Dongting famous specialty aquatic products
Dongting's Famous Specialty Aquatic Products
Dear friends:
Hello, everyone! When it comes to Dongting Lake, one of China's five most famous lakes, people are all too familiar with it. For over a thousand years, Fan Zhongyan's "Record of Yueyang Tower" has not only made Yueyang Tower renowned throughout the world, but also made Dongting Lake known to all under heaven.
Dongting Lake was called Yunmeng Marsh in ancient times. It "holds distant mountains in its mouth, swallows the Yangtze River, vast and mighty, stretching boundless to the horizon. Morning glow and evening shade, a thousand moods and ten thousand scenes..." Dongting Lake is not only blessed with superb scenery, but is also a natural giant freshwater fish reservoir, long known as a land of fish and rice. The lakeside areas abound in rice, while the lake itself teems with fish and shrimp, making it a famous freshwater fish producing area in China since ancient times. The lake has abundant aquatic plants and rich food sources, with mild water conditions, making it both an excellent habitat for lake-type fish to live, reproduce, and fatten, and an ideal place for birds to winter and breed. The famous Tang Dynasty poet Li Shangyin wrote a poem "Fish of Dongting": "Dongting's fish can be picked up, no need to cast more nets. Thronging like mosquitoes before rain, numerous as flies after autumn." This shows how plentiful the fish are. Today the lake abounds with over a hundred species of aquatic products including carp, crucian carp, bighead carp, silver carp, bream, mandarin fish, silver fish, anchovy, as well as shrimp, crab, turtle, soft-shelled turtle, eel, swamp eel, loach, and mussels, and is also home to the rare baiji dolphin. The largest of Dongting's fish is the sturgeon, weighing two to three hundred kilograms; the smallest yet most precious is the silver fish, weighing only a few grams. Today, I will give you a brief introduction to Dongting Lake's famous specialty aquatic products:
Silver Fish
The eight-hundred-li Dongting Lake is rich in aquatic resources, with hundreds of species of fish, shrimp, and crab in the lake alone, among which Dongting silver fish is the most famous.
Dongting Lake silver fish was called white fish or jade hairpin fish in ancient times, also known as silver strip fish or noodle fish. Dongting silver fish is very slender, without scales, shaped like a jade hairpin, white and transparent, with delicate meat and exceptionally delicious flavor. Since ancient times, it has been a delicacy on people's dining tables. During the feudal dynasties, even the supreme rulers and emperors enjoyed eating it. According to local chronicles, from the Tang Dynasty onward, over a hundred jin of dried Dongting Lake silver fish had to be presented as tribute to the emperor every year.
There is a wonderful and magical legend about the silver fish. It is said that the Queen Mother of the West was so furious when Sun Wukong stole her peaches that her eyes flashed gold sparks. She felt unwell for several days, and one day the immortals invited her out to travel and relax. While drifting over Dongting, she carelessly dropped two silver hairpins from her head into Dongting Lake, which instantly transformed into a pair of silver fish, pure as crystal and white as silver, small and transparent in form—these are what people commonly call the ancestors of the silver fish. Of course, this is merely a legend, but it embodies people's beautiful praise for the silver fish.
According to historical records, the silver fish was already valued as early as the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, regarded as a sacred fish or divine fish. It is said that when Qu Yuan, the Grand Master of the Three Lǚ, was exiled by King Xiang of Chu and drowned himself in the Miluo River with a stone in his arms, the common people, upon hearing of it, vied to throw zongzi into the water to save him, and the glutinous rice grains in the zongzi transformed into nimble little white fish, gathering by the thousands and millions, lifting Qu Yuan up and carrying him downstream. After entering Dongting Lake, white light suddenly shot up to the sky from the lake surface, drawing many people to worship toward the light. After people found and retrieved Qu Yuan's body, they buried him, built a tomb, and constructed a temple for sacrifices. However, those tiny white fish were unwilling to leave, and from then on lived in Dongting Lake. In "The Fisherman" there is the line "How can one, with purity so white, be stained by the dust of the world?"—which both reveals Qu Yuan's purity and nobility, and speaks of the silver fish's whiteness and loyalty. From then on, people regarded Dongting Lake silver fish as divine fish and protected them extensively, and over time, there were more and more silver fish in Dongting Lake.
The silver fish is transparent throughout, like a crystal-crafted artwork, usually two to three cun long, slender, with a round plump body, the tail slightly compressed laterally, the head flat, the snout pointed and short, the eyes large, and the body without scales. Except for a pair of eyes like two grains of black sand, the entire body is white as silver, like a thermometer. The silver fish's body is soft as if boneless and gutless, semi-transparent, truly incomparably delicate and beautiful. Because its body is slender like silver and transparent like water, it got its name, and has always been hailed as the "Queen of Fish." Despite its extreme delicacy, when swimming through the water it moves like a silver shuttle weaving brocade, fast as a silver arrow leaving the bowstring, so the ancients also likened it to a jade hairpin or silver shuttle. When it swims on the water surface, one can only see a moving water line, and can hardly see the silver fish that creates it. The silver fish's "digestive system" is a thin white line, just like the mercury column in a thermometer, absolutely a straight intestine, with seemingly no food remaining in its abdominal cavity, making one feel this is the "immortal" among fish. Legend has it that immortals do not eat the food of the mortal world, and can maintain their indestructible diamond bodies for a thousand years merely by dining on wind and drinking dew; and the silver fish similarly seems not to eat miscellaneous substances in the water, but merely by breathing in clear waves can maintain its transcendent, ethereal beautiful life. This lovely sprite is absolutely a miraculous creation of nature. I think that even for a brilliant painter, to paint the crystal-clear, glass-like transparent silver fish would probably not be an easy task.
Generally, beautiful life is fragile, and the silver fish's life is extremely fragile. If a silver fish is caught and taken out of the water, it will die immediately. The dead silver fish quickly turns from transparent to milky white, like jade and snow, like a craftwork carved from mutton-fat white jade, making people click their tongues in wonder. This is probably why the silver fish is called the silver fish.
