How do you make money from giant salamanders? Mou Jianhua's secrets in the mountains

The giant salamander has a big mouth, and being fierce and combative is its nature. This little companion swallows heads whole when it wants to, and once it bites down, it never lets go, thrashing while it swims, showing off its victory. Yet Mou Jianhua holds his giant salamander and dares to make such a dangerous move. Because of the giant salamander, he dreamed of getting rich overnight, but one careless moment nearly turned it into a nightmare. Carrying nearly a million yuan in debt, he started over from scratch, and not only succeeded in farming giant salamanders but also led 40 local farming households to make money from giant salamanders together. Watch how Mou Jianhua, against the trend of plummeting giant salamander prices, relies on the local mountain forest resources to break through and stand out.

This is today's protagonist, Mou Jianhua. Before the reporter arrived, he had already said that giant salamanders are very fierce. To let us feel just how fierce a giant salamander is, Mou Jianhua put two giant salamanders of different sizes into a viewing pool. Unexpectedly, in less than half an hour, the reporter saw this scene: one of the giant salamanders kept chasing and biting the other, and although the other kept dodging, it could not escape no matter what.

Just then, the reporter saw a horrifying scene by the pool: the larger giant salamander swallowed the other one's head into its mouth. We thought it would let go, but unexpectedly, once it bit down, it kept thrashing while swimming, as if showing off its victory, and even when it stopped, it showed no intention of letting go. The two giant salamanders stayed locked like this the whole time.

Zhang Huajun: Hurry.

Reporter: Did you see that? What do we do? Does it often do this?

Mou Jianhua: It often does this, attacking its own kind.

Reporter: Be careful it doesn't bite you.

Mou Jianhua: It won't, it won't.

Reporter: Could it already be bitten to death? Are you using your hands?

Mou Jianhua: Its teeth are clamped on.

Reporter: Careful, careful. Is this giant salamander not going to survive? Quick, on its head, there's a big wound on its head.

After a giant salamander is bitten, a white secretion appears at the wound. Mou Jianhua says that although the giant salamander has a big, cute head, its mouth is as big as its head, and it can swallow anything narrower than its own body.

Mou Jianhua: Once a giant salamander bites something, it won't let go; it has to bite it to death. This kind of thing is common. That giant salamander has a somewhat fiercer personality. It probably figured it could eat this smaller one, so it bit the head and swallowed from that side downward, just like a snake.

Mou Jianhua also told the reporter that giant salamanders are actually like people, each with a different personality. This one likes to chase and bite its companions, but Mou Jianhua says he has another giant salamander, and that one is gentler.

Mou Jianhua: It's afraid of light. When there's noise, it hides in a dark place.

Reporter: In this small bridge hole.

Mou Jianhua: Right, I'll catch it and bring it over.

Reporter: It's been dragged out. I see it's very docile.

This giant salamander weighs more than 20 jin and is the one Mou Jianhua has raised the longest. Mou Jianhua says that by docile he just means it won't bite people, but when a person gets close to it, it still struggles hard out of fear.

Reporter: I feel like it's very strong.

Mou Jianhua: Very strong. With a salamander like this, one or two people might not be able to hold it.

After being released, this giant salamander immediately swam toward the place with water. In a place where it felt safe, Mou Jianhua had the reporter touch the giant salamander.

Reporter: It really feels like the underside of a child's arm.

Mou Jianhua: Right, and the skin is very soft.

Reporter: Yes, and it's so slippery and soft. It raised its head. Forget it, never mind, I'm really scared of it. As soon as it raises its head, I get very scared.

Mou Jianhua: Be good.

In the reporter's eyes, this giant salamander could open its big mouth and turn to bite at any moment, but Mou Jianhua was completely at ease with it. In front of us, he started doing dangerous moves.

Zhang Huajun: What are you doing?

Reporter: Aren't you afraid it will bite you?

Mou Jianhua: It's fine, I'm watching it.

Reporter: Careful, careful. It really won't bite you?

Mou Jianhua: It won't, it's very obedient.

Today, Mou Jianhua not only farms giant salamanders but has also built 50 mu of fish ponds to farm Chinese sturgeon. The farmstead he runs has plenty of visitors every holiday. What attracts guests, besides the giant salamander and sturgeon that must be tasted, is also the wild game Mou Jianhua gathers from the mountains. Not only that, but going down into the fields to experience the fun of a countryside tour is also a major feature of Mou Jianhua's farmstead.

During the interview, Mou Jianhua deliberately kept the reporter in suspense in front of a stretch of terraced fields.

Mou Jianhua: There's also something special in these terraced fields that you can't see.

Reporter: Something delicious?

Mou Jianhua: Definitely delicious. It's also a very precious dish around here.

Reporter: Then can we go catch it in a while?

Mou Jianhua: You can catch it at night.

Reporter: Catch it at night? Do you have to catch it at night?

Mou Jianhua: It only comes out at night, with the lights on at night.

Reporter: Go catch it with a flashlight?

Mou Jianhua: Right.

When night came, Mou Jianhua took the guests and friends, and together we went into the fields to look for the delicious thing he had mentioned.

Mou Jianhua: This is a rice field eel, see it?

Reporter: Which one? Where?

Mou Jianhua: See it? This is a rice field eel.

What we were looking for was this kind of wild rice field eel. Don't underestimate it. This kind of eel that grows naturally in the fields is almost impossible to buy on the market. Mou Jianhua says that if you want to eat it, you have to go into the field and work first.

However, how many you can catch in these fields and how big they are all depends on luck, and our luck today was very good. Look, in no time we caught one this big.

Mou Jianhua insisted that the reporter try to catch one, saying that coming to his farmstead was all about experiencing a bit of countryside fun.

Mou Jianhua: You catch it, hurry up, hurry, hurry. Grab it with your hand like this. Right.

Reporter: Like this? This is grass, it's here. I'm very scared of it.

Mou Jianhua: All right, all right.

Reporter: My task for today is done.

A few people worked in the field for more than ten minutes and caught more than 20 rice field eels. These eels are first flash-fried in oil, then cooked with the chili and ginger that Sichuan people love most, and a dish of spicy eel is ready to serve.

At Mou Jianhua's farmstead, you can enjoy good food and even more the fun of playing. Today his business is booming more and more, but behind this actually still hides his past failure, and even his wife does not want to mention those past events.

Wife: It's been more than three years, and it was really hard work, that's how it was. I feel like my emotions are a bit off. Wait a moment.

During the interview, the wife was in a bad mood and left the scene. The experience that made his wife avoid it all happened because back then, Mou Jianhua was set on farming giant salamanders, and no one could talk him out of it. And all of this has to start with one of his beautiful dreams.

In 2012, 29-year-old Mou Jianhua and his wife were running an internet cafe. From meeting while working to opening the internet cafe, the young couple had saved 500,000 yuan over several years.

At that time, Mou Jianhua accidentally learned about giant salamander farming. That day, he realized his life was definitely going to change, simply because at the time the market for giant salamanders was so good that it made him dream of getting rich overnight.

Mou Jianhua: The profit margin in the market is huge. Think about it, one jin of giant salamander is one or two thousand yuan. What kind of concept is that? On average, one is anywhere from two and a half to three jin, so one is five thousand yuan. Buy five or six thousand giant salamander fry, and once they grow up, that's more than twenty million. By then I'd definitely be a newly rich upstart.