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Chinese Cricket Fighting Kiran Gathani delves into the underground competitive sport of Chinese Cricket Fighting
"Cash prizes for some of the more well known tournaments can be as much as ÂŁ1100"
H I STO R I C A L O V E R V I E W Cricket fighting is an ancient sport, originating in China over 1000 years ago during the Tang dynasty. It first came into prominence in Chinese aristocratic circles, with the wealthy paying massive amounts of money to buy the most ferocious breeds of cricket from across the world. Cash prizes for some of the more well known tournaments could have been as much as 10,000 RMB (about ÂŁ1100), which was a fortune that long ago. This sport later became known as a popular form of entertainment even among lower classes, and it was filmed on television and bets were regularly placed on cricket fighting matches. One prime minister of the Southern Song dynasty wrote a guidebook on cricket fighting, and after the cultural revolution - which took place in 1976 - the new communist government outlawed cricket fighting altogether as a bourgeois extravaganza. These events prove that cricket fighting must have had a historical and symbolic significance in regards to Chinese aristocracy and the ideas of class hierarchy. Nowadays, cricket fighting is more prevalent in the underground, as it has been officially made illegal to place bets on the fights. A cricket fighting ring