The silver fish's flavor is extremely delicious, making all other fish bow in submission, so as early as the Warring States period it became a royal tribute. In the imperial palace recipe book there was a famous Chu State dish called "Golden Needle Silver Fish," made with Dongting silver fish, hence the saying "Chu cuisine of gold and silver." After the Tang and Song dynasties, there were abundant records of eating Dongting Lake silver fish, such as the Tang poem: "White white lake fish come into the dish." And the Song poet Zhang Xian's line "Silver fish after spring, perch under frost," mentioning silver fish alongside perch, showing that silver fish had been listed as a precious delicacy among fish. By the Ming Dynasty, the "Song Family's Guide to Nourishing Life" published during the Hongzhi period recorded: "Silver fish is best fried in batter," meaning that frying silver fish in batter is one of the best cooking methods. Li Shizhen in his "Compendium of Materia Medica" gave a relatively detailed account of the silver fish: "Silver fish, people especially value the small ones, dried in the sun and sold in all directions. Around Qingming they have roe, and eating them is very good; after Qingming the roe makes them thin, only suitable for making pickled fish." This summarized the local people's timing and processing methods for catching silver fish. During the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty, silver fish was already listed as tribute to be presented to the imperial court. The "Silver Fish Three Fresh" at Yueyang banquets was delicious and widely praised. It is said that when the Qing emperors Yongzheng and Qianlong toured Jiangnan, they also tasted it. In 1918, at the Panama International Famous Products Exposition, it was listed as one of the world's famous products, showing that this tiny silver fish truly has extraordinary value.
Silver fish is not only delicate in texture, but also rich in protein, and has the function of nourishing yin and tonifying the kidneys. When eating, generally fresh silver fish is stir-fried in lard or cooked in soup with vegetarian meat and eggs, or silver fish is cooked with vermicelli—all are delicious dishes. After drying in the sun, silver fish can be used in soups or stir-fried, each with its own distinctive character. The Tang Dynasty's Bai Juyi was moved by this and wrote a poem in praise: "In the courtyard are offered white seeds, naturally three cun long." The "white seeds" he referred to are silver fish. This shows that this tiny silver fish had already become a delicacy on the table since the Tang Dynasty. It is said that this fish is best suited for making soup, especially those produced in winter, which have a faint, refreshing fragrance of melon. Though melon is indeed fragrant, how can it compare to the flavor of silver fish? I think that even for a writer skilled in words, to use appropriate vocabulary to describe the silver fish's extraordinary deliciousness would probably be somewhat difficult.
Silver fish generally like to frolic in shallow, grass-rich areas, feeding on microorganisms and small crustaceans, reproducing in the surface layer of water, laying eggs attached to the roots and stems of floating plants in the water, and hatching and growing as they drift with the current. Therefore, in the vast expanse of Dongting Lake, with its flat lake islets, fresh aquatic grasses, and lively, refreshing water quality, it is a "land of abundance" for silver fish growth. In the lake areas around Junshan, Bianshan, and Chenglingji in Dongting, schools of silver fish are often seen shuttling back and forth like shuttles. Silver fish often inhabit lake branches, harbors, or open water areas where clear and turbid waters meet. At dawn and dusk they float to the surface to breathe fresh air and feed, gathering in dense schools, swimming in the rippling blue waves, glittering in the sunlight. "When ice is gone the stream waves turn green, silver fish ascend the rushing rapids; fresh they float on white jade plates, no need to explore the inner chambers." The silver fish's reproductive habits are quite peculiar. It lays eggs on the ice and snow on the lake surface in the depths of winter. The eggs, as the ice and snow melt, take on a jelly-like appearance, crystal clear, floating on the water surface, and only begin to hatch the following spring when temperatures rise, not becoming adult fish until May. The silver fish's lifespan is about one year; generally after spawning they no longer feed, gradually becoming emaciated, and ultimately die. Because Dongting Lake's silver fish belongs to the resident type, not the migratory type, its flavor is especially delicious. Combined with its slow growth, its yield is not high, and its price is therefore particularly expensive.
Through long-term reproduction, Dongting Lake silver fish has differentiated into several varieties, among which the short-tailed silver fish and the oligodont short-snouted silver fish are the finest. These two varieties are about 8 centimeters long, pure white throughout without scales, appearing boneless and gutless and semi-transparent, both plump and tender, and delicious. According to modern nutritional analysis, silver fish is rich in nutrients. Every 100 grams of edible portion contains 8.2 grams of protein, 0.3 grams of fat, 1.4 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of ash, 258 milligrams of calcium, 102 milligrams of phosphorus, 0.5 milligrams of iron, 0.01 milligrams of thiamine, 0.05 milligrams of riboflavin, and 0.2 milligrams of niacin. It has the characteristics of high protein and low fat, suitable even for patients with hyperlipidemia. Silver fish has no bones or spines, belonging to "whole foods," with complete nutrition, beneficial for enhancing human immune function and longevity, and can be called the foremost of river delicacies. The medicinal value of silver fish is also very high; whether dried or fresh, it has the functions of benefiting the spleen, moistening the lungs, tonifying the kidneys, and enhancing yang, making it a superior tonic. Dongting silver fish sells well overseas, and Japanese people especially love it, calling silver fish the ginseng of fish and regarding it as a rare treasure.
Silver fish as a table delicacy: looking at it, the color is pleasing to the eye; smelling it, the fresh fragrance is enticing, stimulating the appetite; eating it, the flavor is delicious, leaving a lingering fragrance on the lips and teeth. There are many ways to eat silver fish—pan-fried, stir-fried, quick-fried, deep-fried, steamed, boiled, braised, or stewed—but the most distinctive are fried and stir-fried preparations and soups.
Dry-fried silver fish, golden in color, has an especially distinctive flavor, as if the silvery-white fish has been coated with a layer of gold powder. Eating it, it is loose, crispy, plump, tender, and fragrant. The silver fish is seasoned and marinated, coated with egg liquid, evenly dusted with flour, and deep-fried in oil at 40-50% heat until done, giving it a crispy, fragrant outer layer and a soft, fresh, tender inner layer—a truly distinctive flavor.
Stir-fried silver fish is plump, fragrant, fresh, and tender. Combined with other ingredients, it offers endless variations with different flavors. For example, "Silver Fish Stir-Fried with Eggs" presents a dish of matching yellow and white, fresh, tender, and delicious, with a delicate texture like shrimp.
Steamed silver fish has a fragrant flesh, fresh, tender, and moist, plump but not greasy. If steamed together with minced shrimp and pork fat, it resembles bird's nest in appearance, making it a fine high-grade dish.
