Winter fishing in northeast China's Chagan Lake boosts local economy

The winter fishing tradition at Chagan Lake in northeast China's Songyuan City has become a significant economic driver for the local community, with a thriving market driven by fish sales, restaurant bookings, and nationwide deliveries.

In a time-honored tradition, residents near the lake continue to practice the ancient art of ice fishing, where they manually drill holes through the frozen surface and cast nets beneath the icy depths to reel in their catch.

The ice-fishing season, which typically starts in mid-December and lasts through February, has been recognized as a national intangible cultural heritage. "Our trawl nets have a mesh size of about four to five cun (around 13-17 centimeters), allowing fish weighing under two to three jin (about 1 to 1.5 kilograms) to escape. This ensures that only larger fish are caught. This year, we're catching even bigger fish than in previous years, with many weighing over 20 jin (about 10 kilograms)," said Chen Jie, the head fisherman.

The cultural significance of fish as a symbol of wealth in Chinese culture has turned the areas around Chagan Lake into a tourist hub, with visitors eager to explore the local fishing heritage and savor the freshest catches in traditional dishes. "The most important thing for us here is to try the fish. I hope that after eating it, we'll have abundance year after year and be blessed with good fortune," said Chen Changsheng, a tourist from Shanghai.

The influx of visitors during the winter fishing season has significantly boosted revenue for local restaurants.

"We've pre-purchased at least 150,000 yuan to 200,000 yuan (about 21,000 to 27,000 U.S. dollars) worth of fish in anticipation of visitors during the winter fishing season. The highest single-day turnover reached nearly 50,000 yuan (about 6850 U.S. dollars) during last year's peak season," said Qu Lijie, a local restaurant owner.

For those unable to visit in person, freshly caught fish from the lake can still be ordered online and delivered directly to customers' doorsteps.

Now delivery hubs in the region are operating around the clock to meet the overwhelming demand for orders.

"Orders this year have so far increased by about 20 percent year-on-year. Supporting the local winter fishing economy creates a win-win situation, driving our own business growth," said Wu Shuai, head of Songyang Area of the SF Express.

To further capitalize on the region's abundant fishery resources and winter fishing tradition, the 23rd Ice and Snow Fishing and Hunting Cultural Tourism Festival is currently underway in Songyuan. The event, which kicked off on Saturday, offers a feast of delicious food, stunning sights, and exciting activities, welcoming visitors from all over.

"They are giving facilities to the people to come here and enjoy. It's a beautiful festival," shared Tayyab Murtaza, a Pakistani student.

"I would like to play snow-wall soccer. Also, I tried ice monkey. This game was super fun. So, yeah, I've been enjoying it," said Brianna Karioki, a student from the U.S.

Winter fishing in northeast China's Chagan Lake boosts local economy

The concept of eco-friendly burials -- ways of laying loved ones to rest that reduce environmental impact -- has grown in popularity among the Chinese people, especially over the past five years.

In China, eco-friendly burials comprise forms such as lawn burials, flowerbed burials as well as tree burials, which require minimal land. Sea burials and biodegradable urn burials that do not take up any land are also popular options.

Analysts believe eco-friendly burials will help to alleviate the strain on land resources, contribute to environmental protection, and also fulfill people's emotional needs for remembering their departed loved ones. The Ministry of Civil Affairs said in 2024, there were 194,700 ecological burials of ashes across the country, up 67 percent from 2019. Among them, 53,500 were sea burials, an increase of 26 percent over 2019, and 141,200 tree burials, an increase of 90 percent over 2019. Today, 28 provinces in China offer rewards and subsidies to families who choose eco-burials.

"More and more people begin to accept land-saving ecological burial methods. China's land-saving ecological burial methods such as sea burials and tree burials have been on the rise every year. China's land-saving ecological burial facilities have become more full-fledged as local governments have increased their efforts to build these facilities," said Liu Tao, director of the Department of Social Affairs under the Ministry of Civil Affairs.

April 4 marked this year's Qingming Festival, also known as Tomb-Sweeping Day, a traditional Chinese festival for people to pay tribute to the deceased and to worship their ancestors.

During the period around this festival, people often visit graveyards, where they traditionally pay tribute to the dead by offering food and burning incense and paper money.

In recent years, with the support from the government, many have turned to greener practices, such as offering flowers and lighting electric candles. During this year's three-day Qingming Festival holiday from Friday to Sunday, people across China made nearly 54.34 million trips to burial sites, up 14.3 percent from last year.

Eco-friendly burials take root among Chinese people