Turtles, also known as Wang Ba and Old Turtle, also known as TuanYu and Water Fish, have always been regarded as high-grade aquatic products. Turtle is not only a delicacy on the table, but also an indispensable ingredient in the wedding banquet, especially the meat on the skirt of the turtle, which is rich in collagen and has a tonic effect.
As early as 40 years ago, when the number of turtles in the rivers and ponds in the countryside of China was also quite impressive, but in the following decades, due to economic development and environmental damage, the number of wild turtles in China has dropped sharply, which has also led to the price of wild turtles rising year by year.
The number of wild turtles in China is very small, but there are millions of wild turtles in the neighboring Ganges, which is also a "treasure" that can be seen in the Ganges in India. According to the Chinese locals like to eat turtles, with the intention of exporting Ganges turtles to China, which can alleviate the ecological pressure after the flooding of Ganges turtles and get a huge fortune. But the masses in our country do not buy it, and they also say that they dare not eat it for free! Why?
<h1>Learn about the ancient Indo-Ganges First</h1>
The Ganges, Chinese also translated as the Bhagia, Janga, and Ganges, is the great river of South Asia, with two main trunks, originating in the southern foothills of the Himalayas and the Deccan Plateau, flowing through the Indian state of Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Chalkand, West Bengal, entering Bangladesh, renamed the Padma River, meeting the Brahmaputra River in the lower reaches of the Jamuna River in Bangladesh, and finally flowing into the Bay of Bengal.
The total length of the Ganges in India is about 2510 kilometers, although this length is a large river in India, but it is somewhat short compared with the world's long river and the Asian river, so the Ganges has not entered the world and The Asian long river rankings. The Ganges is the great river in northern India and has been a holy river belonging to Hindus since time immemorial.
India is one of the four ancient civilizations, and once created the famous "Ganges Civilization" in human history. On the banks of the ancient Ganges River in India, the Kumbamela Congress is a traditional religious festival that has a history of more than 1,300 years. The Ganges is an ancient river that the people of India revere as the "Holy River" and the "Mother of India". Numerous myths and religious legends make up the unique customs and customs of the two banks of the Ganges.
<h1>Where did the Ganges turtle come from</h1>
As mentioned earlier, wild turtles are high-grade aquatic products, it is reasonable to say that turtles will not flood, if it is in China's natural rivers, even if there are millions of turtles, I am afraid it has long been fished out. But the turtles that inhabit the Ganges, Indians not only do not fish, but also often feed some food, which is related to the beliefs and culture of the locals.
India's "Buddhism" has a long history and culture, and there are countless beautiful temples, majestic churches, grand mosques, incense-filled Buddhist temples, synagogues and Zoroastrian monasteries throughout the Indian subcontinent. Most people in India regard wild animals as "gods", so the locals rarely catch turtles for food, and even if they catch them, they will release them into the Ganges and bring food to feed them whenever they have time.
Turtles are ferocious carnivorous fish that feed on hunting fish, shrimp, shellfish and aquatic insects in their natural environment. Adult turtles in freshwater waters, there is almost no threat of natural enemies, and according to the growth habits of turtles, an adult turtle can breed 3 to 5 times a year, and the number of eggs laid each time is between 3 and 18. Due to the large number of believers in the major sects in India, as well as the breeding of turtles and the absence of the threat of natural enemies, this has led to the increasing number of Ganges turtles.
Anyone who has traveled around the Ganges in India knows that the number of catfish in the Ganges is very large, and it has become a flooding trend in the Ganges, but in fact, in addition to catfish in the Ganges, there is the largest number of turtles, and it is firmly in the second place. According to local estimates, the number of wild turtles in the Ganges is not less than 3 million, and these turtles are as large as pot lids and weigh from tens of pounds to several pounds.
<h1>Why don't the People of the Ganges dare to eat it? </h1>
China's artificial turtle farming has a history of 40 years, during which the development process from the sporadic temporary rearing of wild turtles to artificial intensive breeding. In 2013, the national turtle farming production reached its peak, the national turtle aquaculture output reached about 330,000 tons, and the price of artificially farmed turtle fell to 20-30 yuan / kg, which has since gone to the ordinary people's table. Therefore, India intends to export Ganges turtles to China, because the Chinese market has a large demand for turtles.
Although the number of wild turtles in the Ganges in India is huge, it is not accepted by the chinese people, not because the Ganges turtle is not delicious, but because it does not dare to eat, the main reason is that the ecological environment of the Ganges is too complicated. Although the Ganges River is known locally as the "Mother River", the water quality of the river is very turbid, and in the river where residents live, they wash and wash vegetables, and even wash urinals.
Worse still, India is indifferent to the concept of caring for the environment and paying attention to hygiene, and domestic sewage is directly discharged into the Ganges. Not only that, there are cattle everywhere in the streets and alleys of India, according to incomplete statistics, India has about 300 million cattle, and most of the cattle live on the banks of the Ganges River all year round, and all the and pee flow into the Ganges, which is also an important reason for the water pollution of the Ganges.
Although according to the above situation, the Ganges turtle is not accepted by our people, in fact, the most unacceptable to the Chinese people is the local "water burial" custom. Water burial usually involves cremation of the body and then water burial, but some bodies are not completely burned to ashes and then buried in the Ganges, while a small number of people directly send the body to the bank of the Ganges for water burial.
Especially in the 1980s, due to the shortage of wood, the price of wood for cremation soared, and many of the remains that were not completely burned were thrown directly into the Ganges, so it was often seen floating corpses in the Ganges, and these floating corpses naturally became food for carnivorous fish, including turtles and catfish.
<h1>At last</h1>
Although time has been changing, turtles, which inhabit the Ganges, live as usual. Although turtles have put pressure on the fishing ecology of the Ganges, Indian believers will still feed a lot of food into the Ganges, because in their minds, even if the water quality of the Ganges is dirty, it is not as turbid as the world.
For some Indian capitalists, ganga turtle is a huge "treasure", as long as it can be exported to China, it can be exchanged for real money and silver, but due to cultural differences and eating habits and other factors, even if these turtles are free to send, I think the vast majority of Chinese people dare not eat! Because who knows what these turtles grew up with!
Do you know about the Ganges burial in India?