The Xiao Long Xia banquet hosting 30,000 people in Xuyi, Jiangsu on June 13 Photo: VCG

If Chinese people are asked to name what kind of food they would like to eat on a comfortable summer night after a busy day, Xiao Long Xia (also known as crawfish), must be among the top three of their answers. 

Sat on red plastic chairs and dining plastic gloves, people pick up a Xiao Long Xia from a full platter of them, remove the shell, dip it back in the soup and cover it with a layer of sauce, then savor the tasty delicacy.

And this is something that can be witnessed at almost every food night market or barbecue street in Chinese cities. 

The just-opened 23rd yearly crawfish festival in the Xuyi county, East China's Jiangsu Province, clearly shows Chinese people's crawfish fever by bringing back the annual crawfish banquet with a new capacity of 10,000 people for the first time, after the banquet had been suspended for years due to the pandemic.  

More than 30,000 people gathered in Duliang Square in Xuyi on June 13, the first day after the festival kicked off and reportedly consumed about 40 tons of crawfish cooked in various ways: garlic crawfish, spicy crawfish, steamed crawfish and desserts made with crawfish… 

"I had heard of Xuyi Xiao Long Xia a long time ago, and I have always wanted to come here to have some authentic Xuyi crawfish," Zhang Shubao, a student from Southwest China's Sichuan Province who is now studying in Jiangsu, once told the media. 

Zhang said he was astonished to see 30,000 people gathering in one town square to eat crawfish and he has fallen in love with the taste of Xuyi's Xiao Long Xia. "I will come again next year," he said.

"Finally I can stuff myself with crawfish," a Xiao Long Xia fan from Beijing named Lu Kasi told the Global Times. 

Lu said that in Beijing, restaurants charge 8-20 yuan ($1.1-2.7) for a single Xiao Long Xia, but in Jiangsu, 20 yuan can buy about half a kilogram of tiny lobsters, which is about 10-20 Xiao Long Xia. 

"It is like a paradise for me," Lu said.

The crawfish - scientific name Procambarus clarkia - feed in fresh water and reside in swamps, rivers, and lakes. 

They originate from Louisiana, a southern state of the US, and were brought to China by Japanese people during the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression (1931-45), according to some media reports as well as the experts. 

Crawfish have also been trapped in a controversy for being dirty and containing excessive heavy metals as they burrow into mud to protect themselves and during the process heavy metals may easily deposit in its shell.

But none of these myths or controversies prevented the creature to "invade" Chinese people's hearts and bellies. 

Many fall in love with it due to its unique flavor.

Although crawfish present an appearance similar to the lobster, Xiao Long Xia does not share the latter's taste - or even the taste of other crustaceans such as crabs. 

"The South Korean drama My Love from the Star has made fried chicken and beer a very popular combination for diners in winter, but for me Xiao Long Xia and a cold Coke are the best for a comfortable night snack," Lu told the Global Times.

Little lobster, huge industry

Although not the original place of Xiao Long Xia, China so far has become the biggest breeder and consumer of the red crustacean. 

According to the Xinhua News Agency, there are more than 40,000 professional crawfish stores in China. 

In 2022, the output value of the crawfish catering industry was about 312.2 billion yuan ($436 billion), an increase of 9.18 billion yuan from the previous year.

In the same year, the breeding area of crawfish in China reached to nearly 28 million mu (1.87 million hectares) in total. 

Among them more than 87 percent are located in Central China's Hubei, East China's Anhui, Central China's Hunan, and East China's Jiangsu and Jiangxi provinces. 

Meanwhile, large-scale trial breeding fields of crawfish have also been kicked off in Southwest China's Sichuan Province, Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and South China's Hainan Province, according to Xinhua. 

Chinese rice farmers are also combining crawfish and rice farming. 

After rice harvests, crawfish farming can start, as the crawfish can act as field sweepers, eating the roots of the crops. 

This method not only allows crawfish and rice to benefit from each other's productivity, but it also reduces the usage of pesticides.