The weird world of Taobao

Tomb-sweeping services for those who can't make it on the very day.

'Silicon-sucking' mosquitoes

That said, at least partially fake date bait captures such a considerable segment of the niche market that vendor Luo Yu's mosquito-killing Taobao service devoted to food safety and environmental awareness largely focuses on killing mosquitoes. That is, mosquitoes that might otherwise "choke" on breast implants.

He sends photos of the squished parasites to customers' cellphones for a donation of 1 mao per bug to the Magic Baby Bean project, named after a Taobao vendor with leukemia. His pitch is a wisecrack, in which a mosquito tries to gulp blood from a woman's breast but slurps silicon and dies.

It's a satirical interpretation of society's superficiality, environmental protection and food safety.

"It's for fun and a way to raise public awareness about our deteriorating environment and the world's shallowness," he says.

"Even mosquitoes lead hard lives. Our environment is getting really bad. Let's pay attention to food safety."

Luo claims to let the insects gorge on his blood before killing them so they die "happy". He has received 24 orders since May.

Ying Jing, who paid Luo to send a dead mosquito photo to his phone, explains why he financially supported such a sardonic initiative.

"His gimmick is good," Ying says.

"So I gave a cent. It's good to contribute to public welfare. I hope we can use many ways to care more about our environment and health."

Most of the "weird" items and services on Taobao, from photos of dead mosquitoes that theoretically dined on breast implants to actual implants, are mostly absent elsewhere, industry insiders say.

"It's not possible for (these items) to be profitable in traditional stores," general manger of Taobao agent Obook Harry Kwok explains.

"E-commerce helps locate and condense demand. Logistics' explosive growth also makes the business economically sound. Niche-market customers only constitute a small percentage."