Dr Liu, Chun-Xiang
The next day I had an appointment with Dr Liu, Chun-XIang, a colleague of Prof Liang, Ai-Ping’s. She is a cricket expert and listened to a number of my cricket recordings. Both she and Ai-Ping were reluctant to identifiy the creatures just by their singing, which is an interesting point. She has asked for an audio cd of them to take to some other colleagues to verify. I think this reluctance illustrates the absolute accuracy that scientists demand, and also, surprisingly perhaps, a comparative lack of interest in the songs these insects make. I am assuming that every species has a distinct song of course.
Like Ai-Ping, she was lovely to talk to and very generous with her time. She was very pleased I was so interested in her specialist area. She showed me photographs of a recent field trip she made to the western China – Xinjiang province. This is high land, 4000 metres above sea level, and she was exploring the Nalati grassland. The local people live in what look like yurts, those lovely circular structures, and Chun-Xiang stayed in one herself. She collects insects at night by suspending a large light from a free-standing ladder, and hanging a white sheet nearby. The insects are attracted to the light and tend to land on the white sheet. This is how she collects specimens for identification. During this trip she thinks she has found at least 4 new species.
