NANJING, Sept. 26 (Xinhua) -- This year's harvest season for China's freshwater crabs, a highly sought-after autumn delicacy, began on Friday in the Yangcheng Lake in Suzhou, eastern Jiangsu Province.

About 10,350 tonnes of tasty and pricey mitten crabs are expected to be harvested this year, according to the municipal Yangcheng Lake freshwater crab industry association.

A total of 5,577 households engaged in crab farming and 1,022 sales enterprises are members of the association, with information about their crab products fully accessible to the public.

Suzhou has closely integrated hairy crab tasting with local tourism, launching themed routes and a series of autumn activities, which authorities say are expected to further stimulate new growth in cultural tourism consumption.

Chinese people have a custom of eating crabs in autumn when the meat is at its best. The tradition can be traced back to the Han Dynasty (202 B.C. to 220 A.D.).

The crab is considered to be auspicious as the Chinese word for crab is "xie," which has the same pronunciation as the Chinese word for "thanks."  ■