Shuimigecangfuchuanzhizaojiyi
01 · Historical Records
As a representative type of ancient Chinese vessel, the Fuchuan (Fujian ship) is noted for its sharply pointed bottom, small square bow, broad and full stern, and squarish, upright form, with the 'Heibo Wuqing'an' official-vessel design that originated in the Yuan and Ming eras as its representative work. The Fuchuan shipbuilding craft has been transmitted widely since it was introduced to Fengwei Town, Quangang District, during the Hongwu reign of the Ming dynasty, spreading along with the Huang family's shipbuilding business conducted beyond the locality.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The watertight-bulkhead Fuchuan construction craft is a distinctive shipbuilding technique in which, throughout the whole process from design, workmanship, and construction to management and use, bulkhead partitions divide the hull into multiple independent, well-sealed compartments to ensure the vessel's watertight performance. The watertight-bulkhead Fuchuan construction craft is intricate, divided mainly into: hull design, in which the master builder lofts the lines on site, first making a model and then enlarging it to build the real vessel; material selection, using camphor and fir wood, with teak of hard texture chosen for the rudder and wooden anchor, and naturally grown Fujian fir of several decades' age generally chosen for the masts; construction, which follows either the shell-first or the frame-first method; and exterior painting—before launching, the hull is first brushed with a mixture of rice water and oyster-shell lime, the area below the waterline is generally painted white with oyster-shell lime, the keel is fitted with 'dragon eyes' of four cun for every zhang of length, wooden dragons are painted on both quarters at the stern, a wooden egret is painted on the hawse board beneath the stern cabin, and below the hawse board is the name board marked with the vessel's number. In addition, a series of rituals are observed during construction, such as 'commencing work,' 'raising the keel,' 'nailing the headscarf,' and 'lowering the order.' The watertight-bulkhead Fuchuan construction craft has marked characteristics. The installation of bulkheads generally employs differently calibrated watertight-compartment devices, and the traditional cellular watertight-compartment structure is in common use. Near the keel below each partition there are, on the left and right, two 'navel' openings that both drain water and can be plugged to seal a compartment against leakage. Along the bow and stern, 'zodiac' coded markers are set in sequence according to each position's function, letting the crew quickly take their assigned stations in operation, while the captain issues commands using the zodiac designations as call names. Fengwei Town, Quangang District, Quanzhou City, lies at the southern corner of Meizhou Bay and was historically one of the four great fishing towns of southern Fujian. The Jinjiang Shenhu Shipyard, founded in 1958, carried the craft forward by absorbing the shipbuilding techniques of the Huang family of Fengwei in Quanzhou and others, transmitting the Fuchuan construction craft down to the present day.
Archival Process Record
The watertight-bulkhead Fuchuan construction craft is intricate, divided mainly into: hull design, in which the master builder lofts the lines on site, first making a model and then enlarging it to build the real vessel; material selection, using camphor and fir wood, with teak of hard texture chosen for the rudder and wooden anchor, and naturally grown Fujian fir of several decades' age generally chosen for the masts; construction, which follows either the shell-first or the frame-first method; and exterior painting—before launching, the hull is first brushed with a mixture of rice water and oyster-shell lime, the area below the waterline is generally painted white with oyster-shell lime, the keel is fitted with 'dragon eyes' of four cun for every zhang of length, wooden dragons are painted on both quarters at the stern, a wooden egret is painted on the hawse board beneath the stern cabin, and below the hawse board is the name board marked with the vessel's number.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The Fuchuan shipbuilding craft is distributed along the coast of Quangang District and Hui'an County in Quanzhou City, Fujian Province; Fuzhou City and Changle City; Meizhou Bay in Putian City; Xiamen City; and Wenzhou City in Zhejiang Province, among other coastal areas.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Shuimigecangfuchuanzhizaojiyi · Shuimigecangfuchuanzhizaojiyi.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
The watertight-bulkhead Fuchuan construction craft displays the ingenuity of ancient shipbuilding, promoted maritime exchange, and possesses extremely high cultural value. In-depth study of this craft holds important value for research into the development and comparison of hull types in Chinese history and for the investigation of related underwater cultural relics; it is also of great significance for strengthening research on Quanzhou's Maritime Silk Road, the history of Chinese shipbuilding, and the history of maritime transport, and for advancing cross-Strait and international fishing-and-shipping cultural exchange. Huang Zongcai (from the official archival record of the associated inheritor): male, Han ethnicity, born in October 1945, a native of Quanzhou City, Fujian Province. Representative inheritor of the watertight-bulkhead Fuchuan construction craft, a national-level intangible cultural heritage item of the fifth batch. A technician of watertight-bulkhead Fuchuan construction. He excels at building the Fuchuan 'Heibo Wuqing'an,' employing the traditional cellular watertight-compartment structure and following the construction principles of the Song, Yuan, and Ming periods, giving the vessels a steady, majestic presence that, viewed from afar, resemble ancient official ships. Since 1963, the various vessels he has built have enjoyed a high reputation. He once built ship models to take part in the Third International Cultural Products Expo and the First Cross-Strait Cultural Products Expo, among others, and won high praise. To protect and transmit the Huang family's watertight-bulkhead shipbuilding, a consummate piece of folk manual skill, he has actively passed the craft on to later generations, successively training several disciples, and striven to reproduce the quintessence of the Fuchuan construction craft.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Chen Fangcai 03-1403
- Liu Xixiu 05-2835
- Huang Zongcai 05-2836
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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