each other away, the clever cricket often flutters its wings and screams before winning, trying to scare the other side, but the other side is often not intimidated. After a few seconds, the two insects fight again... These are all stalemates. There are endless fierce battles, but sometimes there are scenes where the outcome is decided in just a few rounds." It is no wonder that such an exciting battle attracts many cricket fans and onlookers.

Several insect friends gather together to talk about how to raise insects, the secrets of selecting crickets, or anecdotes about fighting, which not only enriches people's amateur spiritual life, but also deepens their mutual feelings, as if they are back to the "sunrise" The primitive life of "working and resting at sunset" is the intrinsic reason why cricket fighting activities are becoming more and more popular.

In recent years, with the improvement of people's living standards, cultural life has also begun to diversify. From the simple "cricket fighting" activity, it began to transition to "art", and then gradually integrated into the huge ancient Chinese cultural system. Many cities across the country have successively established cricket associations, cricket clubs and other cricket research and development , utilization, viewing and entertainment organization, the cricket market is unprecedented in many cities and regions. China's "cricket fighting" has also begun to take center stage. In the 1990 Tianjin International Sister Cities Art Festival, there was a unique performance, the Cricket Fighting Observation Tournament hosted by the Heping District Government. Hyatt Regency Tianjin organized a cricket fighting competition to entertain foreign friends during the National Day. During the Beijing Asian Games, cricket fighting was allowed to compete at the Longtan Lake Temple Fair in Beijing. The cultural activity of cricket fighting has enhanced the friendship between China and the people of the world. In its "Watch the East" program, an American radio station broadcast China's "cricket fighting" to the world as a traditional cultural form.

The No. 1 Pastoral Singer Cricket is what attracts the most attention for its chirping, and is known as the "Pastoral Singer". There is an indescribable joy in listening to crickets chirping in the wilderness. Listening and studying carefully, the music they "sing" roughly has the following five meanings: ① In peacetime, when there is no interference, they can often play "Rhapsody". The chirping sound is peaceful and contented, and the tone is pure and bright. It is this kind of sound that we usually appreciate, and it is also a sound that distinguishes the quality differences between individuals; ② When encountering interference from the same kind, in order to protect their territory from infringement, they often use warning sounds to intimidate the other party. The sound is exciting and short, and according to measurements, the volume is often as high as 66-72 decibels; ③ When two heroes meet, they shout provocatively to show their power; if the duel is won, they will play the "Victory March" to show their power. Its sound is loud, its chirping is endless, and its volume is as high as 75 decibels; ④ Male and female insects share the same nest, and the male worm woos the female with a "love song" and then plays a "lyrical song" with a quiet tone and a clear and graceful tone. , just like the "Besi" played by the band, it is full of love, earnest, melodious, poetic, and the volume is below 60 decibels; 5. When a couple makes love, they often make a sound that expresses "pleasure" The sound: "Di Ling --- Di Ling..." is like a "love song" of "The wind seeks the phoenix".

Catching and Selection of Crickets Go to nature to catch crickets yourself, you can bathe in the beautiful wind and sunshine, and stretch your muscles. If you can catch a few good insects, you will feel the joy of hunting and harvesting. Autumn is a great time to catch crickets. During this period, many cricket fans went out one after another, traveling long distances day and night, really forgetting to eat or sleep, hoping to be lucky enough to find one of the best fighting crickets in the world.

In fact, there is a lot of knowledge in catching crickets. First of all, we need to understand the ecological environment of crickets and their living habits in order to capture high-quality, top-grade crickets. The habitat of the crickets is the key to determining the quality of the insects. Under normal circumstances, those who live in piles of broken bricks and rocks have strong constitutions; those who live among soil and weeds have weak constitutions; and those who live in caves in barren soil and sunny areas have low quality. In nature, the strong always reproduce and the weak are eliminated. Therefore, high-quality crickets can be caught in inaccessible places, such as barren mountains, ancient temple ruins, and rubble. The crickets that live in ordinary melon, bean and vegetable fields and Tianlong roadsides are often of average quality, although of course individual high-quality crickets will occasionally appear.

The time to catch crickets is also very particular. Generally divided into day fishing and night fishing. For day capture, choose a cloudy day with high light brightness and uniform illumination, making it easy to capture. If you can still catch a hermaphrodite "couple" at noon. Because this is the wonderful time for them to "go on dates" and play "love songs". Catching at night is mainly based on listening to chirping, because crickets chirp continuously all night long until dawn. You can hold a flashlight to look for the sound and track it to determine the quality of the insect. Usually, those with a loud and broad voice, with a few occasional calls, or those with long intervals are considered top quality; those with a low, weak voice, and those with continuous calls are definitely a poor quality.

Pay special attention to safety when catching crickets. It is often heard that crickets are eager to hunt for insects, and they will dig around the corners of the house, causing the house to collapse or be bitten by venomous snakes and scorpions. When catching in rural areas, you must pay more attention to the care of crops and never destroy them just to catch insects. crops. When catching insects in urban gardens and gardens, be sure not to damage the greening.

Cricket fighting should be done with appropriate playthings, otherwise it will be counterproductive. The Prime Minister of the Southern Song Dynasty, Jia Sidao, was a marquis who "played with insects and ruined the country", and was known as the "Cricket Prime Minister" in history. Ma Shiying, an important minister of the Ming Dynasty, misled the country by playing with insects, which greatly damaged the country's power. He followed in the footsteps of Jia Sidao, and was jokingly called "Mr. Cricket" in history. Shen Defu's "Wanli Yehuo Bian" records: "The prodigal son of Wu and Yue is very fond of this play. Every time he bets on the outcome, he often wins hundreds of gold, and some even break his family." The ancients had three realms of playing cricket: one was "paying attention to things", such as Jia Sidao and Ma Tuying, who played with insects and ruined the country; the other was "gambling for entertainment", using cricket fighting as a means of gambling. This is "Jia Zhiliu Du"; the third is "meaning in things", this is the highest state, and it is done by many literati and elegant people. "Listening to its singing can make you forget your tiredness; watching its fighting can make you feel happy. "Only the latter can make cricket fighting an entertainment that cultivates taste and cultivates one's moral character.

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