On January 8, the 24th Jilin Chagan Lake Ice and Snow Fishing and Hunting Cultural Tourism Festival commenced at the Nabuo Square in Qianguo County, Songyuan City. On-site observations revealed that after several rounds of competitive bidding, JD.com emerged victorious in the first fish auction with a winning bid of 1,699,999 yuan.
During the morning of the 8th, despite temperatures plunging to more than twenty degrees below zero Celsius, which prompted many attendees to bundle up completely, leaving only their eyes exposed, the frozen surface of the lake was densely packed with tourists who had traveled from across the country specifically for the event.
It is understood that the Chagan Nur winter fishing tradition, recognized as a national-level intangible cultural heritage and renowned throughout China, has been passed down for a millennium, dating back to the Liao and Jin dynasties; historically, this method of fishing was commonly referred to as the "Spring Nabuo."
At approximately 11 a.m., Zhang Wen, the 20th-generation inheritor representative of the Chagan Nur winter fishing custom, led a team of fishermen to haul the "first fish," symbolizing "auspiciousness and a bountiful harvest," from beneath the icy surface. Multiple entities, including JD.com, Songliang Group, and Qianguo Agricultural Reclamation Group, participated in the competitive bidding for the first fish.
The auction for the first fish commenced with a starting price of 299,999 yuan, and the fish itself weighed a substantial 38 jin. After numerous rounds of intense bidding, JD.com secured the first fish with the highest bid of 1,699,999 yuan.
Observers witnessed JD.com host Li Chunyang hoisting the enormous bighead carp high into the air, sharing the joy of the successful bid with the audience, while numerous tourists approached to touch the first fish, hoping to capture some of its good fortune.
A JD.com staff member involved in the bidding disclosed that the first fish would subsequently be given away as a prize through a free lottery draw held on JD.com's official live stream.
It was noted that over the past several years, the price of the first fish has consistently reached new record highs, escalating from several thousand yuan in earlier years to hundreds of thousands of yuan, and even surpassing the one million yuan mark.
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