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@Dematosdg Daniel ... never in your wildest dreams can you ever "bother" me enough! That is exactly what this build log is for - to exchange ideas and to form a think-tank.
YANGTZE RIVER HIGH-NET FISHING SAMPAN [COMPLETED BUILD]
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Very cool build. Looking forward to your progress with interest. Here is a photo of some sampans taken when my father was in China in 1944. He's the almost bald guy coming up the bank.
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A photo of an actual Tanka girl. The photo was taken by me in February, 1958 in Hong Kong where I turned 20 -- and during the Lunar New Year at that! Three of us young Navy boys hired a cab at the enlisted men's club to tour us around the island. (It was the first Mercedes I'd ever seen or ridden in.) One stop was at the sampan village (at Aberdeen, I think) where a well known floating restaurant was moored. We were taken out to it by this girl and her mother -- a water taxi of sorts. Hundreds of junks were anchored in this inlet surrounded by mountains. Fortunately the tide was in because they were floating and everything went over the side. At low tide the stench would have been rugged. The Tanka people were looked down on by the land dwellers. They, the Tanka, looked down on the land people because the Tanka owned the boats they lived on, had a way of making their own living producing valuable protein from the sea which they could sell or trade for everything else they needed. and they had mobility and could relocate. Hong Kong was desperately poor then and there was starvation on the mainland. Notice that there's a piece of greenery decorating the bow. That was for the Lunar New Year. I think that in the background you can make out a scrap of orange cloth or rag hanging on a sampan. Orange was the color for celebration and was also in honor of the new year. This girl, if still living would be in her 70's, I suppose. I consider myself very lucky to have seen this way of life before it disappeared. I'd had the 35mm slides originally printed . Later Hurricane Ike got them wet. I had one restored (expensive) and the other I'd given a print to friends who live inland. Now I have them digitized. I'll post the second one if I find it.
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A nice distraction from frigates , and masts, and rigging, and cannons, and ................... you know,....all that stuff.
I ' m sure this will be another successful venture for you. Will be following but ..sigh.. have so much to build already.
i
I ' m sure this will be another successful venture for you. Will be following but ..sigh.. have so much to build already.
i
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@MikeC Wow Mike. I just woke up to find your incredible post. Like @Dematosdg Daniel said, there is nothing that comes close to real life experience and that is why your comments are of such value to this log and add so much. You make many valuable comments that need to be elaborated on as they are all particularly relevant.
New Year celebrations to the Chinese are the highlight of the year and it holds much more spiritual value than it does in the West. Contrary to popular belief, many Chinese are very "spiritual" and at no other time is this more prevalent than at New Year. 1958 would have been the Year of the Dog, the same as in 2018 which was my second year in China.
Aberdeen harbour or village was indeed one of the sampan havens in Hong Kong. At that point the biggest concentrations of sampans were found at Aberdeen Village, Hong Kong harbour itself and then in Shanghai. They were smaller craft than the model I am building, and were regularly used as water taxis - in addition to being fishing boats and floating homes. Throughout the history of the Tanka, women were regarded as equal to the men (very different from that was prevalent on Mainland China at the time) and assumed the role of matriarchs in many families. The story of "Sampan Annie" for instance, is one that needs to be told and I plan to include that later on. Interestingly enough, the Tanka girls (of varying ages) were a very popular subject for Western photographers and artists.
What you say about the idea of the one group "looking down" on the other is most interesting. One only ever hears of the Tanka people being looked down upon - not the other way around. But what you say makes a lot of sense because no Mainland Chinese "owned" the land they lived upon, whereas the Tanka owned their own boats - which to them - was their idea of land.
Just fascinating stuff.
The greenery on the bow is something that is totally unfamiliar to me. I have never seen that before, nor I have I ever heard of such reference - so that is something I have to ask Mr Guo about. (Mr Guo is a gentleman who will surface later during the build as will a fascinating young lady). The orange / red cloth that you mention, is well-known to me as that was a spiritual sign that most Tanka sampans carried out of respect for the goddess of the sea/water - Ma-zu. They are called couplets and are still found on the front doors or on pillars next to the front door in almost all Chinese homes (even until today). On the sampans, these decorations were usually hung from the stern.
Once again - thank you so much for your post - it is very highly appreciated!
New Year celebrations to the Chinese are the highlight of the year and it holds much more spiritual value than it does in the West. Contrary to popular belief, many Chinese are very "spiritual" and at no other time is this more prevalent than at New Year. 1958 would have been the Year of the Dog, the same as in 2018 which was my second year in China.
