Ice fishing attracts tourists to Jingpo Lake's winter festival
![The Jingpo Lake scenic area in Mudanjiang, Northeast China's Heilongjiang province, recently held its annual winter ice fishing festival. [Photo by Zhang Yingli/For chinadaily.com.cn]](http://image.cns.com.cn/ecns_editor/transform/20260123/nM9E-hezapcv4694863.jpg "The Jingpo Lake scenic area in Mudanjiang, Northeast China's Heilongjiang province, recently held its annual winter ice fishing festival. [Photo by Zhang Yingli/For chinadaily.com.cn]")
The Jingpo Lake scenic area in Mudanjiang, Northeast China's Heilongjiang province, recently held its annual winter ice fishing festival, alongside a competitive ice fishing contest.
Jingpo, the magnificent volcanic lava barrier lake, boasts a pristine ecosystem and abundant aquatic resources, and its winter ice fishing festival has become an iconic event for ice and snow tourism in the province.
![The Jingpo Lake scenic area in Mudanjiang, Northeast China's Heilongjiang province, recently held its annual winter ice fishing festival. [Photo by Zhang Yingli/For chinadaily.com.cn]](http://image.cns.com.cn/ecns_editor/transform/20260123/mf70-hezapcv4694869.jpg "The Jingpo Lake scenic area in Mudanjiang, Northeast China's Heilongjiang province, recently held its annual winter ice fishing festival. [Photo by Zhang Yingli/For chinadaily.com.cn]")
The local winter ice fishing is a millennium-old tradition dating back to the Tang Dynasty (618-907), when fish harvested through the ice were sent as tribute to the imperial capital Chang'an, today's Xi'an, Shaanxi province.
The fishermen chanted and slowly lowered a massive net into the icy depths. The climax came when dozens of them worked together to haul the net up, revealing a spectacular harvest of fish leaping onto the ice.