A Tour of China in Winter
Part 3b
A Visit to the Guilin Ocean Aquarium
By Howard Norfolk
Original to Aquarticles.com
I discovered there was a public aquarium in Guilin by searching the
Internet, but had no idea what to expect. When I told my guide 'Susan' that I wanted to go
there, she said she had heard of it but had never been there herself - so she didn't
know what to expect either. Susan even had to enquire where it was before taking us there.
I'm sure we were both pleasantly surprised by what we found, and I imagine that in future
she might recommend it to her summer tour groups on rainy days.
The Guilin Ocean Aquarium is in fact one of the largest public aquariums
in China, and it is brand new. Construction started on November 7, 2002, and it opened on
September 30, 2003.
 
The building has pleasant modern lines and a restrained colour
scheme.
Click on photos for enlargements, then
go 'BACK'
Entry was 80 yuan (US$9.67) for adults, and 30 yuan (US$3.62) for
children.
The turnstile was the kind where you insert your ticket and it
magically re-appears somewhere else almost before you let go of it!
We entered a long winding gallery -
There were lots of tanks like this.
Despite its name, the Guilin Aquarium is not just an "Ocean"
aquarium. We first admired a wonderful collection of freshwater fish. The fish were
beautifully presented and everything was, of course, brand new.
Here are just a few of the freshwater fish we saw:
New World and African Rift Lake cichlids
 
Larger fish included the Chinese sailfin sucker (Myxocyprinus
asiaticus) from the Yangste River, and the red-tailed catfish (Phractocephalus
hemioliopterus) from the Amazon.
 
A giant gourami tank included the giant red-fin gourami, Osphronemus
laticlavius. This impressive fish, from Indonesia/Malaysia, was first described in
1992. I have never seen it for sale anywhere, but apparently some have been available in
England, where they sold for US$150 each.
 
Florida gar (Lepisosteus platyrhyncus)....and Mississippi
paddlefish (Polyodon spathula)
Royal knifefish (Chitala blanci) from Thailand and Laos,
and a large flowerhorn cichlid.
 
Peacock bass (Cichla ocellaris)
 
We wound through the galleries looking at more and more fish. Some
were in cylindrical tanks....
 
...and there were some smaller, planted tanks. Here are black
angelfish and blue gouramis.
There were clear signs, in English, that gave just the right amount
of information about each exhibit. Here, for example, is the info for the Siamese
tigerfish or 'Thai tiger' (Datnioides microlepis)...
 
...and for the tiger shovelnose catfish (Pseudoplatystoma
fasciatum).
Some jewel tanks were imaginatively presented.
 
Brightly coloured discus (with an unusual coral background), and
parrot cichlids, are very popular with Chinese fishkeepers...
 
...as are oscars.
I was taking too long looking at all the fish, so my friends took
off up one of the decorated passageways...
...I found them waiting for me in the Ocean Cafe.
I don't usually take photos of toilets in aquariums! But for those
readers who've never seen one, here is an Asian 'squat' toilet....I'll leave the rest to
your imagination.
We looked around a small gift shop (not the main one).
 
And then, some saltwater aquariums.
 
This reef tank was worth a good look.
 
I particularly liked these Indian threadfish, here called ''Alectis
indius", but more correctly, Alectis indicus.
The long-horned cowfish, Lactoria cornuta.
Sabre squirrelfish (Sargocentron spiniferum) from the Red
Sea.
These slender suckerfish (Echeneis naucrates) are remoras.
They were sucking on to the aquarium glass, but would really feel more at home attached to
sharks or sea turtles.
The gigantic Paralithodes camtschatica, or Kamchatka crab,
grows to about 4½ feet (1.5 m.) across.
A wall of small tanks contained jellyfish.
  
We left the saltwater section for a while. This rocky tunnel led to
a pond full of koi.
Other aquariums in the rocky tunnel were open-topped, like ponds.
Going upstairs, we looked down at the koi pond...
 
...and entered a gallery devoted to goldfish.
 
Red ryukin..... Lionhead
 
Fringetail.....Calico pearlscale
Brown body red pompom.....Red bubble eyes
 
I liked this cheery mural.
A stall sold film, picture frames, and I think some videos. The
attendant was having a slow day and was looking a little bored....
  
But there was lots of action in the touch pool.
 
People liked to turn over the horseshoe crabs and leave them,
perhaps not realising that they cannot right themselves on their own. These creatures, as
the sign says, are not really crabs at all. They evolved earlier than crabs, and are
distant relatives of scorpions, ticks and land spiders.
A meeting or lecture was about to take place in this room.
 
The pride of the aquarium is this tank, where divers can be seen
feeding the sharks.
  
Another major attraction is the mermaid show, held in a room set up
with rows of seats like a theatre. Girls dressed as mermaids take deep breaths and wriggle
gracefully down. They make artistic poses before rising slowly back up to take a breath
and make another dive.
Seals put on a show of their own in the small Seals Area. Nothing
was happening when we passed by.
 
A strange little dry exhibit. Nearby there was a display of fossils.
The exit was of course through the gift shop, which was the largest
and most elaborate I have ever seen in a public aquarium.
 
They really want the tourists to spend money here. There
was a huge selection of jewellery and ornaments mostly vaguely connected with water, such
as pearls....
  
Decorative corals and shells...
 
Minerals and fossils. I happened to take a photo of this ammonite,
which was one of many precious objects. The price tag can be read - 7600 yuan ($US
918.00).
Some less expensive ornaments were in a side room (and as we have
seen, the children's gifts and plastic souvenirs were in another shop elsewhere).
Vats of liquid like this are also stocked in some restaurants. They contain creatures such
as fish, snakes, lizards, bats and goodness knows what else soaking in alcohol, together
with herbs and ginseng. The resulting drink is said to be health-giving and an
aphrodisiac, but I gave it a miss! The writing on the glass is poetry.
A sign near the entrance offers the aquarium's help to anyone
needing professional advice on running a public aquarium, and mentions the aquarium's
website (which is entirely in Chinese) at www.guilinOA.com
As an aquarist, I found the Guilin Ocean Aquarium to be one of the most
agreeable that I have ever visited. A nice selection of fish was displayed in a
straightforward manner, without the sideshows, children's games and popular distractions
designed to bring in and amuse the crowds that are found in many public aquariums in other
resort towns. Even the 'mermaid show' attempted to be tasteful, along the lines of a
ballet. 'Education' and 'conservation' were not constantly being thrust down one's throat.
Perhaps this aquarium reflects the characteristics of the tourists, both Chinese and
foreign, who choose Guilin for their holiday. They come to enjoy the scenery and the
nature around them, rather than just to have a 'fun time at the beach.'
We only had two days in Guilin, and by no means saw everything this
beautiful area has to offer. We next flew to Shanghai, an amazing city....
Go to the next in this series:
China Tour Part 4a: The Space-Age City of
Shanghai
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:
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