Gansu Province, China (CNN) -- Snaking through the majestic mountains of western China, the Yellow River was once considered to be the cradle of Chinese civilization. Today, 24-year-old Lun Lun combs the very same waters searching not for fish, but for the remains of humans.
He sets out from the shores of his home in Shangping village in far-flung Gansu Province on his rusty, hand-made canoe hunting for corpses, a practice that has become a lucrative, though grisly, industry.
Lun Lun and his fellow fishermen have dragged more than one hundred bodies out of the river this year alone as they float downstream from the bustling metropolis. Body fishermen claim the dead are typically victims of suicide or murder from the bustling western provincial capital city of Lanzhou, just 20 kilometers to the west. Authorities say other victims have drowned or died in accidents.
Meanwhile, Wei Jinpeng and Wei Yinquan publicly advertise their services by spray-painting their mobile phone numbers and the words "body fishing up ahead" on the sides of mountains and buildings along the river and roads between Lanzhou and Shangping.
Read more and view photo gallery at CNN
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