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Hello, my name is Ming Li. I woke up with a start this morning, positive my brother was sneaking into my room. He’s been after my pet cricket for weeks now. But my brother was nowhere to be seen and Kwo Kwo was still there, chirping away. I carefully removed the lid from the loosely woven reed box that is his home to say good morning. It still surprises me how Kwo Kwo’s antennae are so much longer than his little brown body.

I’ve been saving up my money to get him a fancier cage. There was a delicate little box carved of sandalwood at the market last week. Did you know that the Chinese emperors kept their crickets in the lap of luxury? Some had cages of ivory, jade, or even gold! I’ve heard that in Japan they constructed cricket cages to look like country cottages, boats and big bells.

Here in China, during the Qing dynasty, the Imperial Palace even employed professional cricket caretakers! They would feed and care for the crickets, which they called Jiaoge-ge, or “singing brothers.” On special occasions the caretakers presented their insect musicians to perform for the emperor’s guests.

It turns out that from as far back as a thousand years ago, beginning with the Song dynasty, Emperors not only liked crickets for their musical talent, but also for their fighting prowess! Contests were held, much like boxing matches, in which two crickets were pitted against each other. One Emperor, Ming Xuan-Zhong, was so absorbed in the sport that he became known as the Cricket Emperor.

The Cricket Emperor’s enthusiasm was catching and people all over China collected the best crickets and sent them to the palace! It wasn’t long before everyone was raising their own crickets and holding local cricket fights. Books were written on the subject, even poems and plays! It became a national obsession that still exists today! Eventually, national cricket championships were limited to an annual event that was held each autumn. Local fights still happen all the time though, and that’s why my brother keeps trying to get a hold of Kwo Kwo!

I just like the little guy. He is always singing and everyone in the family (except my brother) thinks it’s quite soothing. Kwo Kwo is also a great “watchdog,” if you’ll forgive the terminology. The minute someone he’s not familiar with is sneaking about, he stops singing and everyone is alerted by the sudden silence. I can even tell what the temperature is! I just count the number of my pet’s chirps during 15 seconds and add 40 to the number!

Do you ever wonder how crickets make that chirping sound? If you watch carefully, you’ll see them rub their wings together. They rub a sharp edge (the scraper) at the base of one front wing, along a ridge (the file) on the bottom side of the other front wing.

What you have to remember is that only male crickets sing. They sing to attract female crickets and to scare off other males. Sometimes this works and sometimes it doesn’t. Some very clever male crickets silently meet up with the female while the vocal one is too busy singing to notice!

Even though Kwo Kwo loves to jump like his grasshopper cousins, he only needs a little space with some air holes and seems quite content if I keep him in a cool, shady spot. He likes to eat a small piece of potato, apple or lettuce every day. Personally, I’d recommend a cricket as a pet. You just have to be on your guard if you’ve got a brother like mine!