Digang: Millennia-Old Fame of Fish Farming

Digang is a village tucked away in a rural river area in Huzhou， an urban center in northern Zhejiang. The village is surrounded and crisscrossed by rivers， ponds， reeds and mulberry trees. People in Digang are very proud of themselves: they say they used to raise one tenth of freshwater fish in China. Some fish farmers from Digang were invited to do fish farming in Zhongnanhai so that emperors could enjoy all kinds of fish dishes.

Zhang Jincai， the head of the village， traces fishing in Digang back to the time of Fan Li， a famous prime minister of the Yue State which existed in the Spring and Autumn period (770-476BC). Fan retired as a reclusive after the Yue State took successful revenge against its foe the Wu State in the north. It is said that the retired prime minister fish-farmed in Taihu Lake first before he came to Nanxun in today's Huzhou where he dug fish ponds and fish-farmed. In the Han Dynasty (202BC-220AD)， a scholar wrote a technical book on Fan’s fishing experience. It is China’s first book on fish farming. By the Tang Dynasty (618-907)， Digang had become a flourishing fish market. Villagers raised black carp， grass carp， silver carp and big head. Next to Digang is Linghu， where villagers cultivated water chestnut. The two places contribute to the legendary wealth of Huzhou in ancient times.

By the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties， fish-farming had become a flourishing local industry in Digang. Villagers had developed special techniques in selecting baby fishes and curing fishes of diseases. The well-developed fish-farming industry in Digang enabled the village to operate a large market. Moreover， villagers in Digang developed a special way of recyclable fish-farming ecology. This special farming mode is still in use today: Mulberry trees are planted on the edges of fishponds; mulberry leaves are used to feed silkworms; silkworms’ wastes are fed to fish; silt in fishponds is dredged up and used as fertilizer for mulberry trees. Digang is part of this fish-farming tradition which is several thousand years old in China. This approach is also widely used in the northern part of China and has strong impact on fish-farming in other parts of the world. UNESCO thinks highly of this farming technique.

Fish-farmers from Digang and neighboring Linghu brought their advanced fish-farming techniques to many parts of the country， improving local fish production. Some fish farmers in Digang are even fish-farming in Nepal and India.

Today， Digang still operates a flourishing fish market in the early morning. Fishermen come by boats from all over the neighboring villages and sell their early morning catches here. North to Digang spreads Hefuyang， a very large lake where people catch fish every day. Local people have developed a very distinguished fish cuisine. As a legend goes， Emperor Kangxi stopped at Huzhou on his way to Haining and remembered to sample sliced eel， a famous delicacy in Digang. So he ordered to have this dish prepared and sent to him directly. The emperor waited for two hours before a boat came. The sliced eel in a 10-inch celadon plate was presented to the emperor. The legend describes the dish in great detail before it describes how the emperor’s ecstasy knew no bounds after he tasted the delicacy. From then on， the legend continues， the dish was on the palace menu.

It may be hard to prove that the emperor did stop for the delicacy， but it is true that Huzhou has been home to many great fish chefs since the Qing Dynasty. In the good old days， chefs in Hefu Town could prepare three full-fledged banquets. One banquet was called “Shrimp Banquet”. All the courses served at the banquet were made of shrimps from rivers and ponds in Digang. Chen Guofu， a high-ranking KMT official， often entertained his friends and colleagues with the shrimp banquet. His chef Shi Qingsheng， a self-taught gourmet artist， developed a special fish food cuisine. Qian Ronghua， his last disciple， today works at Digang Fish Restaurant. He is able to make more than 100 dishes out of fish. He used to run a very small restaurant of his own in Digang. Foodies from Shanghai and Hangzhou came to enjoy fish delicacies at his restaurant. Nowadays， his fish dishes are a major attraction at Digang Fish Restaurant.

Digang Fish Restaurant， a business operated by Xu Minli， a local businesswoman， highlights the fish cuisine of Digang. The restaurant’s motif， menu， and everything else feature the fish cuisine.

If local residents want fresh fish for their own dinner table， they often go and catch some fish at the last minute. Sometimes just on the impulse of the moment， they decide to eat fish and they go and catch some. That ensures the freshness of the fish on their dinner table. Local residents are quite particular about what to eat at what time. The wisdom passes on from generation to generation in local sayings which amounts to more than a hundred， all about aqua products such as fish， shrimp， crab， eel， spiral shell.

Fish is not just economy or food in the everyday life of Digang. Situated in a land of fish and rice， Digang has woven fish into the village culture and lifestyle. In the good old days， villagers prayed to the god of fortune when it was time to put baby fish into their fishponds. When the summer and autumn met and fishes were subject to diseases， fishermen prayed to the god of fish ponds. On the Moon Festival which falls on the 15th day of the 8th month on the lunar calendar， villagers held a ceremony paying homage to the five spirits of their fishponds. In the harvest season， villagers would invite relatives and friends over and treat them with a fish-soup dinner.

An artist with Huzhou Culture Center remarks that Huzhou is famed for its silk， brush pen and fish but people were not fully aware of the inner connection of the three elements. Today people in Huzhou believe that the three are closely connected， for they share a feature of softness. Digang has begun to take local cultural elements into its fish culture. The village is now a venue of various celebration events such as the fish culture festival， the fish tour festival， the aqua product fair， and the forum on fish culture. □