Did you read The Story About Ping as a child? the book about the little Chinese duck who was free to swim with the rest of his family during the day along the riverbanks, but at night was rounded back up onto the house boat. One night Ping wanders off and looses sight of the boat with the wise eyes that he calls home. In his adventure he encounters fisherman who fish with cormorant birds. The birds have a noose around their necks just tight enough to keep them from swallowing. These water birds are used by fishermen to do what they do best: hunt for fish. The gagged birds release the fish to their master, and then get a small reward for their efforts.
Cormorant fishing is probably, in reality, a thing of the past. The Story About Ping was published in 1933 and China has undergone remarkable change since. Today cormorants are around for tourists to see the old ways of China. For 5 yuan we got pics of the kids with an old fisherman and his black, web-footed birds who ballanced on a bamboo poll on his shoulder. People do, however, still live in house boats along the Li river.
1 comment:
I'm enjoying the photos of Yangshuo! I'm going to take my sister-in-law there next month. I've been before, but only for the day and I'd love to spend a few days in the areas.
About the cormorants - we once saw a boat here in Linyi with two cormorants aboard. I'm not sure if it was for local tourists or for actual fishing, but since Linyi isn't much of a tourist destination and there is a huge lake here, I think they might have been actually fishing!
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