A Tour of China in Winter
Part 4c
Jiangyin Road, a Street of Aquarium Shops in Shanghai
By Howard Norfolk
Original to Aquarticles.com
One morning when we were not booked to have the services of a private
guide and car, I wanted to see some of Shanghai's aquarium stores. Our guide 'Kevin' knew
of three or four aquarium districts out in the suburbs of the large city, but wasn't sure
if there was one in the central part where we were staying. He checked with his uncle, who
keeps fish, and he suggested Jiangyin Road. Kevin wrote down the name for us to show a
taxi driver, and we were dropped off there.
On the corner of Jiangyin Road there was a shop that sold groceries
and goldfish.
Click on photos for enlargements, then
go 'BACK'
 
A lady was looking after the goldfish, live worms, and
gravels.
Beside her these unfortunate fish were also being sold live, but as
food.
We walked up Jiangyin Road, which is a typical shopping street in old
Shanghai - narrow and not much frequented by cars. This district is apparently also known
as a flower and bird market and is much livelier in the summer, with hundreds of outdoor
stalls. Winter is not the season for these, but we were more interested in the fish
anyway!
Jiangyin Road
We began to come across more aquarium shops, and
some of them were quite large:
I liked the look of this one, with an arowana in the window, so we
went inside...
Aquatic plants were a specialty here.
There were many tanks full of healthy plants...
...and also some planted display aquariums.
A wall of tanks with discus, and lots of parrot fish in a window
tank.
There was a good selection of dry fish foods and water
treatments....
...and something I hadn't noticed anywhere else - Chinese aquarium
magazines.
We walked on down the street, past these grotesque carcasses hanging
overhead. A Chinese friend told me they are smoked pressed duck, and apparently they are
very tasty.
We turned into a narrow lane and found a more
traditional open-air market:
These shops are open and unheated.
Turtles and tortoises were a specialty here.
Sometimes turtles were sold along with gravel and rocks.
This shop sold landscaping supplies, and had some nice bonsai type
displays.
And this one sold aquarium ornaments.
Back on the main road we came to another large shop:
Fish foods were displayed out on the street. I'm not sure if this
cat was there to eat the spilled fish food or the mice attracted by it, but I'm sure he
never goes hungry!
Inside, the owner was doing tank maintenance. He didn't speak
English, but agreed that I could take some photos.
Tanks in the window contained red-tailed sharks...knife fish.....
Thai tigers
The shop had several rows of heavily stocked tanks like these.
 
Red devils..... kissing gouramis
Zebra tilapia (Tilapia buttikoferi) and a fish I didn't
recognise. (A reader has since suggested that it is a Lake Malawi Haplochromine, perhaps Protomelas
fenestratus ?).
 
Catfish..... rainbowfish
Lots more parrot fish..... black angelfish
 
Gars..... tinfoil barbs
African cichlids
Young arowanas
Specimen arowanas
Tanks with smaller fish were heavily stocked.
Somehow I think this shopkeeper liked fish better than plants!
But I wish he didn't like these fish! They have been crudely
injected with red or blue dyes, and are apparently lucky fish to those who follow the
superstitions of feng shui.
After a while the dyes begin to wear off. Presumably the owners then
eat them and get replacements.
This shop also had an outside unheated annex, where goldfish and koi were
kept:
Question: How many koi can you keep in 10 gallons of water?
Answer: This many, as long as you have a 100 gallon tank to put them in!
Note: To avoid spillage, first fill the tank with koi, then slowly pour in water until
they are all covered.
 
I'm not sure how you could possibly point out and catch the one you
want!
Larger fish had slightly less crowded conditions.
We walked on down Jiangyin Road:
The street took on a rather European appearance.
Here was a bird shop.
We didn't look inside this small aquarium shop.
Sandwiches were being made and sold here.
Cacti and pots were this shop's specialty.
 
There were a number of shops selling strange liquids, herbs and
vegetables...
...and these live insects. The large ones were US60c and the small
ones US24c. But they weren't pets - the stores sold traditional Chinese medicine supplies,
and the insects are ingredients in medicinal potions.
We arrived at "Shanghai Chenghao AQuatic Animals APPliance LTD.
CO."
If it lived up to its name it had to be worth a look inside!
The SCAAA LTD. CO.
It was worth a look. There was a good stock of dry goods.
This was the only shop we saw that dealt in marine aquaria. Here is
a display tank.
Live rock, corals, fish and invertebrates were for sale.
There was a row of freshwater fish tanks.
A planted display tank.
And another very impressive and delicately planted display.
 
A side street had some more aquarium shops...and also more turtle
sellers.
 
On this street we found a discus specialist.
Every tank was full of discus.
....At last we came to the end of Jiangyin Road.
Jiangyin Road was the best aquarium store district I saw in mainland
China. I would be happy shopping in some of those stores, particularly for the plants,
goldfish, koi, and large fish. There are a few fish I'd miss - such as cory
varieties, killifish, dwarf cichlids, wild caught fish, and rare fish in general. Aquarium
fish in China are bred locally and there are few imports of rare or wild caught fish. Some
fish are not allowed if their release into local waters would be harmful (including
piranhas - the Beijing aquarium had to destroy its collection of 500 piranhas even though
they would have never have survived if released locally). Chinese living quarters are
cramped, so aquarists normally have to choose between a display tank of pretty fish or an
impressive tank with a large fish or two. Not all fishkeepers are aquarists - some keep
fish for superstitious reasons connected with bringing good luck or fortune according to
the beliefs of feng shui.
After Shanghai I flew south to tropical Hong Kong....
Go to the next in this series:
China Tour Part 5: Fish Seen in Chinese
Restaurants
The whole Tour of China in Winter series:
Part 1a: Introduction, and the Tourist Sights
of Beijing (Tourist sights)
Part 1b: A Visit to the Beijing Aquarium
(Public aquarium)
Part 1c: An Arcade of Aquarium Shops in
Beijing (Aquarium shops)
Part 1d: The Beijing Museum of
Natural History (Tourist sights)
Part 2a: Xi'an and the Army of
Terracotta Warriors (Tourist sights)
Part 2b: An Aquarium Market in Xi'an
(Aquarium shops)
Part 3a: The Spectacular Scenery of Guilin
(Tourist sights)
Part 3b: A Visit to the Guilin Ocean
Aquarium (Public aquarium)
Part 4a: The Space-Age City of Shanghai (Tourist sights)
Part 4b: A Visit to the Shanghai Ocean
Aquarium (Public aquarium)
Part 4c: Jiangyin Road, a Street of Aquarium Shops in Shanghai (Aquarium shops)
Part 5: Fish Seen in Chinese
Restaurants (Native fish)
Part 6a: A Photographic Visit to Ocean Park,
Hong Kong (Public aquarium)
Part 6b: The Goldfish Pagoda at Ocean Park,
Hong Kong (Public aquarium)
See also (after a previous visit to Hong Kong):
Tung Choi. The Amazing Aquarium Store Street in Hong
Kong (Aquarium shops)
Or, back to:
Travel Index
|
