Qu Sanmei displays a fish dish at her restaurant in Qian Gorlos Mongolian Autonomous County, northeast China's Jilin Province, May 1, 2023. (Xinhua)
CHANGCHUN, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- Noon is Qu Sanmei's busiest time. Owner of a restaurant in Jilin Province, northeast China, her fish dishes are especially good.
Qu's restaurant sits next to Chagan Lake in Qian Gorlos Mongolian Autonomous County, where bountiful fish glide through the clear waters. The All-fish Feast, her restaurant's specialty, requires as many as 16 types of fish.
It was not possible several decades ago.
The 33-year-old fisherwoman learned from her parents that in the 1970s, the waters of Chagan Lake had dwindled to just a few dozen square meters. Despite an eight-year project to build a channel diverting water from the Songhua River, the surrounding saline-alkali soil and crop fields seriously impacted the water quality. Moreover, back then, local fishermen had little-to-no awareness of environmental protection and overfishing made the industry unsustainable.
The tides turned, however, in 2018, with a raft of measures to clean up the waters and improve the environment, demolishing illegal buildings, returning farmland to forests and wetlands, and planting aquatic plants such as lotus and reeds.
These measures worked. The lake now boasts an area of 500 square kilometers, and its fish resources have recovered.
Qu grew up by the lake. In 2019, she and her husband opened a small restaurant. Today it boasts 80 tables and welcomes up to 300 customers each day at weekends.
Pointing at a dish she said: "This fish is unique to Chagan Lake, which has particularly high requirements to water quality." Output of the fish increased a lot thanks to improved environment, she added.
Qu also sells fish online, and always includes her own homemade sauces and recipes.
"With raised awareness in environmental protection, local people now plant trees voluntarily," she said. "The water quality is better and fish are bigger. We are seeing more visitors and our income increased."
Different events also help to attract tourists. "In summer we had the Lotus Festival, during which the number of customers to our restaurant doubled," said Qu.
In 2022, Chagan Lake received more than 900,000 visitors, generating 792 million yuan (about 108.9 million U.S. dollars) in revenue.
Walking by Chagan Lake, Xinhua reporters saw many similar restaurants. "In the past, children of fishermen wanted to go to big cities, but now they are coming back," she said. "I hope that in the future our children come back here, to live and work by Chagan Lake generation after generation." ■