Made with different ingredients, "silver fish soup" is excellent in both color and taste, fresh and delicious. For example, it can be combined with shredded chicken, shredded pork, eggs, etc., to make "Shredded Chicken Silver Fish Soup," "Shredded Pork Silver Fish Soup," "Hibiscus Silver Fish," "Golden Silk Silver Thread Soup," and other soup dishes. In "Golden Silk Silver Thread Soup," the golden egg shreds and silvery fish set each other off beautifully. "Hibiscus Silver Fish" looks not like a dish but like a hibiscus flower floating on the water.
Dongting Lake silver fish can also be made into dried silver fish—slender and elegant, shaped like jade hairpins, without changing flavor or quality, easy to store, and from ancient times to the present a fine gift for relatives and friends. When eating dried silver fish, soak in warm water to rehydrate, wash clean, and then cook—whether fried, stir-fried, steamed, or made into soup, the flavor is invariably superb, whether crispy or crunchy, soft and tender or chewy—all beyond words. In Hunan cuisine, the Dongting Lake silver fish series of dishes combines ancient elegance with modern flair, standing out as a leader.
It is this tiny, widely renowned fish that is not only delicious, tender, and nutritious, but also of extremely high economic value, known as "soft platinum in the water." It is one of China's main export aquatic products, and one ton of silver fish can be exchanged for 20 tons of rice.
"When Dongting loquats turn yellow, silver fish are plump and fragrant." In May, when loquats ripen to yellow, it is exactly the season when silver fish come to market. At this time, by the shores of Dongting Lake, merchants gather, all because of the silver fish, and this has become another annual scene of the Dongting water country. From mid-May to mid-June each year, fishermen use fine-mesh nets to sail with the wind across the lake. What the fishermen catch, besides being sold fresh, is mostly sun-dried into light dried silver fish. The commercial name is "swallow dried," a hot commodity that sells well in domestic and international markets. If blessed with good weather, the dried silver fish is white as shredded radish; dried in cloudy weather, the silver fish turns yellowish. Although the colors differ, their nutritional value is equally high.
Mandarin Fish
Mandarin fish, also known as osmanthus fish, ao fish, ridge-flower fish, or fat mandarin. Taxonomically it belongs to the order Perciformes, family Serranidae, genus Siniperca. It has thick, firm flesh, white and delicate, delicious in taste, with few intermuscular bones, rich in nutrition and high in protein content, and is one of the well-known precious freshwater fish at home and abroad. It is equally famous as the Yellow River carp, the Songhua River four-gill perch, and the Xingkai Lake whitefish, together hailed as China's "Four Great Freshwater Famous Fish." There are quite a few varieties of mandarin fish, mainly including the topmouth culter mandarin, big-eye mandarin, long-bodied mandarin, spotted mandarin, and dark-colored mandarin. Among them, the topmouth culter mandarin is notably larger in individual size and growth rate than other varieties, followed by the big-eye mandarin.
Mandarin fish is an ancient and precious fish species. Among the funerary animals in the Han tombs at Mawangdui in Changsha, mandarin fish bones were discovered. This shows that over 2,100 years ago, mandarin fish was already cherished by people. According to Hunan local chronicles: the Dongting Lake area and the basins of the four rivers Xiang, Zi, Yuan, and Li have produced mandarin fish since ancient times, and in terms of yield, "Dongting Lake's is the greatest." The famous Tang Dynasty poet Zhang Zhihe's well-known poem "Fisherman's Song" contains the line "Peach blossoms flow, mandarin fish are fat," referring to it.
The mandarin fish has a plump body with thick flesh, laterally compressed, with a hump behind the head. The mouth is large, the snout pointed, the mouth cleft slightly oblique, the lower jaw protruding beyond the upper jaw. The upper and lower jaws, dentary, and palate all have small teeth. The scales are tiny, and the lateral line is curved. The dorsal fin is divided into anterior and posterior parts, with 8 hard spines in the front and 13-15 branched fin rays in the rear, capable of injecting venom that causes unbearable pain. The pelvic fins are thoracic, and the pectoral and caudal fins are rounded. The body color is brownish-yellow, with a grayish-white belly. From the tip of the snout through the eye to the front of the dorsal fin there is a black stripe, and the sides of the body have many irregular patches and spots. The topmouth culter mandarin has relatively small eyes, with the posterior end of the lower jaw reaching the posterior margin of the eye, while the big-eye mandarin has large eyes, with the posterior end of the lower jaw not reaching the posterior margin of the eye. It uses the patterns on its body as protective coloration, often inhabiting the lower layers of slow-flowing coastal waters with aquatic plants, sometimes lurking in mud holes, peering out to capture food. Once it spots a target, it quietly swims closer, seizes the moment, and then attacks with lightning speed.
The mandarin fish is a typical carnivorous fish, fond of live bait, often swallowing live fry of silver carp, grass carp, black carp, blunt-snout bream, bream, and fine-scaled xenocypris that exceed its own length. Fry just hatched from eggs can already feed on other fry. Adults mainly prey on small fish of lesser economic value, and also eat shrimp.
The mandarin fish is widely distributed, found in all major river systems throughout the country except the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, but the mandarin fish produced in Dongting Lake is the best. Mandarin fish is widely distributed in rivers, lakes, and reservoirs, as a bottom-dwelling fish, preferring clean, relatively transparent environments with slight water flow. It often burrows into caves, rock crevices, or grass, prefers to come out at night to feed, and retreats to deep water in winter. Mandarin fish likes to gather in groups and also has the habit of moving in pairs, with one mandarin fish often followed closely by another. Mandarin fish matures early; in southern China, males generally mature at 1 year and females at 2 years. They naturally spawn in rivers, lakes, and reservoirs, and can spawn multiple times a year, generally in rainy weather or slight water flow conditions, with May to July being the spawning season. Their eggs are semi-pelagic, able to float with the current to complete incubation.
The mandarin fish is the darling of river and lake freshwater fish. Among freshwater fish, almost none can reach the heights achieved by the mandarin fish, becoming an essential commodity in most aquatic product markets nationwide, hence it is called "freshwater grouper." Not only that, it also enjoys privileged treatment in cooking. For steaming, it must have superior stock; for soft-frying, quality peanut oil is required; for making fish rolls, fine auxiliary ingredients such as shiitake mushrooms, ham, dried shrimp, and winter bamboo shoots are needed; even to cook it stinky, aged stinky brine must be used to marinate it—and this mandarin fish marinated in stinky brine actually ranks at the top of the specialty dishes in restaurants and eateries! In a word, the mandarin fish's flesh is not only delicate and good in texture, but also has a soft, glutinous crab-meat flavor that lingers between the teeth. Whether sweet-and-sour, braised in soy sauce, deep-fried and quick-fried, steamed, or cooked by any other method, it is always delicious and distinctive. That delicate fibrous flesh congeals into small flaky petals, and with the fish juices, that delicacy, that soft glutinousness, that rich fragrance, gives one an unforgettable memory. Therefore, since ancient times there has been the saying "In the sea the barracuda, in the river the shad, in the stream the mandarin." In some places in the Dongting Lake area, when distinguished guests visit, "Bamboo Tube Mandarin Fish" is often served to entertain them.
