Life passion in making

An online series focuses on talented children in different fields, Xing Wen reports.

As night falls, only cicadas, crickets and other bugs' chirping could be heard deep in the mountain. Several flashlight beams, penetrating the pitch darkness, swing across the underbrush and probe the grass.

The flashlights are held by 11-year-old Yin Ran, his mother and others who often make their way into the mountains around South China's Guangdong province during holidays to search for different species of insects and observe them up close.

"Mom, this huntsman spider is molting," Ran says excitingly to his mother, Xing Xiaojuan.

He has also found firefly, moth, spittlebug and other species. He tenderly touches the insects, observing them. And for further observation, sometimes he brings them back home.

Ran has raised more than 200 insect species of different colors, shapes and sizes.

"It seems to us adults that collecting insects is useless, but both Ran and I enjoy the moments. It's very joyful for me," says Xing.