Nanhaihangdaogenglujing
01 · Historical Records
The extant handwritten copies of the Genglu Records were produced in the final years of the Kangxi reign of the Qing dynasty, matured toward the middle of the 19th century, took fixed form as books, and have been passed down through generations to the present.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The "South China Sea Routes Records" are also known by names such as "South China Sea Water Routes Classic," "South China Sea Fixed-Time Compass Bearings," "Favorable Wind, Gained Profit," "Genglu Records Noting the Eastern and Northern Seas," and "Water Route Book for the Xisha and Nansha"—traditional folk knowledge by which South China Sea fishermen grasped sea navigation routes. "Geng" is an ancient unit for calculating voyage distance, with one geng equal to 60 li; "lu" refers to a route chart; and "bu" simply means a book. The Genglu Records are handwritten booklets of navigation route charts, while the "oral transmission of the routes" refers to route experience passed down by word of mouth. The South China Sea Routes Records are a "secret book" of navigation compiled and used by the fishermen of Hainan Island itself, an essential navigation chart for every captain. More than ten different Genglu Records have been discovered to date; they record fishermen setting sail from Qinglan Harbor in Wenchang County or Tanmen Harbor in Qionghai County on Hainan Island and traveling to and from the Xisha, Nansha, and Zhongsha archipelagos and the countries of Southeast Asia, along with knowledge of climate, hydrology, and landforms essential for navigation. The South China Sea Routes Records are the crystallization of ancient Hainan fishermen's seafaring knowledge, transmitted in both oral and written form and still used by Qionghai fishermen today.
Setting the watches from Tanmen port
Leaving Tanmen port, the crew sets the first watch and counts sixty li a watch to fix the ship's position.
Reading needle positions against the reefs
Written bearings are checked against mountains, breakers and water colour: paper bearings become visible landmarks.
Manuscript and oral teaching side by side
Manuscript and oral teaching run together: routes are recited ashore and then confirmed at sea.
Teaching on long voyages
Most teaching happens at sea, where weather, reefs, currents, grounds, routes and fishing are learned together.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The transmission of the South China Sea Routes Records in the Qionghai area spread outward from Tanmen Harbor as its starting point. The routes running to and from the Xisha, Nansha, and Zhongsha archipelagos and the countries of Southeast Asia were compiled into separate volumes among local boatmen; more than ten different Genglu Records have been discovered to date, each differing in style and level of detail. The method of learning in the Qionghai area emphasizes hands-on practice: veteran skippers took young men aboard to recognize stars, read ocean currents, and distinguish islands and reefs, and only when the bearings on paper matched the color of the waves before their eyes was a student considered to have learned. For this reason this lineage of transmission cannot be separated from the sea or from the greater part of each year spent at sea.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Nanhaihangdaogenglujing.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
It is historical testimony to the ancient Qionghai people's discovery and development of the Xisha, Nansha, and Zhongsha archipelagos, and powerful evidence that these archipelagos have been China's territory and territorial waters since ancient times; it has precious historical value for the study of China's overseas Chinese history, foreign trade history, navigation history, and the history of South China Sea development. Wang Shubao (as recorded in the official file of the associated inheritor): male, of the Han ethnic group, born in February 1959, a native of Qionghai City, Hainan Province. Born into a fisherman's family, he developed a love of navigation from childhood under his family's influence. During the decades he spent sailing the South China Sea, three-quarters of every year was spent at sea; he mastered the Genglu Records and the South China Sea's climate, islands and reefs, currents, fishing grounds, weather, routes, and fishing techniques, and every voyage he led brought the fishermen aboard back safely with a good catch. He has been invited on several occasions to take part in transporting construction facilities in the South China Sea and carrying out related navigation missions. He is a representative inheritor of the South China Sea Routes Records, a fifth-batch national-level intangible cultural heritage item. Committed to the protection and dissemination of traditional maritime culture, he actively teaches the South China Sea Routes Records, adopting a method combining theory with field practice and imparting traditional navigation and fishing knowledge in the actual practice of South China Sea voyages.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Wang Shubao 05-3054
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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