It has long been a traditional way for fishermen to catch fish with fishing lanterns on the Li River at night in Yangshuo (a town near Guilin). Since 1999, this tradition has become the major part of a festival – Fishing Festival or Fishing Lantern Festival, which is hosted every November together with activities like fireworks, photographic contest, calligraphy contest, tug-of-war and so on.

The night fishing takes advantage of the natural habit of fish – they are easily be attracted by light at night. Fishermen hang lanterns on the ends of their bamboo crafts, draw the fish closer and closer, surround them with nets and let the trained cormorants dive into the water to catch them.

Yangshuo Night Fishing with Lanterns and Cormorants

It’s really amazing when dozens of bamboo crafts are sailing on the water with lanterns lighting up the night, and cormorants flutter their wings and dive into the water chasing the fish, leaving a glimmering night with echoing sound.

Yangshuo Fishing Festival, photo from 0773web.com

If you arrive in Yangshuo, go and take part in this activity or festival, then you will be aware of that what you see are hundreds of times better than what I said here.