A stream winds through Puyuan village, which is home to tens of thousands of colorful carp. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

For more than 800 years, residents of Puyuan village in Fujian's Zhouning county have upheld a folk tradition of cherishing and protecting carps.

In the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279), it is said that a family by the name of Zheng relocated to Puyuan village from Henan province.

They started raising carp in the stream and established severe regulations prohibiting fishing and harming the carp in the stream in order to protect the water source from being contaminated or poisoned.

According to Zhou Xuduan, curator of the cultural center of Zhouning county, the ancestors of Puyuan village even staged a drama to protect carp.

The village chief at that time asked his grandson to pretend to steal fish so that he could apprehend him in public to set an example for the community to see. His grandson was given a beating publicly and was demanded to treat all the villagers to dinner for three consecutive days as a punishment, which was quite a startling warning to other villagers.

"Since then, no one dared to catch fish, and the local people would not eat carp when they traveled to other towns or villages. Even during the famine, the villagers would rather eat wild vegetables and bran than carp from the stream," said Zhou.

"This carp protection custom was listed as a provincial intangible cultural heritage project in 2005. We hope to continue to pass on the carp culture from generation to generation," Zhou added.

Between two towering ancient willow trees stands a stone tablet with "fish tomb" inscribed on it. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]