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The hairy crab harvesting season started recently at the Tianshui Family Farm in Chengbei sub-district in Rugao – a county-level city administered by Nantong city in East China's Jiangsu province – according Xie Renjian, who owns the farm.

The hairy crab – also known as the Chinese mitten crab – is one of the most prized delicacies in the eastern Chinese cuisine, especially in Shanghai and Jiangsu province. It is only in season and available to eat for two months of the year.

"My crab pond covers about 27,000 square meters, and every 670 sq m contains about 1,200 crab larvae. Now there are about 45,000 crabs in it," Xie said.

Xie, who is in his second year of farming hairy crabs, had no experience with crab farming before. In order to ensure their quality, Xie made a  great effort to select the best breeds and in feeding them.

According to Xie, the crabs were fed with beans, corn and hairtail fish every day.

Although there are already many hairy crabs on the market, Xie's pursuit of quality kept him from crab farming until now.

"Now the female crabs have reached 175 grams and the male crabs have reached 225 g. I expect the sales volume of crabs this year to be around 5,000 kilograms," said Xie with pride.