Zhuangniyu Customs
01 · Historical Records
Zhuangniyu ('setting for the mud fish') is a traditional craft with strong local character in Qianwu Town, Doumen District, Zhuhai City, Guangdong Province. It originated as early as 1765, the thirtieth year of the Qianlong reign of the Qing dynasty, and was especially flourishing in Hushan, Lishan, Mashan, Wangshan, Dahaihuan, and Shigou villages; it has a history of more than 240 years to the present day.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Qianwu Town in Doumen District lies in the west of Zhuhai City, Guangdong Province, facing the South China Sea, and belongs to the coastal sand-field region. Here the waters interlace, the climate is mild, and the area abounds in mud fish, sand shrimp, blue crabs, and a great variety of aquatic products; for more than six hundred years it has enjoyed the fame of a 'land of fish and rice' on the west bank of the Pearl River estuary. To its southwest lies the Huangmao Sea waters where fresh and salt water meet; the salinity of the water is only 3‰, making it a typical low-salinity area. The tidal flats here cover more than 30,000 mu, grow large quantities of algae, and are rich in humus, providing unique and essential water conditions and food sources for the growth of the mud fish. 'Its color is gray-black, and it is three to four cun long, with dappled spots on its body; the flesh is tender and the flavor pure and fine, and it can be made into a thick soup.' 'Because the flower fish's color is close to that of mud, the villagers have grown accustomed to calling it the mud fish.' The Zhuangniyu technique comprises four main process steps — making the fish cage, making the fish basket, making the mud board, and catching the mud fish — and is characterized by regional specificity, originality, practicality, and gender difference.
Weaving the fish traps
Bamboo splints are worked into a trap narrow at the mouth and wider inside, with mesh fine enough for the small fish of the flats.
Weaving the carrying baskets
The basket must hold fish and wet mud without leaking, its mouth tightened so nothing escapes on the way home; its size tells how much a family usually carries.
Cutting the mud board
The mud board serves as a floating platform and a blind to hide behind while waiting; its width and thickness depend on the tide line.
Trapping in shallows and seining in the deep
Traps are set in the shallows, mud is searched by hand, and baskets scoop the deep; men and women divide the work between board and basket mouth.
Reading the brackish fishing ground
The low-salinity water and wide mud flats of Huangmao sea, rich in algae, make the only home of the mud fish; the range is read from water colour, mud colour and tide marks.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The Zhuangniyu custom takes Qianwu Town in Doumen District, Zhuhai, Guangdong as its axis, with the coastal sand-field zone around the Huangmao Sea as its basic territory; Hushan, Lishan, Mashan, Wangshan, Dahaihuan, and Shigou villages are where it flourished most. The tan liu yu recorded in Volume 14 of the Xiangshan County Gazetteer of 1873, the twelfth year of the Tongzhi reign of the Qing dynasty, is precisely the old name for the mud fish on the same stretch of water, showing that this craft had already taken shape before the change in the administrative establishment above it, though at the time it entered the gazetteer under the alternative names tian liu yu and hua yu. The neighboring villages to the east and west likewise work the same brackish-fresh water; whose fish cages are set most densely and whose basket mouths are drawn tightest can be seen at a glance. The regional specificity, exclusivity, practicality, and gender difference noted in the source record are all rooted in the salinity and depth of the tidal flats — the difference of the water line being the most real boundary between the experienced hand and the novice, between men and women.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
The Xiangshan County Gazetteer (official government edition), published in 1873, the twelfth year of the Tongzhi reign of the Qing dynasty, records in Volume 14: 'The tan liu yu is the tian liu yu, also called the hua yu, also called the qixing yu. This traditional craft has been passed down from generation to generation to the present day and is known to every household; it vividly records the development history of a living traditional craft in one region, and its rescue protection and transmission are of very great significance.
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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