Gone Fishing: Chinese Fishermen Use Birds To Catch Their Food
By Tom Gillespie @TomGillespie1
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Brothers Yue-Ming, 73, and Yue-miang, 83, are descendants of the Huang family, who pioneered the unique style of fishing - known as Yin-Bou - in the 16th century.
The elderly men work during the night on the Li River in China, using lamps to direct the cormorants to the fish swimming below the surface.
Freelance photographer Asher Svidensky, 25, took the images in Xingping, Yangshuo County, in southern China, in August and September last year.
He said: “In the old times, most Yin-Bou fishermen had more than 10 birds on their fishing boat, all of which had been raised personally by them - all the way from egg to fearless fishing bird.
“Some bloodlines of birds have been living with the same family for hundreds of years.”
The fisherman traditionally live in a boathouse on the river itself and migrate along the river with the fish.
Asher said: “They would trade a portion of their daily gain of fish with other villagers for their own basic needs - as they say, on the river there is no use for money.
“When a fisherman becomes too old for this kind of lifestyle, his family would take him to shore, build a wooden hut for him, give him everything he needs to survive and just leave him there, following the migrating fish up and down the great Li River.”
The intrepid photographer visited the picturesque village after looking at leftover currency from a previous trip to China.
He was stunned by the scenery that decorates a 20 Yuan bill, and decided he would visit the area in Xingping to see the very mountains that feature on the note.
