Little Cricket God

Author: Lu Zhenzhong
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-04-01
Features: The story takes place in the late 1970s in China, during the era of reform and opening-up, when the land of China flourished with vitality and a burst of blossoms. Fighting crickets, a uniquely Chinese cultural activity, had been dormant for nearly 40 years but was now making a comeback in China. The work reflects the impact of the market economy on the hearts of young people and the distortion of the mentality of various rural residents under this historical background. Xiao Qianniu is a fifth-grade primary school student. Due to his mother's serious illness, his family incurred a huge debt, forcing him to drop out of school. His hometown is famous for its crickets. He is extremely intelligent and quickly learns to distinguish the calls of crickets, constantly catching valuable ones to pay off his family's debts. But his heart has become wild, and he no longer wants to return to school to study. That autumn, his hometown decided to hold the first cricket festival. Qianniu is no longer satisfied with catching crickets to sell money and develops the idea of participating in cricket fights, determined to win the championship of the cricket festival. To get a famous cricket, he dares to go to the Black Pine Forest alone at night to catch crickets. The old cricket king before liberation, now the guardian of the Black Pine Forest, Cricket Black, uses an ivory cage to catch a rare and extraordinary cricket hidden in the tomb—a tortoiseshell cricket. However, the elderly man, who was already on his deathbed, passes away on the spot. The novel has a unique perspective and is considered the first children's novel in China themed around crickets. The book is accompanied by over 30 exquisite illustrations by the renowned painter Wang Jiaqi, making the work even more delightful and a feast for the eyes, leaving readers captivated and unable to put it down.