Chinese university holds free feasts with 2.5 tonnes of fish

Students at a central Chinese college have received a special end-of-year gift – free feasts featuring a total of 2.5 tons of fresh fish.

The Hunan University of Arts and Science, located in the city of Changde, recently hosted two fish feasts for its students after trying to rid its lake of a glut of fish that threatened the lake ecology.

The fish come from fries released into the lake in 2003 and have grown to enormous sizes as no harvest had been arranged before, said Wen Zhiyong, a director in charge of the college's logistics service.

On December 22 and 25, university staff netted a total of 2.5 tons of fish, including black carp and silver carp. The school's chefs cooked the haul using various methods, such as braising, deep frying, and steaming with Hunan's iconic chopped chili for added flavor.

The motley fish dishes were served to about 10,000 students and faculty members.

On China's social media, video clips showing the large fish splashing in nets sparked buzz, with many netizens expressing amazement at the sheer size of the carps. The topic has been viewed more than 46 million times on the popular microblogging site Sina Weibo.

"Most of the fish weighed around 15 kg, and the largest reached 40 kg," said Wen. "We decided to set free the largest fish, as well as the small ones."