Guilin Things to Do Tips by easyoar Top 5 Page for this destination

Competitive Advantage!

This fisherman was not at all popular with the other fishermen. It must have been something akin to when the first farmer bought a tractor whilst all the others still used oxen to pull their ploughs!

Checkout his raft, he seems to have bought up all the cormorants around!

No, seriously, I think this guy was responsible for looking after all of the birds when they weren't working. The average fisherman seems to fish with only 2 or 3 birds. I don't think anyone would have enough time to be able to cope with this many cormorants all wanting to come in and have fish removed from their throats!

Address: On the Li River in Guilin

Directions: Li River in Guilin, tends to start about Sunset, ask in the Western Hotels such as the Sheraton about it.

'Talking' with the Fishermen

Once the fishing display finished, and we got back on dry land, I still hadn't really figured out about the Cormorants not eating the fish they caught - they aren't exactly vegetarian after all!

Well I couldn't speak any Chinese, and the Fishermen couldn't speak any Chinese, but I have found that Chinese people seem to consider it perfectly normal for someone to come up to them and look at what they are doing. They don't seem to get upset or to even look as if you are in their space. typically they will try and help you!

Anyhow, I gestrured to the fishermen that I wanted some pictures by pointing to my camera and pointing at them. They were perfectly happy to oblige!

Address: On the Li River in Guilin

Directions: Li River in Guilin, tends to start about Sunset, ask in the Western Hotels such as the Sheraton about it.

Guilin Central Square

Guilin Central Square is pretty big (nowhere near as big as Tianenman Square), but certainly big by European standards!

There are a few things worth looking out for. At the oppositie end to the big shopping Mall (i.e. the same end as the Guilin Sheraton is situated), there is a huge map of the world embedded in the pavement there.

Then on one of the sides you can find palm trees. There's also the pyramids I mentioned in the previous tip!

Around it you'll find restaurants and fast food shops. My first night there I was tired and hungry, so I just grabbed some fast food and sat on a bench in the middle of this huge square. It was virtually deserted, I think I was the only one there most of the time, but it's always interesting to watch the locals going about their business when they walk through. I got strange looks, so I'm not sure how safe it was to be there, but I certainly didn't feel threatened being there.

Directions: Central Square in Guilin

Huge underground shopping mall

If you look to the right of this picture, inbetween the flowers and the large building, you will see a smallsh pyramid. I had no idea what this was, or indeed what it's purpose was, so I wandered over to it and found you could go inside.

Once inside, you find a flight of steps, and at the bottom of these is a huge underground market, that I am sure most tourists will miss, as it is actually quite well hidden! I had gone through this square on several occasions before I even realised it was there!

The market itself is quite ramshackle, but it makes for an interesting stroll through and is a great place to do a bit of people watching.

Directions: Guilin Central Square, but underneath it!

It all becomes clear

After being with the fishermen for a few minutes (all of the other tourists had gone already), I suddenly understood why the Cormorants don't eat the fish!

It is very simple, but not especially nice for the birds! A piece of some sort of wire is attached around the base of th neck.

Not tight enough to stop it breathing, but restrictive enough that the bird cannot swallow any fishes it catches. It is therefore obliged to swim back to the fisherman to have the fish removed.

This picture shows a bird with just such a wire attached. You may need to enlarge the photo...

Address: On the Li River in Guilin

Directions: Li River in Guilin, tends to start about Sunset, ask in the Western Hotels such as the Sheraton about it.

And another

Just to prove that the first fish was not a fluke, I got a picture of the other fisherman (who was fishing on the other side of my tourist boat) catching one too! I still hadn't worked out how the birds had been so well trained as to not to eat the fish.

This fisherman seemed a little less careful extracting the fish as you can see he doesn't even sit it down on the raft, he just lifts the whole bird up and removes the fish.

In fact, I didn't really understand why the Cormorants didn't eat the fish until we returned to dry land, and I hung around afterwards with the fishermen on the bank (We couldn't speak to eachother as we had no common language!).

Address: On the Li River in Guilin

Directions: Li River in Guilin, tends to start about Sunset, ask in the Western Hotels such as the Sheraton about it.

A fish is caught!

All of a sudden, the first fish of the evening was caught, and a bit of a commotion occurred on the tourist boat as everyone scrambled to get a good view (including those people who had been standing on the other side of the boat!)

I saw the Cormorant swim back to the fisherman with the fish sticking out of its beak (tail end out). I was thinking Wow, isn't it well trained, most animals would just eat the fish. However, although the animals are well trained, this is not the reason they do not eat the fish.

The fisherman helps the bird out of the river with his Bamboo cane, and then removes the fish. He would often then give the bird a small food treat.

Address: On the Li River in Guilin

Directions: Li River in Guilin, tends to start about Sunset, ask in the Western Hotels such as the Sheraton about it.

The birds start fishing

Once they are in the water, the birds know exactly what to do, and they swim to the front of the raft (where there are some lanterns) and start to look for fish.

I didn't work out exactly what the lanterns were for. It is possible that they were put there to help the birds see the fish in the water, or to attract the fish, or to help the fisherman see when a Cormorant caught a fish. Or possibly it was all three things!

Anyhow, every now and then, a Cormorant would duck down under the water to hopefully catch a fish in its beak. I still wasn't sure how the fisherman was going to get the fish from the brd however - he wasn't about to dive in as he was fully dressed in normal clothes!

Address: On the Li River in Guilin

Directions: Li River in Guilin, tends to start about Sunset, ask in the Western Hotels such as the Sheraton about it.

Getting started when the fisherman is in position

Once the fisherman has moved his raft out into a sensible fishing position, he will encourage his Cormorant birds to go out on to the river to hunt for fish.

Sometimes they need a little encourangement! In this case, he picked the bird up on his bamboo cane stick, and lowered it into the water. This wasn't done in any way agressively, and the birds seem very friendly with the fishermen, however there is something still to come which I didn't think was too nice, and would probably get the animal rights activists going which we will come to soon!

Address: On the Li River in Guilin

Directions: Li River in Guilin, tends to start about Sunset, ask in the Western Hotels such as the Sheraton about it.

Cormorant Fishing in Guilin

Cormorant Fishing is still actually practised in Guilin. I had read about it before I got there, but had not been able to understand what actually happened and how the fish were caught and not eaten by the Cormorant! After all, the Cormorant is in the water, and the fisherman is in his boat - it's kind of tough to stop the bird eating the fish....

It still wasn't obvious to me when I watched the Cormorant fishing start. Essentially the fisherman appear to fish properly during the day, and then put on a display for the tourists (including many Chinese tourists) at night. A boat with tourists on sails slowly down the river, and two Cormorant fishermen on the rafts go along on either side of the boat allowing tourists to watch and take photographs. Fortunately I had a high power flash gun with me which just about coped!

Address: Li River in Guilin

Directions: Li River in Guilin, tends to start about Sunset, ask in the Western Hotels such as the Sheraton about it.