Thousands of glow worms are reportedly being trapped and taken into a Guangzhou theme park every day from April 14 to 23, for a nightly "glow worm show," amid criticism over animal cruelty. 

After the show, theme park officers then release the creatures into the city's parks and green spaces. However, as the weather in Guangzhou is not suitable for glow worms, these worms cannot survive for more than three days in the city. 

According to Beijing News citing eyewitnesses, thousands of glow worms are put into different jars. Performers then shake the jars continuously, so that the worms "light up" as they strike the sides of the jars.

“Even though they claimed these glow worms will be released afterwards, they are actually throwing them away as these worms cannot survive in Guangzhou’s climate,” said Li Ping, in an interview with Beijing News. She is a volunteer from a NGO protecting glow worms in China.

According to Li, there were around 120 glow worm shows in China in 2016. Each performance needs around 10,000 glow worms. A glow worm’s life span is generally only a week, while those used in performances generally only live for three days.

On China’s largest online shopping platform Taobao, glow worms are sold at a price of four yuan (0.58 US dollars) each, and 30 can be bought in bulk for 119 yuan (17 US dollars). Even while most sellers claimed their worms were artificially reproduced, Professor Fu Xinhua from Huazhong Agricultural University was still convinced that a lot of the glow worms had been captured from their natural habitat. 

Fu has also published a report about the glow worm market in China. He found that the online market has grown in the past year, with the number of sellers increasing by 28.9 percent, forming a well-connected industry. Sellers, according to Fu, generally buy glow worms from farmers in the south, at a price of 0.3 to 0.5 yuan (0.04-0.07 USD) each.