Aberdeen harbour or village was indeed one of the sampan havens in Hong Kong. At that point the biggest concentrations of sampans were found at Aberdeen Village, Hong Kong harbour itself and then in Shanghai. They were smaller craft than the model I am building, and were regularly used as water taxis - in addition to being fishing boats and floating homes. Throughout the history of the Tanka, women were regarded as equal to the men (very different from that was prevalent on Mainland China at the time) and assumed the role of matriarchs in many families. The story of "Sampan Annie" for instance, is one that needs to be told and I plan to include that later on. Interestingly enough, the Tanka girls (of varying ages) were a very popular subject for Western photographers and artists.
What you say about the idea of the one group "looking down" on the other is most interesting. One only ever hears of the Tanka people being looked down upon - not the other way around. But what you say makes a lot of sense because no Mainland Chinese "owned" the land they lived upon, whereas the Tanka owned their own boats - which to them - was their idea of land.
Just fascinating stuff.The greenery on the bow is something that is totally unfamiliar to me. I have never seen that before, nor I have I ever heard of such reference - so that is something I have to ask Mr Guo about. (Mr Guo is a gentleman who will surface later during the build as will a fascinating young lady). The orange / red cloth that you mention, is well-known to me as that was a spiritual sign that most Tanka sampans carried out of respect for the goddess of the sea/water - Ma-zu. They are called couplets and are still found on the front doors or on pillars next to the front door in almost all Chinese homes (even until today). On the sampans, these decorations were usually hung from the stern.
Once again - thank you so much for your post - it is very highly appreciated!
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@jeep Welcome to the build John! yes ... the sampan is a wonderful distraction from all the man-o-wars! The mast and rigging though will still be a part of this build although on a much smaller scale and in much simplified form. I suppose you can call this build a "personal venture" - it is something which I have always wanted to do and after my first botched attempt, vowed that I would get right this time! 
The mast and rigging though will still be a part of this build although on a much smaller scale and in much simplified form. I suppose you can call this build a "personal venture" - it is something which I have always wanted to do and after my first botched attempt, vowed that I would get right this time!
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Good morning everyone. I am at work, only to hear that my first two classes had been cancelled because my student had to take her child to hospital. At best this is frustrating, because the two hours wasted are precious to me (heck, I could have spent it in the shipyard 
), but life gets in the way sometimes.
However, the upshot of this is that I can share you with the story of Sampan Annie. The story appeared on the following website Sampan Annie-August 1941 | Gwulo: Old Hong Kong and was written by W.B. (Shorty) Greenough - Pan American Airways Chief Mechanic-Hong Kong. This essay was published in the form of a letter to the editor of Pan American Airways in-house magazine ‘New Horizons’ edition dated September 1941. (I have edited it to make it more readable and also to clarify some inaccuracies (the BOAC and Pan-Am personnel sometimes made the incorrect distinction between junks and sampans).
SAMPAN ANNIE
Family Name: Chin Yun Gi
Nickname: Sampan Annie
Sex: Female
Status: Deceased
Birth Date: c.1884-01-01 (Year, Month, Day are approximate)
In Hong Kong, shipping has always been serviced by “sampan girls” particularly naval ships which often had their hulls repainted by teams of these women in exchange for left-over food and scraps. However, few are aware that at least one sampan girl also serviced flying boats. One little known fact about “Annie” is that her real name is Chin Yun Gi. Better known, in Hong Kong at least, is her status as head of a family group which numbers at least 35 or 40. Family ties are sacred and family traditions are reverently observed in China, as is well known. In the case of Annie’s family, it is one of those floating groups which are so numerous at Chinese seaports and along Chinese rivers. Thousands of Chinese know no other home than the fishing boats on which they are born, live their lives, and die.
The sampan is the principal vessel from which Sampan Annie directs the lives of her family. It has always been her custom when a son gets married to buy him a boat; thus, there are now four sampans equipped for fishing. As each of the foregoing vessels is equipped with a small sampan in the order of a row boat, the fleet has nine units in all.
Annie’s immediate family consists of her husband, five sons and three daughters. The others are son’s wives and children. Some of Annie’s own children are about the same age as the grandchildren; she, herself, is about 65 years old. Fishing has been the family’s occupation and means of livelihood for many years; and, of course, it was Annie’s years of experience with the fishing boats which gave her the skill with sampans for which she is noted.
She got into the airline business when CNAC was operating amphibian airplanes in and out of Hong Kong. When CNAC changed over to land operation, Annie’s job was threatened. We needed a boat man and Annie was eminently qualified, so we quickly made a deal. She was to get Hong Kong $20 a month; and although this amounts only to about $5 in American money, it was entirely satisfactory to Annie.
Annie’s invariable costume is a black suit comprising trousers and jumper of black coolie cloth, and a huge basket-like coolie hat. Aboard her sampan she is always barefooted, but when going ashore she may wear shoes which consist either of a piece of auto tire or a piece of board with a strap. The black costume is exactly like that worn by thousands of other Chinese women in sampans. It must be comfortable because it is so loosely fitted. In fact, it is my impression that those suits come in one size only, that being the largest.
