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The Spring Festival is in full swing. This is currently the largest migration in the world. Migrant workers have taken cars, trains and other means of transport home.
But more than a century ago, the Chaoshan region also experienced a major wave of population migration in the South China Sea. As a result, Chaoshan people are also found in Southeast Asia and around the world. And the means of transportation they take is the famous "red-headed boat". Speaking of red-headed boats, many Chaoshan friends are not strangers, but many people do not understand its details and the story behind it. Today we will take this opportunity to talk about the red-headed boat, as well as the "red-headed boat spirit".
People have always regarded the red-headed ship as a merchant ship engaged in ocean-going trade in Chaozhou in the Qing Dynasty, and most of the Chao-head overseas Chinese took the red-headed ship to make a living overseas and seek development.
The red-headed ship was once the link between China and the economic and cultural exchanges of the rest of the world, as well as the link between overseas Chinese in various places and the motherland.
What is a redhead boat?
During the Yongzheng era of the Qing Dynasty, pirates in the south were rampant, and Chaozhou and Huizhou in Guangdong were particularly serious. At that time, the government did not have enough sailors to deal with the pirates, so it had to adopt the practice of clearing the wilderness by strengthening the walls and clearing the wilderness, and through the control of the mutual protection of the armor of the civilian ships, cut off the contact between the civilian boats and the pirates, so as to achieve the purpose of preventing pirates. It is stipulated that merchant vessels in various provinces shall paint different colors with lacquer oil on the head and tail parts at both ends of the hull and on the mast, and engrave a certain province, a certain state and county, a certain word and a certain number, etc., so as to facilitate the administration of ship administration such as examination and approval, registration, licensing, and inspection. According to the regulations, the bow oil of the ships in Guangdong is red, and the mast is also half oil red, and the face is written in large black characters. Therefore, it is called "red-headed ship".
What does the red-headed captain look like?
The red-headed ship has several main features: the first feature is its obvious color, not only with a special sand oil head, but also with a white powder oil belly, and two round black circles are drawn on the sides of the head, and then the black characters are engraved on the side of the ship. At that time "Consulting Association Fujian. chekiang. Governor of Jiangnan (referring to Jiangsu). comfort. Mention the ministers, and each shall follow the decree of the oil ornament mark". Because Guangdong is in the south, the south belongs to the fire, and the color is red, which is red. Apply "red paint trim, cyan hook lettering". (Qing, the green of green silk, that is, refers to black); and Jiangsu is in the north of the other three provinces, the north belongs to the water, the color is black, "green paint ornament, white hook character"; Zhejiang is the western white, "white paint ornament, green hook character"; Fujian is the oriental green, "green paint ornament, red hook character" (commonly known as "green head boat"). The ships of the four provinces are distinguished by four colors. The red-headed ship also deliberately painted a black circle like a chicken's eye on the bow, believing that the bow of the ship was painted with eyes so as not to lose the channel.
The setting of sails is the second characteristic of red-headed boats. Generally, it is a two-mast and a singular mast, and there are three masts for long-distance ships. The middle mast hangs a huge sail high, and the sails are stacked on top, and the bow and stern have a sail on each mast. Thus greatly strengthening the driving force of the wind on the ship, the speed of the ship's obedient wind forward has been greatly accelerated. In the face of good winds, the four sails are stretched out, the ship is flying, and the power of traveling far away to the Nanyang Islands is absolutely no problem. In addition, the sail of the red-headed ship itself has its own characteristics, it is a compromise between the sharp knife shape and the wide knife shape.
The third feature of the red-headed ship is the large hull structure, "body length of more than twenty zhang", plus a sealed oval stern and a solid aft deck room, so the load capacity is large. At that time, each red-headed ship could accommodate hundreds of people, and the load weight ranged from tens of tons to more than 200 tons. In addition the red-headed ship was set with large iron anchors, which were more than the earlier stone anchors. The wooden anchor is more advanced and also ensures the stability of the ship when mooring.
What is the red-headed vessel carrying?
There is a folk song in Zhanglin Harbor: "The red boat arrives, the pig mother is born, the bird is born, take the shed; the red boat sinks, the pig mother is dizzy, the bird is bean, and the fly is raw!" This vividly sings the important relationship between the red-headed ship and the people's livelihood of Chaoshan People, and the goods it carries are of great value!
In the 60th year of the Kangxi Dynasty (1721), foreign rice was imported from overseas, and the Qing court allowed rice trade with Siam, and the red-headed ships were initially operated by applying for the import of rice, so merchants built ships. On the basis of short voyages, Zhanglin merchants began to test voyages to the ocean, and the red-headed ship business also rose rapidly.
Chaoshan offshore, salt is a specialty, Xiaojiang, Zhaozhao, Longjing is the ancient Chaoshan three famous salt farms, and Xiaojiang salt field is near Zhanglin Port, full of Chaozhou salt sailing north should be the regular business of red-headed ships.
In the autumn, the northeast wind rises, that is, trafficking cotton, color cloth, dried fruits, medicinal herbs and so on back to the port; the ships going south, as many as Leizhou, Qiongzhou, or as far as Vietnam, Siam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Borneo and other places carry goods for business.
Siam is rich in rice and inexpensive, and the red-headed boats from the tidal flat and densely populated land, which is "less than March grain" even in good years, have a special relationship with Siam, the land of rice. While sourcing back Siamese rice, it also purchased the best shipbuilding materials in Siam that are famous all over the world for the manufacture of red-headed boats, nan and teak.
Where does the red-headed ship set sail?
Located in Dongli Town, Shantou, the former site of Zhanglin Ancient Port is the departure holy place of red-headed ships, from which the ancestors of Chaoshan have crossed the ocean to overseas Chinese and business in Southeast Asian countries, and are the "sea gateway" of Chaoshan to home and abroad in the Qing Dynasty. During the Kangxi Dynasty of the Qing Dynasty, the imperial court first relaxed the sea ban, merchants raised funds to build ships and went to sea, and the first red-headed ship went to sea from Zhanglin Port. Later, the chao ancestors took red-headed boats across the ocean one after another and worked hard all over the world to make a living.
Since the Song and Yuan dynasties, Chaoshan has opened up a maritime thoroughfare for business travel with the Nanyang And western oceans, becoming a series of "Maritime Silk Roads". After the opening of the "sea ban" during the Kangxi Dynasty of the Qing Dynasty, the Port of Zhanglin in Shantou became busier, and by the time of Yongzheng, it was already full of thousands of trees, known as "noisy on the sea" and "general exchange of the ocean".
The red-headed boat is a unique part of the culture of overseas Chinese in Chaoshan Province, which is not only the epitome of the cultural spirit of overseas Chinese in Chaoshan Province, but also a "museum" that reflects the spiritual history of Chinese overseas Chinese culture, which fully embodies the spirit of overseas Chinese who dare to explore, openness and tolerance, and the deep feelings of overseas Chinese who care about their hometown. He hoped that the bridge of exchanges at home and abroad in the past and the "red-headed boat" overseas Chinese culture that carries homesickness today can be better displayed and disseminated. The red-headed boat is both a bitter aftertaste and a beautiful yearning; it is not only a bridge for thousands of naked children to struggle hard and forge ahead, but also a bond for the unity of hipsters at home and abroad. The connotation of the times of 'unity, hard work, expansion and innovation' displayed by the 'red-headed boat' is the driving force for us to move forward and a spirit that urges people to forge ahead!
The picture is transferred from "Shantou Shanshui Society" (stswazui)
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