In ancient China, because agriculture was not developed and productivity was backward, famine was often caused. The famine years were very terrible, the people either starved to death or died of illness, and in ancient times, there were many unscrupulous officials who were full of their own pockets, and many of the victims would be displaced and flee to rich places to beg, which was very pitiful. When there was a famine in ancient times, why did the people prefer to nibble on the bark of trees instead of catch fish and shrimp? The "answer" is poignant.
Famine in ancient times brought very terrible consequences, the most tragic of which were the people. Taking the Western Han Dynasty as an example, the Western Han Dynasty had a population of more than 50 million in its heyday, but after Wang Mang usurped the Han Dynasty, the population declined rapidly, catching up with the natural disasters and famines for 6 years, and the result was that the population was directly reduced to about 15 million people, which was enough to see how much a famine had brought to the people.
So in the famine years, although everyone ate all the grain, and even went to nibble the bark of the tree and dig up the grass roots to eat, then why not go down to the river to catch fish and shrimp? In fact, it is not that the people do not want to, but they have already been eaten, if there are fish and shrimp can catch who does not go? When the drought catches up, it will not rain for many years, and the rivers will die, where to catch fish and shrimp?
Moreover, fishery resources have been in Jiangnan, the hometown of fish and rice since ancient times, where there will basically be no famine, who will go down to the river to catch fish and shrimp?