WIN a Stay for Two at the Fairmont Hotel Yangcheng Lake
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We’ve teamed up with this brand new Fairmont Hotel to send a lucky reader plus a guest on an overnight stay overlooking the famous Yangcheng Lake (known for their delicious hairy crab) just outside Suzhou. We’ll set you up in a lake view room with tons of extras like complimentary breakfast, complimentary bicycles to explore the area, two authentic hairy crabs steamed to perfection and shuttle service to and from the train station.
To win answer the question below before Wednesday, Dec. 2. Most creative answer wins.
To Win:
Give us a Just-so story explaining how the crabs got their hair
Congratulations Croz on your just-so story! So that's how those critters got their fur...
To everyone else, thanks so much for entering!
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the crabs did not shave!
Once upon a time, a lonely little crab named Harry lived in the bottom of a lake in Yangcheng. Harry was not like all the other little crabs in the lake, in fact he didn't really like being a crab. You see Harry was born with no hair. That's right, Harry was totally bald. A genetic disorder at birth left Harry with no hair at all. This was very upsetting to Harry. When Harry attended Crabmount High, the other crabs would taunt him and say nasty things to him like..."Hey Harry, aren't your crab legs cold?". Harry would always get very upset when the other crabs said things and he would hang his bald little crab head in shame. Every night when sleeping under his rock, Harry would dream of a life where he was covered with soft velvety long flowing hair. He would pray to the King Crab to grant him hair like all the other little crabs. Then one night, Harry woke up and found the King Crab staring down at him. He said "Harry, I know that you are upset about you lack of hair, but I want you to know that you are special, you are the last of your breed. There was a day when all crabs looked like you and had soft, smooth shells. Then one day, we started sprouting hair and before you knew it, we were covered with the stuff. You should be happy Harry, you are one-of-a-kind! Harry was very excited to hear this news and had a wonderful sleep for the rest of the night. The next day when Harry was in gym class and the other crabs tried to make fun of him, Harry looked at them proudly and said "Ya? Well unlike you hairy crabs, at least when I look down, I can see my crab cake!" They never made fun of Harry EVER again.
The crabs really really wanted to go to the hair salon for a perm after seeing Kim Jon-il's do and the only way to do it was to grow some hair....
For the survival of the species, the male crab had to grow some hair by fall to tickle his female counterpart.
I'd much rather talk about how my hair got crabs...
That is because Suzhou is full of long haired hot babes, and the crabs are all turning into hot babe wannabes. They have been trying hard to grow some hair, but in contrary of their initial intention of attracting eyeballs, they actually stimulate salivary flow...
In Jurassic times, on the plentiful shores of Hangzhou Bay, there lived the tribe of Rainbow Crabs that was the envy of all other crustaceans. It was said that their shells reflected such bright, pearly hues that other animals used them as a landmark when they traveled from place to place, knowing that water and food would be abundant once they spotted the bright shards of light from many miles away.
The Rainbow Crabs led a happy life, playing and eating algae and worms as crabs are apt to do. They were known as a friendly tribe that provided food and shelter to other unfortunate anthropods in their quest to escape famine, pestilence and drought. Lobsters, shrimp and even scorpions were welcome to share the caves and water crevices inhabited by the Rainbow Crabs.
Then came the time of darkness. One of the Rainbow Crabs grew larger and brighter than all the rest. Instead of seven rainbow colours in his shell, he had fourteen. Instead of two small pincers, he developed long. frightening talons. He declared himself the Emperor Rainbow Crab. Everything the rest of the tribe did must serve his needs. The Rainbow Crabs no longer scurried and played because the noise disturbed the Emperor who liked to sleep. They began to eat less because it was the job of the Rainbow Crabs to feed the Emperor voracious amounts of food. Gradually, due to lack of food and sunlight, the rainbow colours on their shells faded to an unremarkable brown.
Few visitors came now. Those that did come regretted their decision as they too became enslaved by the Emperor. If they protested, they were told that the Emperor Rainbow Crab was ruler of all the land and sea animals in the Middle Kingdom. Eventually, this news reached Sun Wukong who decided to visit.
