Golden cicada is an insect of the genus Cicada, commonly known as cicada. Golden cicadas are generally brown and have metallic luster; Among them, the middle back is wide and plate-shaped, and there is a yellow-brown "X"-shaped bulge in the center; The front and rear wings are thin and transparent, yellow and black, with tan spots.

Cicada is the longest-lived insect in the world. It takes at least fifteen years for each cicada to climb out of the soil and emerge into a cicada.

Golden cicadas are widely distributed, mostly in tropical areas, inhabiting deserts, grasslands and forests; It is also distributed in the north and south of China. Living by sucking the sap of trees, eggs are laid on trees, and larvae hatch in autumn. Larvae fell into the ground, molted underground for five times, and finally landed on the ground, so that cicadas really got rid of the nymph stage.

In the breeding season, the male cicada can sing and give a warning by using the pronunciation device in the abdomen; Female cicada is called "dumb cicada" because of its incomplete musical instrument structure. The male cicada attracts the female cicada with sound and will die soon after mating.

The "golden cicada shelling" was originally a normal biological phenomenon, which means that cicada larvae shed their shells in adulthood and were later used as idioms, meaning to get away with it with tricks and not be noticed by the other side. Moreover, "cicada" has rich connotations in China's poems. Jin Mingdi's Ode to the Cicadas says: "Seek long branches to make them high, and do nothing to make them good."

Cicada perches on high branches, far away from dusty containers, and is endowed with the metaphorical meaning of "noble and delicate". According to China's Notes on Ancient and Modern Times, "In the past, Qi Si died, turned into cicadas, and the trees in the courtyard sang, and you regretted it. The deceased was named Qi Nvyan. " This legend makes cicada form a unique and lingering sad color in China culture, and it also becomes a constant sad image in literati singing.