With a device called “an earth dragon device” 地龍儀 to capture earthworms, “a battery, two wires, inserted in the ground, earthworms immediately crawl out, it’s blood-chilling to watch.” In some places, it only takes 20 minutes to catch five or six pounds of earthworms, and a fully charged battery can work continuously for five hours. In the land that has not been “electrified” previously, a day of electrocutions bringing up two or three hundred pounds of earthworms is no problem....Although farmers know that the presence of earthworms benefits the soil, there are few ways for many rural people to earn money faster and easier than with electro-captured earthworms.
(More from SCMP last year.)