The excavation of Neolithic pottery fishing reels near Xamaling (dating back to 1975–1976) proves that ancestral populations were engaged in fishing activities as early as four or five thousand years ago. To view the fishing reel merely as a Western import is to underestimate the ingenuity of our ancestors; as early as the Tang Dynasty, people utilized rotating wooden wheels to manage lines when targeting fish in deep waters. The poet Lu Guimeng wrote, "Holding a single wheel by the stream, pointing toward the thatched cottage by the water," referring to the "wheel"-the *diao che* (fishing winch)-which was the precursor to the modern fishing reel. The line reel beside the old man in Ma Yuan's Southern Song Dynasty painting, *Solitary Angler on a Cold River*, is a vivid depiction of such a winch. These ancient winches resembled finely carved wooden line-dispensing devices, relying on bamboo or wooden bearings and gravitational inertia to wind and unwind the line.
The operating principle of the fishing reel is based on crankshaft transmission. The crankshaft first appeared in my country during the Eastern Han Dynasty (3rd century AD); unofficial historical records suggest that the "wooden ox and gliding horse" (mechanical transport devices) created by Zhuge Liang during the Three Kingdoms period utilized this principle, and the fishing winch itself was an invention of the industrious Chinese people. Although ancient winches cannot be directly compared to modern fishing reels, the operating mechanism of today's reels is fundamentally derived from the transmission principles of those early devices.
By the 1980s, alongside my country's Reform and Opening-up and the growing popularity of angling, well-designed and fully functional fishing reels were introduced to the country and quickly embraced by surf-casting enthusiasts. In the early 1990s, the domestic fishing tackle industry adopted advanced foreign manufacturing technologies; driven by technological progress, a wide variety of fishing reels designed for diverse purposes were subsequently developed.
While fishing reels have evolved from simple tools into increasingly complex and multifaceted devices, those ancient, classic models remain cherished memories for generations of anglers, and there are numerous fishing tackle collectors around the world who prize them. Examples of historic fishing reels include: a solid brass fly reel (c. 1890); an A. Turnbull brass fly reel (c. 1910); an Allcocks Stanley Threadline reel (c. 1930); an Allcocks Felton Crosswind, 1st Model (c. 1930); a Swedish-made B50 spinning reel, half-bail model (c. 1940); an Allcocks silver-finish spinning reel (c. 1950); an American Wards Sport King baitcaster-a fine silver drum-style reel (c. 1955); a Hardy Exalta spinning reel (c. 1960); and a Swedish ABU 506M closed-face reel (c. 1970).