"Squirrel Mandarin Fish" is a traditional famous dish throughout Jiangnan, long listed as a fine delicacy at banquets. This dish is prepared by first deboning the mandarin fish, carving patterns into the flesh, marinating briefly with seasoning, then coating with egg yolk batter, deep-frying in hot oil until done, and pouring over heated sweet-and-sour sauce. It is shaped like a squirrel, crispy outside and tender inside, sweet and sour, delicious. Because the prepared dish resembles a squirrel, it is called "Squirrel Mandarin Fish." The Qing Dynasty "Compendium of Seasonings" records: "Squirrel fish, take the fish belly, remove bones, coat with egg yolk, fry until yellow, fry into squirrel shape, cook with oil and sauce." It is said that the Qianlong Emperor ate this dish and greatly praised it. This dish has a history of over 200 years since its creation, has become famous at home and abroad, and is one of China's most famous dishes.
The reason mandarin fish is so highly regarded, besides its delicious flavor and nutritional value, may mainly benefit from its name—mandarin fish. The character "鳜" (guì) in "鳜鱼" is homophonous with "贵" (guì), meaning wealth and honor. This is perhaps where its true significance lies. Among the common people, the populace also greatly reveres this fish with auspicious meaning. I remember that no matter how poor one was, when the twelfth lunar month came, pig trotters could go without being cured, sausages could go without being stuffed, but this expensive mandarin fish would definitely be bought—one or two at least—by ordinary folk. After slaughtering, cleaning, and salting for about ten days, it would be hung in a ventilated place. Around the twenty-eighth of the twelfth lunar month, it would be quickly fried in oil, and the half-cooked, half-raw dried mandarin fish would be placed on the family's most beautiful scalloped plate. On New Year's Eve, it would be the first to come to the table, placed in the center—the one dish among the sumptuous New Year's Eve feast that absolutely no chopsticks could touch. What this plate held was wealth and honor, imbued with a hope, a sincere yearning—that of year-after-year abundance with "fish." With this mandarin fish, it seemed to link the remaining wealth of the passing year with the wealth of the coming year, adding joy to the festive atmosphere of the New Year. Only on the fifteenth of the first lunar month could this mandarin fish, with its meaning of wealth and honor, be tasted, though by then its flavor and texture would certainly be greatly diminished. To this day, this custom is still preserved in the countryside.
Once I happened to read a passage introducing the story of an imperial dish. Undoubtedly, imperial dishes are characterized by auspicious names symbolizing wealth and honor, precious ingredients mostly of rare delicacies from mountains and seas, and exquisite, highly refined cooking techniques. And that mandarin fish, so revered in the countryside, actually swam into the imperial kitchen as well. "Palace Gate Presents Fish" is said to be a famous dish that the Kangxi Emperor brought back from among the people during an incognito inspection tour, and personally named. The fish used in Palace Gate Presents Fish is none other than the mandarin fish. It is prepared with beef, ham, dried shrimp, winter bamboo shoots, pickled mustard, dried red chili peppers, and other auxiliary ingredients to create a brocade-like dish of two colors and two flavors, shaped like a fish leaping out of a palace gate. Incredibly, at imperial celebrations and grand ceremonies, this dish absolutely could not be absent. The mystery behind this surely shares the same origin as the common people's yearning—that is, the mandarin fish, which carries the meaning of wealth and honor!
The mandarin fish has a very high degree of fatness. Its flesh is not only plump and delicate, delicious and tasty, but also rich in nutrition, containing all 8 essential amino acids for the human body. Every 100 grams of fish flesh contains 18.5 grams of protein and 3.5 grams of fat, exceeding that of ordinary fish. It also contains calcium, phosphorus, iron, vitamin B1, vitamin B2, niacin, and some trace elements. Because the mandarin fish has no intermuscular bones, it is an ideal high-protein, low-fat health food for children and the elderly. It has the functions of benefiting the spleen and stomach, nourishing qi and blood, and tonifying consumptive diseases, making one strong and healthy. Using 100-200 grams of mandarin fish flesh, cooked or prepared as medicinal dishes such as "Mandarin Fish Nourishing Soup," "Date Paste Mandarin Fish," or "Garlic Steamed Mandarin Fish," it can treat diseases such as weakness of the spleen and stomach, consumptive emaciation, and indigestion.
Snakehead
Snakehead, scientific name Channa, also known as black fish, snakehead fish, or live fish. Because its skin is black without scales, it is commonly called black fish. The snakehead's body is cylindrical in the front and laterally compressed in the rear. The whole body is grayish-black, with black spots on the sides. It prefers to inhabit shallow waters with dense aquatic plants, and is a fierce carnivorous freshwater fish that never eats vegetation. Newly born baby snakeheads immediately compete for insects, small crustaceans, and small shrimp. When grown, they eat various fish, shrimp, and frogs, and also cannibalize their own kind. Generally, individuals are 40-50 centimeters long and weigh 2-3 kilograms, with the largest reaching over 5 kilograms. Snakehead is widely distributed in China; except for the western plateau regions, it is found in rivers, lakes, and ponds from the south to Heilongjiang in the north. Because it lives by eating fish and shrimp, generally needing to eat about 100 kilograms of fish to gain 1 kilogram of weight, it is a major pest for aquaculture. Almost all fish farming households hope that angling enthusiasts will help them catch all the snakeheads mixed in their fish ponds, especially fry ponds.