Sun Wukong was tall and imposing as he entered the Hangzhou Bay retreat of the Rainbow Crabs. The thick, black, shiny hairs on his body bristled with anger when the tribe refused to awake the Emperor Crab and bring him from his cave. It is told that his roar of anger could be heard from the top of Huangshan and the sea rose up to create an angry wave that still inhabits Qiantang today. He smashed the entrance to the Emperor’s cave and with a mighty flick of his paw, broke him into a million pieces.
Still, Sun Wukong’s anger was not sated. He began to beat his chest and pull large tufts of fur from his body, flicking them over the cowering crabs as they stood frozen in fear. Finally, he lifted them one by one and sent them hurtling inland, far from the peaceful shores of Hangzhou Bay. There they were doomed to be trapped for eternity, their dull, hairy bodies no longer the envy of other crustaceans. In a final act of wrath, Sun Wukong made sure that their flesh was sweeter and more succulent that all other crabs. His own monkey tribe and later the world of men, were thus able to enjoy sustenance from these no longer glorious creatures for millennia to come.
crabs once living nearby Mr. Ba Wang ( the master that invent chinese herbal hair growing shampoo ) resident. they get aggressive with residents living nearby and one day the crabs king lead all the crabs to go for a attack. Unfortunately they all going to the wrong way and fall into Mr.Ba Wang Chinese Herbal Pool - The Shampoos made for fast hair growth and since then they had dark and healthy hairy on they shell and chela !
extra information **Ba Wang Shampoo is endorsed By Jackie Chan .
The thing is that Yangcheng Lake hairy crabs belong to the good old hippie "flower power" and have chosen this lake to make love not war...and their hair is merely an expression of their rebellious nature!
The Yancheng (not Yangcheng) Hairy crab is a product from thousands upon thousands of years of evolution from this lakes quite special ecosystem. The 'Crustickles' (AKA hair) serve many purposes that help them in their life's. The first and most obvious it they are a natural mittens for the claw - The Crustickles are concentrated on the claw, contrary to believe this species of crab is warm blooded. Due to this the second function of crustickles comes into play, they also serve as nutrient grabbing tentacles. This allows the crab when resting to still be able to maintain its body temperature through constant feeding. Its enough to keep them going without a solid meal for several days.
The Yancheng hairy crab shares its genes with the "Aequorea victoria" - a light emitting jellyfish. Those of you who have been lucky enough to take the night boat tour during mating season will have witnessed the plethora of colours those 'mittens' emit. The male produces colours towards the red end of the spectrum while the female the violet end. This not only distinguishes the sexes and plays a huge part in the courting ritual.
The last function of the crustickles is as expected, a deterrent. Poison tipped barbs exist along the length of the crustickle, this stops any predator in their tracks but unfortunately this is also the reason for their high price. The Yancheng hairy crab collectors job is one of the most dangerous in the world. One pin head sized drop of this poison is enough to put an elephant into cardiac arrest.
Fortunately once cooked it is completely harmless and of course very delicious. This crab is best served simply on its own or at most with a classic 'thousand-year old egg'.
In fact, all crabs have hairs.. The difference is some crabs shave them, the others just dont (it is cultural, I guess)
You mean, it's not because of biological evolution? ;-P
Ah my friends, today I will disclose the very confidential and deeply philosophical reason explaining the body hair of Yangcheng crabs. There is no fancy story, horrid ecological disaster nor down to earth explanation for this but rather something more ...spiritual. Indeed, quite a few of you are familiar with the concept of reincarnation and Karma so you must know that it is accepted by many among us that, when we die, our soul is reborn into a new being and potentially an animal. What many, however, fail to tell is that we usually end up in the shape of an animal we were particularly fond of. While westerners are rather fond of cats and dogs and thus reincarnate that way, Asians tend to be more fascinated by different animals, especially crabs. Indeed, you all know the love of Chinese for crabs don't you? Well then due to the high number of Asian people it easily explains why most crabs DO NOT have any hair. Indeed, some great philosopher said one day that hair was a part of the soul and had thus to reincarnate within each new body; but since Asian people have no body hair it is normal for them to reincarnate in the same way.
