I Have Heard Of Fighting Cockerels,

and even fighting fish,

 but fighting crickets is a new one for Me, the sport has been popular in China for thousands of years, and with the country in full economic boom, fans of the sport are investing more money into it than ever before, one town in particular has built an entire industry around the genetically-superior crickets living in the surrounding fields, and for good reason, as the best specimens can reportedly sell for up to 50,000 yuan (at today's rate £5,817 or $7,661),

We normally see them on the bug stalls in the market, but the tradition of cricket fighting can be traced back to the Tang dynasty (618-904), and the crickets found in the fields around the town of Sidian, in China’s Shandong province, have long been renowned for their large size and aggressiveness, both very important features among enthusiasts of the sport, in late summer and autumn, the area around Sidian is buzzing both during the day and at night, as the vast majority of townspeople and many others from neighbouring villages try to make as much money as possible during the annual cricket market, this involves spending hours each night trying to catch the elusive insects, an activity that 80% of Sidian engages in every year, but also training them into able fighters to increase their price, brokering transactions, and even operating hotels for cricket buyers travelling to the market from all over China, almost every household in town is involved in the cricket business in one way or another,

 banned during the Cultural Revolution, as a bourgeois pastime, cricket fighting has seen a resurgence as a true Chinese tradition, and Sidian town has been reaping the benefits, even locals who spend most of the year working in bigger cities and those who have relocated completely return for the cricket market every year, knowing that they will make a sizeable profit,

watching the video I was surprised to find out that there are captive breed crickets as well as wild caught ones, also that there are a number of weights rather like boxing, each cricket is weighed and can then compete in the same weight class, all of this is done for honour, 

with individuals as well as teams competing, as the video explains this friendly matching of crickets is just for fame and glory, as gambling on the outcome is illegal, but apparently it does happen, 

who would have thought it? fighting crickets or as some would say, 'Jiminy Cricket!' as an side the fighting fish I mentioned earlier is the Siamese fighting fish, (Betta splendens).