Whether on the banks of city park lakes or countryside creeks across China, it is never difficult to find angling enthusiasts patiently waiting for the harvest of their day. And now a rising number of youngsters are joining the scene.
Liu Zhiyao, who lives and works in the Chinese capital of Beijing, is one of the young anglers following the burgeoning trend. For Liu, the once monotonous life routine between workplace and home has been changed drastically since picking up this new outdoor hobby.
“Angling has energized me. I don't feel tired at all when doing the thing I love, nor do I think it's a waste of time," said Liu, who has traveled all over the suburbs of Beijing in quest for angling over the past two years.
The fish-catching moment not only delivers dopamine-charged joy, but also provides peace of mind after all the efforts invested in the process, Liu said.
Liu is not alone in discovering the joy of recreational fishing. The latest data shows that China boasts an angler community of approximately 150 million. Among them, people aged 25 to 44 are the mainstay, accounting for 46 percent of all anglers.
Alongside the growing number of solo anglers, recent years have also seen an increase in young people signing up for angling clubs to share the joy and experience with like-minded peers.
Ms. Jin, who runs such a club in the city of Suzhou, east China's Jiangsu Province, said the majority of her club's 500-plus members are aged between 20 and 40. The club not only launches events for its members, but also interacts with clubs in other cities to host fishing contests.
The craze has also swept the Chinese internet and social media, giving rise to the phenomenon of "cyber angling," namely, netizens immersing themselves in live-streamed angling via mobile apps.
On the Chinese short-video sharing platform Douyin, trending live-streams of angler influencers can attract hundreds or even tens of thousands of viewers to watch simultaneously.
As a prominent example, the 29-year-old Hainan-based vlogger "Master Chen on Lure-fishing" has garnered over 2.35 million subscribers and 20 million likes for his offshore lure-fishing videos on Douyin.
On the lifestyle-sharing platform Xiaohongshu, many anglers share their experience of micro-fishing, a simplistic and budget-friendly way of angling, in settings such as small streams, ponds and even artificial lakes inside residential compounds.
The increasing popularity of angling among young people has spurred the growth of a new consumption trend revolving around this recreational activity in China -- a country that manufactures over 80 percent of the world's fishing gear products.
According to industry observers, young anglers in China tend to actively upgrade their gear as their skills advance. They also like to pursue more personalized and diversified options for angling kits and accessories such as outdoor chairs, tackle boxes and lights.
By the end of 2023, the market size for fishing gear and related products in China had already exceeded the 50-billion-yuan (about 7 billion U.S. dollars) mark, making it a significant market for relevant consumption.
The momentum is further backed by the Chinese government. Earlier this month, China's State Council issued a series of guidelines to unleash the consumption potential of the sports economy and drive the high-quality development of the sports industry.
The guidelines encouraged localities to utilize their own natural resources to develop specialized outdoor sports, such as mountain activities and aquatic sports, to construct high-quality outdoor sports destinations.
