Chongqing - "A Salute to Labor" - Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts 2022 farming culture experience activities were held on November 2. The students enjoyed a happy time, catching fish with their bare hands and digging lotus roots in the pond.

The students catch fish with bare hands in the pond at the Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts. (Photo provided to iChongqing)

"It has been a decade," said Chen Dehong, chairman of the trade union of Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts, "when the harvest season comes, we will hold farming culture experience activities, which has become a school routine."

Chen said that the creation of local art is one characteristic of the Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts. The activities allow students to experience farming culture in person and feel the joy of a bumper harvest.

A student catches a fish in the pond at the Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts. (Photo provided to iChongqing)

Students gathered at one pond on the campus. In addition to lotus root digging, a tradition in previous years, catching fish with bare hands has become a new activity this year. The water level in the pond is kept at a depth just enough to cover the fish, and hordes of teachers and students go down to the mud.

The students catch fish barefoot in the pond at the Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts. (Photo provided to iChongqing)

"Here! Here's one...Behind you, turn around. There's a big one." The teachers and students on the shore could see it more clearly, so they guided the others. Every time you catch one, there will be exciting cheers in the pond and on the shore.

"It's tiring, but it's fascinating!" Yao Xiao, a freshman majoring in arts and crafts at the School of Design, said that this was her first time digging lotus roots on the spot, "It's more difficult than I thought. It goes deep into the mud and takes a lot of effort to pull out."

The students dig lotus roots at the Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts. (Photo provided to iChongqing)

Ma Yunjin, a second-year student at the School of Design Education, said that he had heard about digging lotus roots and red sweet potatoes before entering the school and was very envious of his classmates. "I experienced it myself, and it was so interesting."

A student shows the red sweet potatoes. (Photo provided to iChongqing)