China: Yangshou – Cormorant Fishing

An unusual adventure in Yangshou is observing the thousand-year-old technique of locals fishing using cormorant birds. Cormorants are fantastic swimmers and divers. A cord is tied along the lower neck of a cormorant bird which is then released into a water. The bird goes on fishing, swallowing the fish, but unable to pass it down the throat. The fishermen then take the birds and squeeze the fish out of the birds’ mouths. Unusual and bizarre, it’s a national tradition that has survived millennia of generations.