The snakehead has extremely strong vitality and adaptability to the environment. Whether in lakes, reservoirs, rivers, streams, ponds, or even paddy fields, channels, and even swamps and puddles where ordinary fish cannot survive, it can grow and reproduce. The snakehead has a high meat yield, plump and delicious flesh, rich in nutrition, and without fine intermuscular bones, making it one of the fish suitable for all ages. According to measurements, every 100 grams of fresh fish flesh contains 19.8 grams of protein, 1.4 grams of fat, and 1.2 grams of sugar, making it a typical high-protein, low-fat health food. According to medical texts, snakehead also has pharmacological effects such as removing blood stasis and promoting blood circulation, nourishing and strengthening yang, astringing muscles and promoting fluid production, and dispelling cold and regulating the body. In Southeast Asia and China's Guangdong, Guangxi, Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan regions, it has always been regarded as both a delicacy and a tonic, and therefore commands an extraordinary price.
Snakehead generally lives in waters with dense aquatic plants or slow-flowing areas, has strong adaptability to the environment, can tolerate low oxygen, and can also live for quite a long time in moist muddy areas with little water. In winter it often lives in burrows, lurking in the mud without eating or moving. Therefore, in the vast marshlands of Dongting Lake there are large numbers of snakehead. The snakehead's sexual maturity age is generally 2 years, with a body weight of around 800 grams and a fecundity of about 20,000 eggs. The spawning period is from May to July, concentrated in June. The spawning method is of the nest-building type, belonging to single maturation with batch spawning, and the eggs are golden-yellow pelagic eggs.
Snakehead begins feeding in late spring and reproduces from early to mid-summer. Among all fish, the most peculiar reproductive method is that of the snakehead. After the male and female fish mate and spawn, the female's eyes become covered with a film, rendering her unable to see. After the eggs hatch into fry, they form groups around the female, slowly moving forward through the aquatic plants. The small snakeheads first eat zooplankton, then gradually feed on the fry of white fish, crucian carp, bream, and other fish in the grass. The male fish also often swims around the group of small snakeheads. When the female is hungry, she eats the small snakehead fry swimming nearby. Often within 20-plus days, of nearly a thousand newborn snakehead fry, by the time they mature and leave the mother, only a few dozen or a hundred or so remain—the rest basically become the female's food. After the dog days begin, the small black fish can live independently, and the old black fish's eye film disappears, so mother and children go their separate ways. At this time, the old snakehead, having consumed too much, has a very strong appetite. Therefore, summer is the snakehead's breeding season, growing season, and also the best season of the year for catching snakehead. Once you discover a nest of snakeheads—clustered together, like a large black sieve slowly swimming on the water surface—you use an extra-large fish hook made from bicycle brake wire, tied tightly with hemp rope, attached to a bamboo pole. Catch a small frog, tie it to the hook with fine thread, and then gently tap it beside the snakehead. At this time, the large snakehead patrols beneath the group of small snakeheads like a cruiser, protecting its offspring. Once it detects danger, it will desperately charge at the intruder, and then you can catch the large snakehead with almost complete certainty. The reason for using thick fishing line, extra-large hooks, and a bamboo pole as the fishing rod is that the snakehead is too fierce—because it fights desperately, it can easily break the fishing tackle, so ordinary tackle is of little use against it. Therefore, the most joyful and exciting thing in childhood was nothing other than catching snakehead.
The famous dish "Butterflies Crossing the River" in the Dongting Lake area is made with snakehead. "Butterflies Crossing the River" is also called "Butterflies Floating Over the Sea." The name sounds so beautiful—on lush green grass, a group of butterflies like water sprites, gracefully floating, flying across the surging long river. White skirts dance with peerless elegance... Just thinking about it is full of poetry. Can you imagine that such a beautiful name is a famous dish of the Dongting Lake area?
Indeed, "Butterflies Crossing the River" is a uniquely flavored delicacy of the lake country people.
Its preparation method is: first, take a snakehead of about 4 jin, cut off the head and tail, slit the belly and remove scales, pull out the tendons, remove the bones, and cut into thin slices shaped like butterflies spreading their wings. Wash the fish head and tail and boil them into soup. When the soup has become a white milky broth, strain out the foam and the fish head and tail, and add lard, refined salt, shredded ginger, chili, garlic, and other seasonings to the soup. When the fish soup is boiling vigorously, add the snakehead slices in batches.
Now you can imagine that wonderful scene. Because the snow-white fish soup is boiling, the fish slices, put in from one side of the pot, immediately float up on the other side, each one spreading out, like white butterflies dancing gracefully on the river surface. Therefore it is called "Dongting Butterflies Floating Across the River." This dish has an exceptionally tender and fresh texture, simply indescribably wonderful. Actually, this is a way of eating hot pot, but the lake country people, through a thousand years of life practice, created their own cuisine and methods suited to their survival, with a brilliance comparable to that of instant-boiled mutton.
In addition, snakehead can be prepared by various methods, such as quick-fried snakehead slices, embroidered-ball snakehead, and four-joy snakehead slice soup. In short, no matter which technique is used to cook snakehead, the meat slices are snow-white, moist and delicate, and extremely delicious, quite famous. Because this fish has few bones, firm flesh, delicious flavor, and high nutritional value, and can treat certain diseases, it is already being farmed in many places. According to pharmaceutical texts: snakehead has the pharmacological effects of removing blood stasis and generating new tissue, and nourishing and regulating blood, so it is generally favored by postpartum women and fracture patients. Eaten steamed by postpartum women, it can promote lactation and nourish blood; eaten by fracture patients, it can generate muscle and grow bone. The "Shennong Materia Medica" says: "Treats five types of hemorrhoids, cures dampness impediment and facial edema, and drains great water." Therefore, snakehead cooked with ginger and red dates has an auxiliary effect on treating pulmonary tuberculosis; snakehead stewed with brown sugar has a certain therapeutic effect on nephritis; snakehead cooked with ge Cai and tofu can treat backache and lumbar pain. Thus, snakehead is an excellent product for both medicinal and culinary use.
Swamp Eel
Swamp eel is a specialty of the Dongting Lake area. We locals call it yellow eel. Its back is dark green, its belly bright yellow, and it is slippery and smooth to hold in the hand—quite amusing. Because of its high nutritional value, as soon as it comes to market each
At the turn of spring and summer, the countryside bustles with activity. People are busy harvesting and sowing. This is the busiest and hardest season of the year, with hot weather and frequent thunderstorms, as people rush to harvest, thresh, spread out to dry, and sell the wheat and rapeseed, then plant the rice seedlings. This season is also the best time to catch eels. Every evening, on the fields of this land of rivers and lakes, faint yellow lights drift about. People hold a small oil lamp in their left hand, carry a bamboo basket on their back, and hold a bamboo tong in their right hand (this bamboo tong is made from two thick bamboo strips, with a row of symmetrical sawtooth notches cut into the bamboo pieces, then a hole drilled in the middle, and the two pieces riveted together with a nail, making a simple but very useful tool for clamping eels), walking along the field ridges, heads bowed in search. Eels habitually rest in the cool, and by now the paddy fields have been flooded with water, the soil turned over, just waiting for the ox to plow. In such paddy fields, eels love to emerge from beneath the mud to breathe. Beneath the thin surface of the water, some curl up, some stretch out, the eels lazily lying in the water dozing off, unaware that danger is already close at hand...
