No ‘ fl y’ zone: Companies ban fi refl y sales, shipping ahead of Chinese Valentine’s Day

As China sees its populations of wild fi refl ies dwindle, online sellers and couriers are bringing the issue to light with bans on the blinking bugs that have in recent years become a Chinese Valentine’s Day symbol, media reported on Wednesday.

E- commerce platform Taobao and couriers SF Express are just some of the services that recently called for a blackout on all sales and shipping of the bioluminescent insects ahead of Qixi Festival, which falls on August 28.

“We will not regard live fi refl ies as farmed,” read a statement released by Taobao in May. “Industry regulations are too local and we are currently not able to set standards,” it read.

Until recently, fi refl y vendors had been increasing on the platform. According to a Xinhua report, 49 retailers were selling fi refl ies in 2016, a 28.9 percent year- on- year increase.

Often sold by the hundreds, fi refl ies on Taobao generally would sell for around 4 yuan ($ 0.6) each.

Experts warned that wild fi refl ies in China are increasingly under threat. “Some species are even endangered,” said Fu Xinhua, associate professor at Huazhong Agricultural University who published a detailed report on the fi refl y industry in 2016.

“The catching and selling of fi refl ies has had a detrimental impact on populations,” said Fu. “It is high time that regulations and laws be made to supervise the business.”

The ban aims to fi ll that void ahead of this year’s festival, which in the past has been marked with mass releases of captured fi refl ies, such as a man who released more than 1,000 fi refl ies during a wedding proposal to his girlfriend at a park in Changzhou, Jiangsu Province.