Anhui woman herbalist catches centipedes with ancestral skills
Original title: Anhui woman "herbalist" treks over mountains and ridges to catch centipedes
On May 14, 2016, in Chaohu, Anhui, on Niujiao Mountain in Chaohu City, woman "herbalist" She Dexiu uses an iron hoe to search for centipedes in the weeds. On that day, 50-year-old She Dexiu and her companions Zhang Songlan and others, 3 people in total, searched for and caught centipedes on Niujiao Mountain in Chaohu City. The picture shows woman "herbalist" She Dexiu explaining centipede-catching techniques.
She Dexiu, 50 years old this year, is a villager of Xia'ge Town, Chaohu City. "Live off the mountain, and the centipede is a very valuable traditional Chinese medicinal material." She Dexiu said that since the time of their ancestors, after Grain Rain each year, the people in the village began to search for and catch centipedes in the deep mountains. After catching them, they generally sold the centipedes to pharmacies or medicine peddlers, sometimes passing through several middlemen, and the money earned subsidized the household. The picture shows three women "herbalists" displaying their centipede-catching results.
"At most, we can catch 90 in a day." Although Zhang Songlan is 66 years old, she also joined the centipede-catching team. She said that now each centipede can sell for two yuan and a few mao. However, after the Grain in Ear period, they can no longer be caught. Catching centipedes is a seasonal job, and in one season the most one can earn is around 10,000 yuan in income, so since the time of their ancestors, catching centipedes has become one of the sources of supplementary family income for local farmers. "For safety reasons, we generally travel in groups of three or five." Zhang Songlan said that because the surrounding mountains are high and the valleys deep, they worry about encountering unexpected situations, and sometimes they are afraid, so everyone always goes in groups of several people when trekking over mountains and ridges to catch centipedes, so that even if an emergency happens, they can look out for each other. The picture shows woman "herbalist" She Dexiu displaying her centipede-catching results.
She Dexiu said that they come out at six or seven in the morning every day and finish at three in the afternoon. Sometimes they can catch centipedes, and they only run over one mountain top. If the harvest is not ideal, everyone will run over several mountain tops in a day. Over all these years, she has run over at least 100 mountain tops. The picture shows woman "herbalist" She Dexiu explaining centipede-catching techniques.
They have known how to catch centipedes since childhood; this is a heritage passed down through several generations. Now, where they are, even teenagers dare to catch centipedes, and everyone is not afraid. Zhang Songlan said that there are also times when they are accidentally bitten by centipedes, which causes redness and swelling and is very painful, but it is not fatal. To prevent being bitten, they all wear thick gloves to catch centipedes, and after catching them, they put them in a mineral water bottle, piercing several holes in the bottle cap with a needle to keep the air circulating. In addition, the techniques for catching centipedes also have their particularities: as long as they do not get close to a position the fangs and claws can reach when catching them, they will not be bitten. However, non-professionals who have never caught centipedes should still not take this risk. The picture shows that on Niujiao Mountain in Chaohu City, woman "herbalist" She Dexiu uses an iron hoe to search for centipedes in the weeds. (Author: Zhang Faping, according to Tencent)