Earning Millions through Live Stream Selling Crickets
Cricket fighting is a popular pastime in China, and now people are making millions of yuan a month by selling them on live streaming platforms.
Every August and September, cricket enthusiasts will carry their lanterns and follow the crickets’ sound in hopes of finding them in the Central Plains of China.
A long history of cricket fighting culture
Cricket fighting, where two male crickets are placed together to fight, is a popular pastime among the Chinese. Crickets have existed for a long time, with at least 140 million years of history. Male crickets fight in the wild, biting each other to defend their territory or fight for mate rights. In the arena, a straw is used to brush their heads gently. After several rounds of teasing, the male crickets will start to fight.
The cricket fighting culture originated from the Tang Dynasty dating back thousands of years. It was a pastime for aristocrats in the palace in the early years before becoming a game common to the folks. The cricket fighting culture is relatively mature in China’s ancient capitals such as Xi’an, Beijing, Shanghai and Hangzhou, developing a complete industry value chain. Every autumn, different places will hold cricket fighting tournaments to encourage interaction and exchanges among cricket enthusiasts. Tianjin TV station’s cricket fighting tournament, for example, has been held for nearly ten years.
Crickets can be found in many parts of China, with varying characteristics depending on their origin. Ningyang county of Tai’an city and Ningjin County of Dezhou City in the Shandong province are the largest producing areas of crickets. Every year, many high-quality crickets from these regions are delivered to other parts of China. The crickets in Shandong have big heads, bulky legs and healthy skin colour. Like most insects found in the arid north, they also have the tenacity and resilience to fight.
Ningjin county, known as the “no. 1 cricket county in China”, has five large trading markets and more than 80 specialized cricket villages, bringing in hundreds of millions of yuan in annual revenue from cricket trading. Apart from selling crickets, the markets in Ningjin sell many other “essentials” for cricket enthusiasts — such as mini plates for food, straws for drinking, and cricket food. Merchants also offer nets, torchlights, rain boots and bags for those out to catch crickets in the wild. Cricket fighting is considered provincial intangible cultural heritage in Ningyang, with cricket cultural festival being held for 21 consecutive years. The cricket industry can bring billions of yuan worth of economic benefits to the locals every year.
Selling Crickets Online Increasingly Popular
Due to COVID-19, online sales have become the default for selling crickets. In 2017, one cricket in Ningyang county was sold for RMB 110,000 (USD 17,300), causing quite a stir.
Major e-commerce websites and live streaming platforms are active with cricket sellers. Consumers typically buy crickets for three purposes: for cricket fighting, owning it as a pet, or serving it as food for other pets (such as for geckos). The former requires the crickets captured from the wild, as they are more aggressive — making them suitable for cricket fighting, while the latter two are usually farmed.
The cricket culture in China has been thriving for many years. There are many “criteria” for consumers to buy the right cricket by judging their appearances, such as having a big physique, a light body, a big head and a uniform skin colour. Each year, the winner of the cricket fighting tournament becomes the “ideal cricket” for other contestants to follow suit.
Now, buyers and sellers can reach each other easily and with more transparent information shared online. However, the influx of information on major e-commerce platforms makes it hard for new players to decide which crickets to buy. This makes niche websites more popular among cricket players. On the APP‘Wei Pai Tang’, hundreds of new cricket shops are opened between July and October every year. Among them, Mr Zhu’s online stall “Autumn Bug Meeting” has remained in the industry for five years, and it now ranks first in all cricket-related categories. His live broadcast sales reached RMB 3 million (USD 471,000) between August and September this year.
Mr Zhu “played” crickets with his father since he was a child. When he grew up, he bought and sold crickets at work due to passion and interest. In 2016, Zhu became unexpectedly popular when selling his crickets on the “Wei Pai Tang” APP. Users in “Wei Pai Tang” are higher quality, with more substantial buying power than mainstream e-commerce websites. The platform also has stricter supervision of merchants and commodities. Crickets are sold through auctions on this platform, offering crickets to buyers with the highest bid price. Cheap crickets usually cost tens to hundreds of yuan, and high-quality crickets can cost tens of thousands of yuan. Each cricket comes with a detailed profile, and buyers can consult the customer service or enquire during live streams.
During August and September, the peak sales season, Zhu’s shop has 30 to 40 crickets for auction each day, with six live broadcasts and four rotating anchors hosting the live stream. He currently acts as an intermediary, enabling his suppliers to sell crickets directly from his live-streaming account, and he takes a 20% sales commission. To obtain higher quality crickets, Mr Zhu also invests more of his time in expanding the supply chain of the cricket industry. He is encouraging more friends to join the industry and become ambassadors of the cricket fighting culture.
Unhealthy Competition
Crickets have a short life span, and raising them is certainly not an easy task — a wild cricket can only live for around 100 days. The quantity and quality of wild crickets also depend on the climate. When there is too much rain, crickets tend to be less common. As fertilizers and pesticides are now essential to farming in China, the wild cricket population is severely affected by disruptions to their natural habitat. With crickets in short supply, taking care of crickets becomes a necessary process. Many cricket fighting tournaments are equipped with specialized cricket caretakers and coaches to prevent any accidents harming the crickets. As high-priced crickets don’t always win in the ring, players are thrilled by the risks, and they are willing to spend vast sums of money to groom the “best cricket”.
Despite being a niche hobby, the profit in the industry remains lucrative. Profit-driven merchants often pose farmed crickets as wild ones, especially on the Internet. To win the competition, some breeders even feed crickets with illegal drugs such as hormones or LSD. When opponent crickets smell these drugs, they become sensitive, and as a result, they usually turn around and give up the fight. Making illegal bets on cricket fighting is another huge source of revenue in the industry. Many live streaming platforms that promote betting on cricket fights often pose as gaming channels. Some also set up Wechat groups and operate as private casinos or even commit fraud.
To many people, cricket fighting as a sport remains controversial. Cricket fighting has become part of traditional Chinese culture, and various regions are also starting to protect and promote this culture. However, gambling is also heavily involved in this localized hobby, causing many to oppose cricket fights. It remains to be seen if the cricket fighting culture in China can be passed down from this generation to the next.
