THE FISHERIES OF CHINA. 
a 
By WEI-CHING W. YEN, 
Second Secretary Imperial Chinese Legation, Washington, D. C. 
& 
Mr. PRESIDENT, FELLOW-DELEGATES TO THE FourtTH INTERNATIONAL 
FISHERY CONGRESS: My colleagues and I deem it a great honor to participate 
in the proceedings of this assembly, and our only regret is that owing to unex- 
pected circumstances two others were prevented from leaving Shanghai, thus 
reducing by one-third the strength of our delegation. Doctor Smith, the dis- 
tinguished and learned secretary-general of this congress, has very courteously 
requested us to address you in a general way on the fisheries of our Empire— 
for various reasons so little known to the outside world. While it is true our 
principal object in attending this congress has been to avail ourselves of the 
opportunity of obtaining information from the distinguished assembly present 
on all questions pertaining to fisheries, it is also our object to inform the 
world of the efforts being made in our country to investigate the conditions 
of our fishing industry, to collect statistics, to study its needs and defects, 
to introduce new types of vessels and fishing apparatus and methods, and to 
initiate legislation and regulation—in short, to organize and develop the industry 
and to place the culture and propagation of fishes on a scientific basis. 
The history of fisheries in our country, like that of many other things, is an 
old one. Our ancient classics refer to the times when our primitive ancestors 
tied ropes together to form fishing nets, and mention the appointment, several 
centuries before the Christian era, of special officials to rule over and protect 
our fishermen. The first statesman that recognized the importance of the 
fishing industry was Chiang Tzti-ya, who lived in the eleventh and twelfth cen- 
turies B. C., and who rose to eminence from an humble home on the coast. It 
is said that this wise and virtuous angler, then 80 years of age, was fishing with 
a straight piece of iron, upon which the fishes readily allowed themselves to be 
caught, when the Emperor Wén Wang discovered him, and for twenty years he 
served his imperial master faithfully and successfully. Through his ardent 
efforts and wise planning, fishing first became an important industry among our 
people, and with it also grew up its allied industry, the manufacture of salt, 
without which the former would have been seriously crippled for want of pre- 
servative facilities. 
369 
B. B. F. 1908—24 