When Annie first came to work for us, she brought her own sampan along. It is operated by a sculling oar being directed over the stern of the boat and moved from side by side like the tail of a ship. The skill with which Annie gets around a Clipper, passing a line to the officer in the bow, getting breast lines and tail lines into place and warping the Clipper up to the dock, is nothing short of amazing.
One of the stories about Annie, that gained wide circulation in the American press, happened about three years ago. Annie supervised the work of mooring a Clipper after its arrival on Saturday morning and then requested permission to leave early. This request was granted on condition that she would be back on the job early the next morning for the Clipper’s departure. To everyone’s surprise Annie was late in arriving. Annie’s loyalty and dependability are such that tardiness for her was just unthinkable. Then it came out that the reason she had wanted Saturday afternoon off was to give birth to her latest offspring. I can vouch for that story because it was I who gave her permission to go, and Mrs Greenough later went over to see Annie in the junk.
Annie’s proudest possession is the PAA Flight Engineer’s button which she sometimes inadvertently wears upside down. After her work has been done, she exercises what has become her prerogative of collecting every bit of food that remains in the galley, and then stages an impromptu picnic for whatever members of the family that happen to be along. On her own sampan she is the family provider, not just for sons and daughters but for the whole clan. They all help with the fishing and other work of course, but she directs everything. She buys the rice, the pork, Macao cabbage and spinach. Fish caught by the family is a regular feature of the menus. All the food is cooked on the mother boat to which all member of the family come at mealtime.
Shortly after this tale was published in September 1941, war arrived in Hong Kong in December. Annie and her family melted into the fishing community and got on with their lives.
On 11 January 1970, Pan American Airways ground-breaking Boeing B747 Jumbo Jet arrived for the very first time in Hong Kong. The next morning the South China Morning Post published a photograph of its 48-year-old Captain William Saulsbury, veteran of 22,000 flying hours, accepting a scroll from the diminutive 86-year-old Sampan Annie.
), but life gets in the way sometimes.However, the upshot of this is that I can share you with the story of Sampan Annie. The story appeared on the following website Sampan Annie-August 1941 | Gwulo: Old Hong Kong and was written by W.B. (Shorty) Greenough - Pan American Airways Chief Mechanic-Hong Kong. This essay was published in the form of a letter to the editor of Pan American Airways in-house magazine ‘New Horizons’ edition dated September 1941. (I have edited it to make it more readable and also to clarify some inaccuracies (the BOAC and Pan-Am personnel sometimes made the incorrect distinction between junks and sampans).
SAMPAN ANNIE
Family Name: Chin Yun Gi
Nickname: Sampan Annie
Sex: Female
Status: Deceased
Birth Date: c.1884-01-01 (Year, Month, Day are approximate)
In Hong Kong, shipping has always been serviced by “sampan girls” particularly naval ships which often had their hulls repainted by teams of these women in exchange for left-over food and scraps. However, few are aware that at least one sampan girl also serviced flying boats. One little known fact about “Annie” is that her real name is Chin Yun Gi. Better known, in Hong Kong at least, is her status as head of a family group which numbers at least 35 or 40. Family ties are sacred and family traditions are reverently observed in China, as is well known. In the case of Annie’s family, it is one of those floating groups which are so numerous at Chinese seaports and along Chinese rivers. Thousands of Chinese know no other home than the fishing boats on which they are born, live their lives, and die.
The sampan is the principal vessel from which Sampan Annie directs the lives of her family. It has always been her custom when a son gets married to buy him a boat; thus, there are now four sampans equipped for fishing. As each of the foregoing vessels is equipped with a small sampan in the order of a row boat, the fleet has nine units in all.
Annie’s immediate family consists of her husband, five sons and three daughters. The others are son’s wives and children. Some of Annie’s own children are about the same age as the grandchildren; she, herself, is about 65 years old. Fishing has been the family’s occupation and means of livelihood for many years; and, of course, it was Annie’s years of experience with the fishing boats which gave her the skill with sampans for which she is noted.
She got into the airline business when CNAC was operating amphibian airplanes in and out of Hong Kong. When CNAC changed over to land operation, Annie’s job was threatened. We needed a boat man and Annie was eminently qualified, so we quickly made a deal. She was to get Hong Kong $20 a month; and although this amounts only to about $5 in American money, it was entirely satisfactory to Annie.
