Chagan Lake

Chagan Lake, about an hour southwest of Songyuan, is one of the ten largest freshwater lakes in China and the setting for an extraordinary winter tradition that has been designated a National Intangible Cultural Heritage. The annual Winter Fishing Festival, held each December and January, is the main reason visitors make the journey to this part of Jilin Province.

The fishing method is ancient: nets are deployed under the ice by drilling a series of holes, then horse-drawn capstans haul the net to a central opening in the ice, where thousands of fish — primarily bighead carp — are pulled up in a single enormous catch. The ceremony is a spectacle of cold-weather working culture that has few equivalents anywhere in China. In summer the lake is pleasant and considerably less crowded; boat trips and birdwatching are available, and the surrounding wetlands support a significant migratory population. The lake's sheer scale — 307 square kilometres of flat water under a huge northern sky — is impressive in any season.

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The winter fishing festival at Chagan Lake holds the Guinness World Record for the largest single-net catch — in 2009, one haul brought up 168,500 kilograms of fish through a hole cut in the ice. The method is Mongol in origin, essentially unchanged over a thousand years: horses power a capstan to drag a two-kilometre net under the ice, concentrating the entire lake's population toward a single hole. The largest fish are ceremonially auctioned at prices that would embarrass a luxury car dealer.