Qingdao wild prawns are favored, selling for 8 yuan each

On September 5, 2016, in Qingdao, Shandong Province, the start of the fishing season set taste buds abuzz, with dozens of kinds of small seafood hawked at the docks, drawing crowds. Only Qingdao's wild sea-caught prawns can be bought solely during the open-sea season, and their extremely small quantity makes them a precious ingredient, favored by the public.

At the fishing port stalls, Qingdao prawns and zebra prawns sell for 8 to 12 yuan each, with sizes of 15-20 cm, and their genuine quality at a fair price makes them hot sellers.

In October 2015, the Qingdao "sky-high prawn" incident once sparked heated discussion, and the memory of a business owner passing off ordinary farmed prawns as "sea-caught prawns" to fleece customers is still fresh.

Wild sea-caught prawns are now rarely seen on the market; they can only be encountered sporadically at the docks after the open-sea season, with at most just over 20 at each stall. Only the eagle-claw shrimp (li shrimp) and mantis shrimp, which Qingdao people love, have high yields and can be seen everywhere.