Ezhou Wuchang Fish Breeding Area--Hubei

Ezhou city is located in Hubei Province, due to the appreciation words of the poem wrote by Chairman Mao, the founder of new China, Ezhou became well-known for its speciality--Wuchang fish. At present, Ezhou has a water area of 650,600 mu, accounting for 28.8% of the city's area, has 119 lakes, so, Ezhou got a laudatory name as "City of hundred 100 Lakes". In 2009, the annual production of Wuchang fish reached 9,000 tons, the annual production value was nearly RMB 700 million yuan. The main Breeding area of Wuchang fish is Liangzi lake, which located at south of Ezhou. Liangzi lake covers a area of  270 square kilometers, is the second largest freshwater lake in Hubei Province, annual average water depth is up to 3 meters, is not only the origin of Wuchang fish, but also the largest Wuchang fish breeding base in China.

Wuchang fish, known as "Tuantoufang (blunt-snout bream)", is a kind of bream, originally produced in the Liangzi Lake of Ezhou city in Hubei Province. It has been transplanted and fed around China.

The Liangzi Lake covers an area of 270 square kilometers with a vast expanse of lucid, misty waters, and abundant nutriments. It is one of the ten famous lakes in China, the second biggest freshwater lake of Hubei Province and also the mother lake of Wuchang fish.

It is said that Wuchang fish got its name during the Three Kingdoms Period (221BC-256AD). Wuchang fish has a rich content of historical culture, and is one of the famous traditional products of Wuhan City. In one of his poems, Mao Zedong said with pleasure, No sooner had I drank water from the Xiang River than I savored Wuchang fish."

Wuchang fish, fed on float grass, has a shape of compressed rhombus, with round head, thick body, wide snout, short back fin, and raised tail. It has fourteen ribs, one more than other bream. With delicate meat and plenty of fat, Wuchang fish can be cooked into many kinds of courses by different ways, of which steam in clear soup has the best flavor. Its fish is rich in protein and fat, and has high medicinal value on preventing anemia, hypertension and so on.