Miyun Waterfront: People and Fireworks between Mountains and Rivers

Miyun has the largest reservoir in North China Plain-Miyun Reservoir. Before the reservoir was built, it used to be a large piece of fertile land, which people cultivated for generations. However, with the establishment of the reservoir, people in the reservoir area moved out one after another, to the periphery of the reservoir, and even to places far away from the reservoir.

In the villages around the reservoir, immigrants became fishermen and returned to the reservoir. Other villagers have also started farmhouse music along the fishing trend, attracting many tourists to Beijing for an outing. The nearby mountains are not only suitable for hiking, hiking and enjoying the snow, but more and more personalized homestays have settled in, providing travelers with a wonderful leisure time.

Late September is the day when Miyun Reservoir starts fishing.

In order to protect the ecological environment of the reservoir, Miyun reservoir has been banned from fishing since 2003, and fishing is allowed from September to April every year. Fishermen can only fish with nets if they get a license. The mesh diameter is14.5cm. Generally speaking, 300 boats are allowed to enter the warehouse at a time.

The size of the fishing boat is also limited, and it is very small, only allowing one helmsman and one catcher. One or two wind lanterns, a gas stove, some pots and pans, and several bags of instant noodles are placed in the narrow corner of the ship. Fishing nets should be installed in the shallow cabin first, and then catch should be installed. While waiting for the catch all night, the fishermen will take a short rest here.

When the sun goes down, the ships that have been licensed to enter the warehouse scatter in twos and threes. Fishermen helped each other and put fishing nets into the water one by one. The whole lake suddenly became lively and became villages and criss-crossed buildings.

Reservoir fishing is a government policy to compensate the migrants who were forced to move out of their original residence when Miyun Reservoir 1958 was built. Since 2003, only fishing licenses have been issued to reservoir immigrants, so most of the Miyun fishermen we can still see are descendants of reservoir immigrants in their fifties and sixties, and their fishing experience is only one or two decades.

If we go back, the fishermen's parents are the people who really lived in the reservoir area. They all make a living by farming. Miyun people have an old saying: "Catch fish and touch shrimp, and delay crops." Even in this suburban county of Beijing with many mountains and less arable land per capita, people still think that "going up the mountain is better than going into the water" from the traditional cognition.

The Chaohe River and Baihe River basins where the reservoir area is located have fertile land on both sides, and people in the reservoir area used to only farm. Most fishermen were born after the 1950s. While fishing, these people also discovered the economic value of Miyun fishery.

At first, fishing was a collective operation of the commune. Large ships are fishing in purse seines, and a net can catch tens of thousands of kilograms of fish. However, at that time, the state implemented unified purchase and marketing, and the price of fish was only 50 cents a catty, which was not expensive. Immigration is a paid job. One month in 54 yuan was a good job at that time.

1987, the national open policy allowed fishermen to raise fish in cages in reservoirs, and fishermen began to open cages in fishing grounds in partnership. The output is often snapped up by customers in Beijing. Throughout the year, members of fishing grounds often get a salary of four or five thousand yuan, which was a rare good deal in the 1980 s.

Along with cage fish culture, there is also the rise of fish houses. First, the guest houses of the town government sprang up on the edge of the reservoir, and the business was booming, which also led to the rise of various private fish restaurants. At that time, huge economic benefits led to the upsurge of fishing ponds, and there were many fishing ponds around the reservoir area. At that time, the fish restaurant cooked boiled fish, which was the simplest and most authentic way to fish in the reservoir: take water from the reservoir, stew the fish just caught in a large iron pot on the shore, make a pot of "live boiled fish" and eat a bite of "fresh".

In 2003, in order to protect drinking water sources, Miyun Reservoir completely banned cage fish culture and cleared all fish houses out of the reservoir area. However, the prosperity brought by fishing has not been interrupted. Walking in Mazhuang Village, Xiwangzhuang Town, a street named Fish House has sprung up, continuing this excitement. Zoumazhuang village is a village of immigrants and fishermen. The fish market in Mazhuang Village is one of several big fish markets, which is the fishing season every year.

In 2006, the operation of fish restaurant was legalized, which ushered in favorable policies. Fish houses in Miyun reservoir area began to be built on a large scale like mushrooms after rain, and fish house street in Mazhuang village also began to usher in spring, and a street can make tens of millions of profits a year.

However, the fish house is not the way out for all fishermen's villages. Beibaiyan Village, also in the south of the reservoir, is also a big village for fishermen, but compared with Zoumazhuang Village with convenient transportation, there are more farmhouses than fish villages. Some people open farmhouses with the characteristics of reservoir fish, and some people open boutique homestays with the theme of reservoir immigrants.

As a village near the reservoir, the ecological protection of the reservoir is the primary task in the area near the reservoir, so the tertiary industry, which has little impact on water and soil, has become the first choice for the development of this area. Farmhouse and B&B are the most common ways for residents in the reservoir area except fishing ponds. Just in Xiwangzhuang Town, south of Kunan, you can find three or four B&B boutique stores. In the mountainous areas around the reservoir, some unique homestays have sprung up like mushrooms after rain, bringing not only a business, but also gradually integrating and changing the lifestyle of local villagers. With the encouragement of the government, farmhouse music has been established in every village and has begun to form village characteristics.

Visitors to Miyun, a suburb of Beijing, have more and more good places, such as hiking in spring, go on road trip in summer, hiking in autumn and enjoying snow in winter. They live in these personalized homestays and enjoy warm experiences and wonderful weekends.

With the passage of time, the emigrants of Miyun Reservoir threw away the painful memories of leaving their hometown, and in the long life, they explored the way of survival with wisdom and hard work, and slowly lived their own lives, which also endowed this water area with charming fireworks. The new story of people and mountains and rivers will continue to spread.

-End-

Write an article, male or female.

Editor Song Pengfei

The original text is taken from "Scenery in China: Miyun", with additions, deletions and changes.