Every summer the craze for fireflies sweeps China. As the Chinese Valentine’s Day or Qixi draws , online firefly selling is getting busier.
每每夏季，一股萤火虫热便会横扫中国。七夕的到来，网上萤火虫销售更是持续升温。
The amount of fireflies trade online has exceeded 10 million this year, a 10-fold rise compared to the same period in 2014, an investigation by Jiangsu Qinghuan Volunteer Service Center has revealed.
江苏清环志愿者服务中心的一项调查显示，今年网上交易萤火虫的数量已超过1千万只，比去年同期增长10倍之多。
"Thirty-seven e-shops on the e-commerce site taobao.com are selling live fireflies, among which 17 have made more than 50,000 transactions. Orders have reached as high as nearly 50,000 on a single item, and the total number of fireflies traded on these e-shops have gone beyond 10 million," said a volunteer at Qinghuan Volunteer Service Center.
“电子商务网站淘宝网上的37家店铺出售活体萤火虫，其中17家更是有着超过5万只的交易量。单项产品订单达到近5万单，所有店铺售出的萤火虫总数量超过千万只，”清环志愿者服务中心的一名志愿者如是说。
Many online shops sell flickers in sets, such as a jar of 55 claimed to represent "I love you", as part of promotions that target the Chinese Valentine’s Day, which falls on Aug 20 this year. Each flicker in these sets costs four to five yuan ($0.63 to $0.78). Since these creatures die easily during delivery, some sellers pack 20 percent more in the package.
许多网店的萤火虫都是成套出售，比如一罐装55只代表“我爱你”，今年七夕节是8月20日，这是针对七夕节所搞的促销活动的一部分。这些套餐里的萤火虫每只售价4到5元(0.63美元到0.78美元)。由于这些小生物在运输过程中容易死掉，一些商家还会多打包20%的萤火虫送给顾客。
"We’ve been watching this problem on taobao.com for years. This year the selling seems to be more centralized. In the past, customers could place orders on number of fireflies as they wished. But they now have to buy fixed number of fireflies in sets this year," said Fang Jianbo at Qinghuan Volunteer Center. He said thirty fireflies with six given for free are sold at about 160 yuan, which is the lowest price for a set.
“我们关注淘宝网上出售萤火虫这一问题已经很多年了。今年此项销售看起来似乎更为集中化。过去，顾客下订单时可以按照自己的意愿决定购买数量，然而如今他们必须买套餐里固定数量的萤火虫，”清环志愿者中心的方建波如是说。他说买30只免费送6只是最低价格的套餐，大约要花费160元。
Many of the sellers claim their fireflies to be captive-bred. Experts say that nearly 99 percent of these "captive-bred" fireflies are fake, for the artificial propagation of fireflies is costly, nearly twice as the price of the fireflies sold online.
许多卖家声称其所售萤火虫是人工养殖的，而专家说近99%的这些“人工养殖的”萤火虫都是假的，因为人工繁殖萤火虫成本极高，几乎是网上所售萤火虫价格的两倍。
According to investigations by an environmental organization in Jiangsu province, there have been more than 60 firefly exhibitions nationwide this year. Such exhibitions, however, are deemed as harmful to the environment, according to experts.
根据江苏省一个环境组织的调查，今年全国有60多场萤火虫展。然而据专家说，此类展览被视为是对环境有害的。
"It threatens the indigenous ecosystem and the species being brought in may not be able to survive," said Fu Xinhua, a biologist at Huazhong Agricultural University in Wuhan, Hubei province. Fu suggested people go to the wild or the sanctuaries to watch fireflies.
“这威胁到了原有的生态系统，并且使得引进物种可能会无法生存，”湖北武汉华中农业大学的生物学家付新华如是说。他建议人们去野外或者保护区观看萤火虫。
Fireflies were once a familiar part of summer evenings in much of China. But the tiny flashes that used to light up fields have dwindled or lost, experts say, to pollution and altered natural habitats.
在中国的许多地区，萤火虫曾是夏季夜晚里人们所熟悉的一部分。然而专家说，由于污染和自然栖息地的改变，这曾经点亮田野的点点微光正在减少甚至消失。