Legacy Trails: Echoes of the sea in the art of fish rubbing

In Xiangshan, a coastal county in Ningbo, east China's Zhejiang Province, fish rubbing is a tradition dating back to ancient times. Back in the day, fishermen hadn't quite mastered papercutting or calligraphy to be put on Spring Festival couplets, the traditional decorations used as New Year wishes. Instead, they would put ink extracted from cuttlefish on dead fish and lay red paper over it to "print" the fish. This served as a substitute for papercutting and Spring Festival couplets, according to Lu Shenggui, a local inheritor of this technique.

Now, fish rubbing has become a form of art. Artists use propylene as a type of dye and are also developing more environmentally friendly vegetable dye. The technique captures the details of each fish, from scales and fins to the overall shapes, transforming them into lifelike impressions and lasting artworks. Beyond art, fish rubbing reflects the close relationship between coastal communities and the sea.

Lu now frequently goes to a local kindergarten to teach fish rubbing to children, who come up with creative fish prints using their imagination.

(All photos by CGTN's Chen Hongyu and Wang Hongjie)