Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1886-10-31
LETTER FROM SHANGHAI.
HOW THE GENTLE cHlNEE SCOOPS
IN THE FlNNY TRIBE.
II There Is Anything in Fish Food the
Chinese should be Brainy-Fishing With
Trained Cormorants, But no Fishing
for Sport.
Especial Correspordence.1

SHANGHAI, Sept. 10.-If fish, as is popular.
" supposed, is a brain food, the Chinese
should be the most brainy of the human race,
There is probably no country where so much
attention is given 70 the culture of the finny
tribe or where they constitute so large a per.
centage Of the food Of the people. One Of
the cardinal teachings Of the Buddhist faith
is the SacredneSs of animal life. No orthodox
Buddhist will take the life Of any domestic
animal for food, the pig alone excepted; but
by some strange logic Of their OWN the feath'
cred and finny tribes are not on the list oil
exempts. So that with the large majority OF
Cinnamon fish and poultry constitute the
flesh portion of their food. The Buddhist
clergy, however, adhere strictly to a vegeta-
rian diet, not even eating fish. l once asked
an intelligent Chinaman why he would kill q
fish for food when he would not an OK for the
same purpose. He replied that they did not kill
fish, Us when taken from the water they
died without killing. l suggested that
perhaps if he were to put an OK under water
for q few moments it might die likewise, with.
out being killed. He seemed to regard the
comparison as impairment, so / left him look.
ing on me as a murderer, because | was an
advocate of beefSteak and mutton chops.
There is no country with greater natural
facilities for fish culture than China With
mild climate, an extended coast line, many
large and numerous smaller rivers, lakes,
canals and dikes, there is a vast area Of water
suited to all grades Of fish life, both salt II
fresh water. The government has, from a
remote past, taken the matter in hand, and.
at considerable expense, has kept the inland
waters stocked, and has made her fisheries q
source Of revenue. Regular government
agents are employed in stocking her waters
with fish. These men know the season and
places of spawning Of the different food fishes,
and follow them up and capture the newly
hatched young for transplanting.
The young fish are caught by means of fine
meshed nets, and, in large earthen jars or
tanks, are loaded in bargcs or "junkS" and
carried long distances for liberation in lakes
and at sources of rivers, whence, in a few
years, such as survive the Cannibalistie i'll.
stinct of their kind find their way into the
markets. The government assumes TO con,
troll the entire fishing privileges in her Dor.
ders, and no one is permitted TO engage in
fishing without first obtaining from the
proper officer the authority and paying per
centages on his catches. Nor can one pay for
the privilege of fishing in the abstract as it
were, but each grant is stipulated, and the
area is mapped out as distinctly as are the
farm lands, and woe be unto the man wLc
dares TO cross the line.
The oyster family is much neglected, and
although the possibilities in that direction are
practically unlimited no care has thus far
been taken TO develop this branch of the
trade. Oysters are offered in the coast mar,
kets at a very low price, but they are gathered
and sold all ages and conditions together and
not classified as in the New York markets.
The population engaged in the fish business,
either as fishermen or fishmongers, is very
large and it is rare to find any one engaged in
any other occupation jointly with this.
never knew of a Chinese gentleman fish
ing for pleasure, as is common in European
Countries On the contrary, it is looked upon
as n mental and low calling, and as a result
the fishermen as a rule are q low and vicious
class of people from whose ranks pirates and
sneak thieves are freely recruited.
A fisherman with Il capital representing
from IS up can earn a good living in most
any part of China. A dip net, stretched at
the four corners by bamboo rods fastened in a
common center or hub, and suspended from a
horizontal beam supported by an upright
shaft on the principle of a well sweep OF ye
olden time, constitutes the most common out
tit of the Chinese fishermen.