The 'light-hearted' gulls of Daming Lake

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Gulls are foraging on a sunny winter day at Daming Lake in Jinan City, the capital of east China's Shandong Province.

Located to the north of the historical city, the lake is fed by the artesian karst springs of the area, hence why it retains a fairly constant water level through the entire year.

As one of the city's renowned attractions, the lake is favored by not only citizens and tourists, but also birds looking for delicacies.

Gulls forage on the Daming Lake, Jinan, Shandong Province, east China. /VCG Photo

Seabirds like gulls were often referred to as innocent and light-hearted creatures in ancient Chinese poems.

One of these is "Like a Dream" by Li Qingzhao, a famous female poet of the Song Dynasty (960-1279): "Paddled though, paddled through. Being so startled, gulls and egrets from the shoal flew."

Gulls forage on the Daming Lake, Jinan, Shandong Province, east China. /VCG Photo

The Chinese idiom "oulu wang ji" is quoted from The Yellow Emperor Chapter of "Liezi", one of the Taoist classics that was written during the Warring States Period (475-221 BC).

"Oulu" means gulls and egrets, and "wang ji" directly translates to "no ulterior motives".

A gull forages on the Daming Lake, Jinan, Shandong Province, east China. /VCG Photo

According to the story, there was a man living by the sea-shore who loved gulls. Every day he went down to the sea to roam with the birds, who in turn trusted and played with this man who didn't have an ulterior motive to catch them.

Gulls forage on the Daming Lake, Jinan, Shandong Province, east China. /VCG Photo

There's also a famous guqin piece also called "oulu wang ji", or just "wang ji", which was first adapted from the literary quotation in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1664).

A gull forages on the Daming Lake, Jinan, Shandong Province, China. /VCG Photo