However, there is a small community of people in Portugal (very hairy people as you may know) who happen to have developed an habit of having pet crabs and they put so much feelings in their relationship with their pets that the crab god decided to grant a wish to the people of this community. Those people, fond of their communitarian living style , asked the crab god to grant them the possibility to be all reincarnated in crabs in the same place.
This is why, since that day, hairy crabs bearing the soul of hairy Portuguese people started to appear as the sole crab population of Yangsheng lake.
One day the Monkey King was practicing near the lake, and decided to show off his skills, so he started jumping and slashing water all over the place ... This got smoothy crab upset ... specially when he wanted to enjoy a quite day in the water. So Mr. smoothy crab decided to put a stop to all this noise. So he waited for the Monkey King to get closer to the lake and at that moment Mr. Smoothy crab had all his other crab friends waiting to jump on the monkey king. There was alot of crabs and the monkey king was not able to fight them all so his used his super powers and put a spell on these crab and since then they had hair on them and he called thme hair crab instead of smoothy.
One day, about 5000 years ago, to celebrate his nth birthday, the son of heaven himself, the Yellow Emperor organized a picnic on his favorite lake, with his finest 1000 concubines. There he frolicked and fornicated and lazed the morning away like only a Chinese emperor could.
Naturally, after a delightful afternoon with his eunuchs and concubines, the time came for a little filler upper of delicious golden smooth shell crabs, and some Yellow wine.
Thoroughly impressed by the succulent crab that he had just eaten, and feeling particularly regal, he ordered all of his concubines to partake in what would be never go down in history as the first and best ever beach bunny contest. The winner, in the words of his reverence, would have” legs as smooth as the yellow crab”. The prize: marriage.
Frantically, all his eager concubines, with the help of the eunuchs, began shaving and plucking every hair off of their arms legs and every other part of their body. Chen long wallowed in the tufts for hours as each contestant approached for the royal touch up. He finally chose his bride, Cheng Yang, and named the lake after her.
After the emperor and his entourage went back to Nanjing, the crabs laid their eggs in the warm shelters created by the piles of plucked and shaven hair of one thousand concubines, and the byproduct of this most unique of mangers is: the golden hairy crab.
The son of heaven returned the next year and found to his astonishment that some of his beloved crabs had hair! He decreed that from this day forth, anyone who sees a crab with hair on it must throw it back into the lake, immediately. He would never eat such a vile, abominable, creature such as the HAIRY CRAB. He found the very thought offensive.
So, for years, the hairy crabs were not eaten. Thus, they were permitted to grow large and develop muscles that the less matured hairless crabs did not have. They bullied all the hairless crabs into the fishing nets every time the emperor came to visit. And each time a hairy one was caught, it was thrown back. The hairless female crabs quickly deduced that their offspring would be better off with a little hair on their legs, and nature took its course. The golden smooth crabs were decimated and decimated until, finally, they were no more.
Meanwhile, back in Nanjing, the emporer's kingdom was in peril. His wife and all his concubines had betrayed him, citing his fetish for shaven everything as the cause. They formed an allegiance with a hairy tribe of northern warriors and the yellow emperor fled to YangCheng Hu.
When his most heinous and hairless dynasty collapsed, the annals of this history were destroyed but for one papyrus scroll documenting the events you have read today and the back shell of the last ever golden smooth crab on which was engraved by the Emperor himself, with his pinky nail, on his death bed:
光洁螃蟹仙界味， 忆吾仙子三千许 肌肤如雪虞美人， 一笑散尽吾江山
Guang jie pang xie xian jie wei, yi wu xian zi san qian xu Ji fu ru xue yu mei ren, yi xiao san jin wu jiang shan
The smooth shelled crabs so succulent, a food of the kingdom of heaven. My smooth skinned concubine, With a laugh has destroyed my legend.