Hulun Lake Winter Fishing Custom

Winter fishing on Hulun Lake (Dalai Nur) is a long-standing fishery tradition of Manzhouli and the Hulunbuir region. In April 2013 the Manzhouli government listed "ice-fishing on Hulun Lake" in its first municipal ICH register and forwarded it upward; that same year the "Hulun Lake Winter Fishing Custom" entered the fourth batch of Inner Mongolia autonomous-region ICH items (number NMⅩ-98), declared by the Manzhouli Mass Art Centre.

In the depths of winter, fishermen bore holes through ice more than a foot thick and lay nets by the old methods of "walking" and "raising" the seine, a single haul sometimes lifting a thousand catties of fish; the work is wrapped in rites of offering to the lake and waking the net, a festive scene of farewell to the old year and prayer for abundance.

Hulun Lake winter fishing carries the production wisdom and ice-and-snow folklore of northern fishing peoples, a living sample for studying traditional high-latitude fisheries and seasonal rites, and a distinctive cultural draw for Manzhouli's winter tourism.

Winter fishing takes place on the ice of Hulun Lake and in the surrounding fishing villages.