The eel has a rounded, slender body, tubular at the front end, gradually becoming laterally compressed toward the rear, with a pointed, slender tail tip. The head is relatively large, with a somewhat pointed snout. The eyes are small, located above the jawbone, hidden beneath the skin, and not very conspicuous. The mouth is large, with the upper jaw slightly protruding, and both the upper and lower jaws and the palate bear fine villiform teeth. The upper and lower lips are well developed, the lower lip especially thick. There are two pairs of nostrils, separated front and back, with the anterior nostrils at the tip of the snout and the posterior nostrils above the anterior margin of the eye. The gill openings are relatively small, with the left and right gill openings merging into one on the ventral surface, opening ventrally to form a "V"-shaped gill slit. The eel's gills are severely degenerated, and its ability to breathe dissolved oxygen from the water is greatly reduced, but it can breathe air directly through the pharyngeal cavity and skin, so eels often have to stick their heads out of the water to breathe. Even when out of water, as long as its skin remains moist, it can survive for a long time. The eel's back is mostly yellowish-brown or olive-brown, dotted with small black spots; the belly is orange-yellow, dotted with pale small spots. It is smooth and scaleless, covered in mucus, and difficult to catch with bare hands. This is why the bamboo tong needs sawtooth notches.
The eel is a bottom-dwelling fish with strong adaptability and not strict requirements for water bodies or water quality, mostly inhabiting rivers, ditches, lakes, ponds, and paddy fields. Besides the general living habits of fish, eels also often make use of natural crevices, gaps between gravel, and clusters of water chestnut floating on the water surface for shelter, and like to burrow into caves in the muddy bottom of water bodies. Each dwelling burrow has at least two openings: one opening in the water, for going out to seek food or as a temporary escape route, and another opening usually 10 to 30 centimeters above the water surface, to breathe air.
The eel's eyes are small and covered by a membrane, with poorly developed vision; it prefers darkness and avoids light, hiding by day and emerging at night, mostly foraging at night, and also leaving its burrow to forage on overcast and rainy days. Farmers often take advantage of this trait to catch them at night by lamplight. The eel's sense of smell and skin tactile sense are quite acute, and it relies mainly on smell and touch to forage. The eel is a poikilothermic animal, its body temperature changing with the external water temperature. The suitable water temperature for growth is 15°C to 30°C, with 22°C to 25°C being most suitable.
The eel is an omnivorous fish that feeds mainly on animal food, preferring live bait, and is very voracious. When food comes near its mouth, the eel opens its mouth and forcefully sucks, drawing the food into its mouth; when it bites a large piece of food it cannot swallow, it relies on violent twisting of its body to break the food apart for swallowing. Eels tolerate hunger, and will not die even after going a long time without eating. But under conditions of food scarcity, eels will also cannibalize one another. Adult eels mainly feed on snails, small clams, river mussels, shrimp, small fish, tadpoles, young frogs, and terrestrial animals such as earthworms, grasshoppers, moths, scarab beetles, crickets, and so on. When food is scarce, they also eat melons, vegetables, wheat bran, duckweed, plant fragments, and the like.
Eel meat is delicious and nutritious, rich in high protein and low in fat, making it an excellent nutritional tonic. In traditional Hunan cuisine, "Zilong Removing His Robe" is a famous dish that uses eel as its main ingredient. Because the eel must undergo procedures such as cutting open the belly, removing bones, removing the head, and peeling off the skin during preparation—especially the peeling of the eel, which resembles an ancient military general removing his robe—the dish was named "Zilong Removing His Robe." Before liberation, when Li Zongren served as acting president of the Republic of China, he once held a grand banquet at the Nanjing branch of Quyuan, and at the meal he praised "Zilong Removing His Robe" incessantly; as a result, Quyuan became renowned throughout the ancient capital of Jinling. Zilong Removing His Robe not only has a unique preparation method, but the dish's name is also distinctive and novel, giving much food for thought, and has always attracted many celebrities. For instance, Qi Baishi, Wu Han, Tian Han, and others once visited Quyuan to taste this dish. After liberation, the old chefs of Quyuan were even summoned to Zhongnanhai to demonstrate their skills for Chairman Mao Zedong. Nowadays, it is only produced and supplied by advance reservation at the Furong Hall of the Youyicun Restaurant. And stir-fried shredded eel and cured meat stewed with eel are even more favored dishes among farming families.
Yellow eel not only has extremely high nutritional value, but its health benefits have long been recognized. Legend has it that Zuo Zongtang, then 64 years old, led 60,000 Huxiang disciples on a military expedition to restore the homeland. Beneath the snow-covered Qilian Mountains, long winds unfurled the great banners as the Huxiang troops charged into battle amidst blood and storm. A year later, all of Xinjiang was recovered. Rather than saying that a fractured nation made Zuo Zongtang's fame, it is more accurate to say that Zuo Zongtang created this chapter of history...
To cope with Xinjiang's harsh natural climate and extremely difficult combat conditions, and to keep the Huxiang troops in good physical condition during the war, Zuo Zongtang ordered his soldiers to bring large quantities of yellow eel on the march to Xinjiang, kept alive in water-filled tubs used back home for threshing grain. In this way, the Huxiang troops could not only eat dishes from their hometown in the desert wilderness of the Western Regions, boosting morale, but also replenish their physical strength in time. Xinjiang is a sandy land, and the people had never seen yellow eel, so they did not know what it was and thought it was a snake. Those who eat snakes are immune to all poisons, and when they came to attack, they would surely overcome every obstacle. Thus, the enemy's morale was affected from the very start. I had originally thought this was just a mistaken legend, but unexpectedly someone from Xinjiang told me that not only do southerners eat yellow eel—people there also often prepare roasted eel as a dish, which I found strange. Investigating the reason, I could not find out. Later I had to consult local gazetteers, and only then did I learn that those old legends were true. The Xinjiang Gazetteer clearly records: "Hami originally produced no fish. The Hunan army brought hundreds of loads of yellow eel in wooden tubs, carried them out beyond the pass, and upon reaching Hami, released them into the marshes. Over the years they multiplied greatly, and the locals, thinking they were snakes, would not eat them." This shows that when Zuo Zongtang led the Huxiang troops beyond the pass, he not only recovered a great deal of territory but also brought delicious food to the people of Xinjiang.
