12/6/2006 ~ Hairy Crabs

On the Rio: Grateful Dead ~ Attics of My Life, 10/9/1989, Hampton, VA

We held a team-building activity 2 weekends ago and the group decided to go to Yangheng Lake to eat the renowned Hairy Crab. The restaurant we ate at was built on top of the lake.

The crustaceans become mature day by day with autumn.They get itchy feet to crawl to the mouth of Yangtze where fresh and salty water meet, to answer the call of nature - meet their partners and parent the next generations. It is a spectacular scene: millions of crabs crawl to the Yangtze River and swim eastward. Here is a restaurant dock worker pulling out the crabs from a cleansing tub.

Yangcheng Lake hairy crabs have features in common, that is, a shining green crust, a jade-white belly, golden legs with long hard hair, and spitting foam constantly. Each of them is about 200 grams in weight.

Female crabs have a round belly, while for male ones, it is pointed. The ninth month in the Lunar Calendar is the right time to try female crabs with much ovaries and roe, and the next month is better for male ones.

Here is my co-worker JL demonstrating the correct way to handle a crab.

Commonly, crabs are the last dish of a dinner, because they are so delicious that other food would not have any taste if you tried crabs first. So for our first courses we had such other delicious food as cold duck intestines, fried fish whole fish, snails (which I was told not to eat as they are so difficult to suck out of the shell and only eat the body, not the intestinal areas), kale, green beans, and some other items I do not know the name of.

And then the crab was served. Two to four crabs are a proper amount for one person, and we were each served 2: a male and a female. To most Westerners, eating crab is difficult, for the crusts are hard and they do not always know where to begin. Thank goodness my co-workers explained the entire eating ritual.

I started with the female. First, you pop off the bottom shell to get to the yellow eggs. Then you break the crab into 2. You can eat everything you see except for the white lungs. After the inside meat is eaten, you start on each leg. Now, I know in the US you get those fancy pliers and cute little forks to assist you, but not here (well, at upscale city restaurants maybe, but not at Yangcheng Lake). So, I managed to bite open a few legs without breaking any teeth (don't tell my dentist), and used my chopsticks to push the meat through.

Here are my team-mates enjoying the hairy crabs.

I was only able to eat one of my crabs. It was just too much hard work to go for the second one.

At least the tradition is to drink warm rice wine or beer with the crabs.

After the crab fest, we drove to Shajiabang, famous for its reed marshes and as a center of guerrilla warfare during the Anti-Japanese War. The Japanese troops were bent on exterminating all New Fourth Army personnel from the area, so leader Guo and his men took refuge in the nearby marshes and were sheltered by a local farmer woman. Of course, there is now a famous Peking Opera of this story.

Here is a picture at Shajiabang.

We went to a tea house there, and I watched my team-mates play cards (I still don't get the hang of the game), and drank a lot of tea.

All in all, a fun time was had by all.