Annie’s invariable costume is a black suit comprising trousers and jumper of black coolie cloth, and a huge basket-like coolie hat. Aboard her sampan she is always barefooted, but when going ashore she may wear shoes which consist either of a piece of auto tire or a piece of board with a strap. The black costume is exactly like that worn by thousands of other Chinese women in sampans. It must be comfortable because it is so loosely fitted. In fact, it is my impression that those suits come in one size only, that being the largest.
When Annie first came to work for us, she brought her own sampan along. It is operated by a sculling oar being directed over the stern of the boat and moved from side by side like the tail of a ship. The skill with which Annie gets around a Clipper, passing a line to the officer in the bow, getting breast lines and tail lines into place and warping the Clipper up to the dock, is nothing short of amazing.
One of the stories about Annie, that gained wide circulation in the American press, happened about three years ago. Annie supervised the work of mooring a Clipper after its arrival on Saturday morning and then requested permission to leave early. This request was granted on condition that she would be back on the job early the next morning for the Clipper’s departure. To everyone’s surprise Annie was late in arriving. Annie’s loyalty and dependability are such that tardiness for her was just unthinkable. Then it came out that the reason she had wanted Saturday afternoon off was to give birth to her latest offspring. I can vouch for that story because it was I who gave her permission to go, and Mrs Greenough later went over to see Annie in the junk.
Annie’s proudest possession is the PAA Flight Engineer’s button which she sometimes inadvertently wears upside down. After her work has been done, she exercises what has become her prerogative of collecting every bit of food that remains in the galley, and then stages an impromptu picnic for whatever members of the family that happen to be along. On her own sampan she is the family provider, not just for sons and daughters but for the whole clan. They all help with the fishing and other work of course, but she directs everything. She buys the rice, the pork, Macao cabbage and spinach. Fish caught by the family is a regular feature of the menus. All the food is cooked on the mother boat to which all member of the family come at mealtime.
Shortly after this tale was published in September 1941, war arrived in Hong Kong in December. Annie and her family melted into the fishing community and got on with their lives.
On 11 January 1970, Pan American Airways ground-breaking Boeing B747 Jumbo Jet arrived for the very first time in Hong Kong. The next morning the South China Morning Post published a photograph of its 48-year-old Captain William Saulsbury, veteran of 22,000 flying hours, accepting a scroll from the diminutive 86-year-old Sampan Annie.
Someone should make a Vietnamese sampan packed with AK-47's and rice. 
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@DARIVS ARCHITECTVS Dear Kurt Thank you for visiting my log.
It is interesting that you should say that. Verlinden Productions in the Netherlands actually produced two different Vietnamese War sampans in 1:35 scale. Apparently these models are very accurate and of high-quality, but whether they are still produced, I have no idea. They are, however, available on EBay.
It is interesting that you should say that. Verlinden Productions in the Netherlands actually produced two different Vietnamese War sampans in 1:35 scale. Apparently these models are very accurate and of high-quality, but whether they are still produced, I have no idea. They are, however, available on EBay.
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Heinrich, Can you or would you get in touch with me? I may be able to send you print copies of what I've got in addition to the first one I posted. The second image (for some reason) is in the TIF file format and that's not an allowed format for attachments. Mike mike2002conway@yahoo.com
Wonderful log!!! Full of stories, investigations and dedication
thanks a lot for sharing!!!
thanks a lot for sharing!!!
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@Schrader Hello Hellmuht - it is wonderful to have you here - and I would like to wish you a warm and big welcome! Your very kind words are sincerely appreciated. To those of you who may not be aware of this - Hellmuht and I are kindred spirits as we are both building Chinese subjects at the moment. To those who are unaware of Hellmuht's work, do yourself one of the biggest favors and have a look at his current build log. You will see a master and artist at work second to none.
And if you really want to be blown away have a look at his Egyptian Byblos. https://shipsofscale.com/sosforums/...oing-ship-“byblos”-1-32-completed-build.5279/
Quanzhou Ship - Chinese Junk 13th Century 1:54 by Schrader
In the last days, I’ve been studying a lot of things about the Chinese Junks at the same time, thinking about which could be my next project. Finally I reached the conclusion that the Quanzhou Ship, which was discovered in 1973 and dated from the 13th century, would be a real challenge, as well...
shipsofscale.com
And if you really want to be blown away have a look at his Egyptian Byblos. https://shipsofscale.com/sosforums/...oing-ship-“byblos”-1-32-completed-build.5279/
Thanks Heinrich
I wish I deserve those kind words. But all you are welcome to visit those logs. I wll more than happy to assist you if I can
I wish I deserve those kind words. But all you are welcome to visit those logs. I wll more than happy to assist you if I can
What a great log Heinrich, a fascinating historical read as well as a really interesting build. I well remember the bumboats and sampans in and around the Singapore Strait and coastal areas some decades ago. Your log has brought back some nostalgic memories. I will follow keenly, thanks.