According to medical historical records, yellow eel is sweet and warm in nature, non-toxic; it enters the spleen and kidney meridians, tonifies the spleen and boosts qi, removes accumulations and regulates blood. It has significant therapeutic and auxiliary effects on cold in the abdomen, borborygmus, damp painful obstruction, damp-heat bodily itching, internal and external hemorrhoids and fistulas, postpartum dribbling in women, and blood-qi disharmony. It is of particular value in supplementing nutrition, balancing nutrition, strengthening the body and tendons, and enhancing disease resistance.
According to research in the American medical community, human absorption of lecithin can improve memory by 20%, and yellow eel fat contains extremely rich lecithin. At the 1900 International DHA Research Conference in Tokyo, Professor McTut of Britain first presented the thesis that fish contain abundant DHA (a highly unsaturated fatty acid, commonly known as "brain gold"), which can make the human brain's neural connections and memory cells more active. This aroused global attention and in-depth research, and it was learned that eel is rich in DHA. The internationally recognized health benefits of DHA for the human body include:
Lowering cholesterol concentration in the blood, effectively preventing cardiovascular diseases caused by arteriosclerosis; increasing blood activity and slowing the rate of blood coagulation; effectively reducing internal and external inflammation in the body; preventing the spread of cancer cells; improving brain function and preventing brain aging; being an essential nutrient for fetal development and having important potential effects in laying the foundation for high intelligence in the human brain; and delaying intellectual decline in the elderly and preventing senile dementia.
Li Danqiu of Shanghai Fisheries University determined that yellow eel meat not only contains DHA but also is relatively rich in EPA. These two substances have stable effects in inhibiting cardiovascular disease and in anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory action.
Recently, in the book DHA: Eating Fish to Strengthen the Brain by Suzuki Hiromitsu of Japan, it is said that yellow eel is rich in vitamins A, B, C, and E, especially vitamin A, whose content is very high. One hundred grams of roasted eel slices contain 5,000 international units of vitamin A, while 100 grams of beef, hailed as a top health food, contains only 40 international units, and pork only 17 international units. Vitamin A is an important substance for enhancing vision and balancing the skin's metabolic functions. Japanese people call eel "eye medicine," and Japanese people with eye ailments all know the benefits of eating eel meat. Japanese nutritionists also particularly point out that in summer Japanese people's vitamin intake is the lowest of the year, so eating yellow eel in summer can make up for this deficiency.
The Japanese consider themselves a people who love eating yellow eel, and records of this have existed since ancient times. For example, the ancient Japanese work Man'yoshu records a poem by the poet Otomo no Yakamochi titled "The Thin Person," which roughly means, "Eel is good for those suffering from summer fatigue; those suffering from summer fatigue should eat more eel." Japanese folklore has long held that "eel is effective in treating illness." In various parts of Japan, there has long been the custom of eating roasted eel slices during the dog days of summer, which is consistent with the Chinese saying that "yellow eel during Minor Heat is as good as ginseng." This is also why Japan needs to import large quantities of yellow eel every year, with annual consumption reaching more than 120,000 tons. Using yellow eel to treat illness is extremely common among the people of China, Japan, and Southeast Asia, and its therapeutic effects have forced the medical community to regard it with new respect. For example: a young girl suffered facial nerve paralysis, causing her mouth and eyes to become distorted. She was treated at a hospital for three months with little effect and was in great pain; later she was treated with moxibustion using eel blood, and recovered within a week. Another example is an elderly person who for decades would suffer dysentery whenever eating meat, and later recovered after drinking tea made with eel powder saponin for two months, and so on.
Therefore, rice field eel is not only a delicacy but also an indispensable health food for humans.
Pearls
Since ancient times, pearls have always been regarded as gifts from the gods to the earth. In ancient India, pearls were believed to be formed from the tears of the gods. The Romans, however, linked the birth of a pearl to Venus, the goddess of love, believing that when she emerged from bathing in a foam-filled shell, the water droplets on her body were condensed by her radiant luster into pearls... Pearls thus acquired a lofty and sacred status, and as symbols of power, good fortune, hope, and happiness, they have always been revered by humanity, with a value even exceeding that of diamonds.
As an important variety of jewelry, pearls have always been favored by people, and humanity has never ceased its research on them—nor have the people of the Dongting Lake area ever stopped their research on them. Legend has it that in the past, at the turn of summer and autumn, on crisp autumn nights, a wondrous spectacle could be seen throughout the Dongting Lake area: under the faint moonlight, a glistening treasure light would gradually emerge from the bottom of the lake, growing brighter and larger. Later, through quiet investigation, people discovered that it was actually groups of giant mussels in Dongting Lake rising together in the shallow waters, opening their shells and spitting out pearls, absorbing the essence of the sun and moon and nourishing their pearls with dew. That shimmering light in the shallows was the radiance emitted by the pearls inside the mussels, which people called "pearl light."
Hunan Province began artificial pearl cultivation in the 1960s. However, due to the scarcity of high-quality mussel sources, the pearl yield remained low, and pearl cultivation was in a state of "small-scale, scattered operation." After nearly 30 years of exploration into rapid, high-quality pearl cultivation and deep-processing technology, they finally overcame the challenge of breeding superior mussel species, explored efficient cultivation models, and achieved gratifying results. They successfully cultivated freshwater non-nucleated pearls, nucleated pearls, pictographic pearls, and luminous pearls, and rapidly expanded cultivation in Anxiang, Hanshou, Dingcheng, Yuanjiang, and other places. The pearl cultivation water area has reached over 500,000 mu, accounting for "half of the country's total." They also developed instant pearl powder, pearl oral liquid, and other beauty and health products, as well as pearl accessories such as necklaces, earrings, bracelets, anklets, and tie pins. In Changde, west of Dongting Lake, Dongting Aquatic Pearl Co., Ltd. broke through traditional processing methods and innovated bio-enzymatic hydrolysis technology with independent intellectual property rights, developing activated pearl powder that leads the world. Hanshou saw the rise of the province's first specialized pearl market, with hundreds of pearl-processed products dazzling the eye, and an annual transaction volume of nearly 1 billion yuan. At the 2004 National Agricultural Trade Fair, deeply processed products such as Hunan-produced pearl jewelry, activated pearl powder, and pearl decoction pieces attracted over 100 merchants and secured sales orders worth over 200 million yuan.
Today, whenever you go to the Dongting Lake area, you can see spectacular scenes of pearl cultivation everywhere: across the vast lakeside region, on the broad expanse of water, rows of green hanging bottles dot the surface, and exquisite pearls are cultivated and processed here, going out to the world. The province's total annual output value of the pearl industry has exceeded 2 billion yuan.
Hunan Lotus
Hunan lotus is one of Hunan's famous products. In the vast lakeside areas of Dongting Lake, since most of the land consists of alluvial plains with deep soil layers, flat terrain, vast waters, fertile soil, and a mild climate, it is highly suitable for the growth of Hunan lotus. The lotus flower, also known as the lotus, is an aquatic plant of the water lily family, also called water hibiscus, lotus blossom, water mushroom, water cloud, jade ring, han dan, and other names. It is a traditional favorite of the Chinese people.
One of the flowers. Because it "emerges from mud unsoiled and stays undefiled in clear ripples," Zhou Dunyi called it a gentleman. It is precisely her noble character that has always been praised by men of letters. Legend has it that the 24th day of the sixth lunar month is the birthday of the lotus, and in the Dongting Lake area there are commemorative lotus festivals.
Xiang lotus is a nutritious, delicately fragrant and delicious top-grade food. China has cultivated lotus since ancient times. In 1973, lotus seeds were discovered at ancient cultural sites in Zhejiang and Henan dating back 5,000 to 7,000 years. Hunan has a history of lotus cultivation spanning more than 3,000 years; as early as 3,000 years ago, Changde was already producing lotus roots. At the Shang dynasty cultural site in Zaoshi, Shimen County, lotus seeds dating back 3,500 years were unearthed. According to the General Annals of Hunan: "The lotus roots of central Hunan surpass those elsewhere, and their lotus root powder is the finest in all of Chu, presented as tribute each year." In Qu Yuan's Li Sao from the Warring States period there is the line "I made water caltrop and lotus into garments, and gathered lotus flowers to make my lower robe." In the Western Han yuefu poem Jiangnan, there is also the description "South of the river one can pick lotus, lotus leaves spread out lush and dense." It is said that both Liu Bang, founder of the Han dynasty, and Emperor Taizong of Tang once ordered the common people to present lotus seeds as tribute to the imperial palace, and Xiang lotus became Hunan's most famous local specialty.
There are many varieties of Xiang lotus, broadly divided into edible and ornamental types. Among edible lotuses, those grown for their seeds are called seed lotus, and those grown for their underground stems are called lotus root. Seed lotus is further divided by morphological characteristics into three types: white lotus, winter melon lotus, and red lotus.
White lotus, also known as three-inch lotus, has large seeds—three seeds to an inch. Its characteristics are: small, short, white rhizomes; flowers in several colors including pure white, white with red tips, and pale red; large seed pods with densely set seeds and high yields. The seeds are large and plump, white and smooth, thick and firm, fine in texture, delicately fragrant and sweet, and rich in nutrients—the finest among lotus seeds.
Winter melon lotus is named for its seeds, which resemble winter melons. Its rhizomes are thick and long, with stout, crisp segments, and its flowers come in diverse colors; the pods are large but the seeds are sparse. Its quality is inferior to that of white lotus.
The red lotus has large, long rhizomes, flowers red as fire, and slender fruits with dark red skins, hence the name red lotus. Red lotus has an astringent taste and is mostly used medicinally; however, it is disease-resistant and tolerant of poor soil, with strong adaptability. The lake lotus root that locals like to use for stewing meat in autumn and winter is the root of the red lotus.
Xiang lotus is rich in nutrients and sweet and delicious. According to the Great Dictionary of Chinese Medicine, lotus seeds contain a high amount of starch and raffinose; carbohydrates account for 62%, protein 17%, and fat 2%, and they also contain calcium, phosphorus, iron, vitamins, carotene, and various other nutrients. Their medicinal value includes nourishing the heart, tonifying the spleen, benefiting the kidneys, and moistening the intestines. The Compendium of Materia Medica states that lotus seeds can harmonize the heart and kidneys, strengthen the stomach and intestines, consolidate vital essence, strengthen muscles and bones, replenish deficiency, and benefit the ears and eyes. Rock sugar lotus seeds, made by cooking lotus seeds with rock sugar, are sweet and refreshing with excellent color and flavor; it is recorded that Emperor Guangxu of the Qing dynasty was very fond of rock sugar lotus seeds and often used them to refresh himself when discussing state affairs at night. "Lotus seed eight-treasure rice" is a delicacy at banquets; mooncakes and lotus paste pastries made from lotus seed paste are all high-grade side foods and nutritional products. Xiang lotus is also a very good Chinese medicinal material—its roots, stems, flowers, and fruits can all be used as medicine. Lotus seeds have the effects of lowering blood pressure, strengthening the spleen and stomach, calming the nerves and consolidating essence, and clearing the heart and moistening the lungs. The lotus plumule can strengthen the heart and calm the nerves, clear heat and reduce internal fire, relieve restlessness, and promote urination. Lotus root has the effects of nourishing yin, promoting tissue regeneration, clearing heat, and dispersing blood stasis. Lotus stamens can tonify the kidneys, consolidate essence, calm the nerves, and nourish the heart. Lotus flowers and leaves are excellent cooling beverages that can relieve summer heat and quench thirst and treat chest tightness and diarrhea. Lotus stems broaden the chest and regulate qi, and promote lactation. Lotus leaf bases can harmonize the stomach, prevent miscarriage, stop bleeding, and stop diarrhea. It can be said that the entire lotus plant is a treasure.
In midsummer, across the lakeside ditches and harbors of rural Hunan, green leaves roll with pearly dewdrops and lotus flowers bloom in brilliant color, creating a most enchanting scene. When the season of refreshing golden winds and cooling jade dew arrives, emerald egg-like seed pods emerge above the water, and the cool breeze sets them swaying with a sound like jade bells. Lotus-picking girls row light boats and sing, weaving among the green leaves and red flowers like bees, filling the scene with poetic charm.