绍兴 船 “shao xing chuan” or Hangchow Bay Trader is the name given to trading junks from Hangchow. Recorded history has that Hangchow (Hangzhou, Zhejiang) dates back to 2198 B.C. when Emperor Yu visited the port. Marco Polo noted this was home to traders from Arabia. Today, the ancient Hangchow port city of Zhapu, the main Chinese port during the Tang Dynasty, is silted in.

One distinctive feature of Hangchow is the Great Bore of Hangchow, the “third wonder of China.” To protect the millions of people living in the Bay around 800 A.D., a 120 mile long wall 26 feet high was built at Haining, 26 miles from Hangchow. The junks came in at high tide and were secured to the top of the wall with anchors lowered through the hull. The Bay is a funnel shape: 60 miles at the widest and 9 miles at the narrowest. The Bore can first be spotted as a thin white streak of incoming tide, which then funnels into a wave of 15-30 feet at the outer buttresses, and continues to rise as it funnels into the ever narrowing Bay. The Hangchow Bay Trader was designed to ride behind the crest of the incoming Bore - the junkmen slipping anchor and riding the 23 miles to Hangchow in about two hours.

The Hangchow Bay Trader with its decorations is one of the oldest and most distinctive Chinese junks. Although carpentry work was rough, the beauty of this craft was in the hands of the artisans employed to decorate the bow and stern - deck beams were sometimes little more than split tree trunks.

This ancient junk design probably changed very little over the centuries. The smallest had LOA (length overall) 60 feet, the largest 100 feet with capacity of 3,000 piculs (200 tons). Our example (Ref. G.R.G. Worcester) measured LOA 84 feet (25.6 metre), beam of 23 feet and had a depth of 8 feet. There were 10 bulkheads and no ribs provided transversal strength. Two massive fore and aft beams provided longitudinal strength.

Hull shape was whale backed with cambered deck planking. Bow profile was the classic junk scrow, or 牛 头 船 “niu tou chuan” (“bulls head”), which does not limit forward motion even in rough seas. Whilst modern sailing yachts tend to “dive” into waves due to their finer profile, the bulls head profile junk is more steady.

On the foredeck and aftdeck were ancient “stick in the mud” anchors for securing to the Haining wall. The fore bitts were used to tie down deck cargo. The heavy semi-balanced rudder was made of hardwood and balanced between wooden chocks on the upper and lower extremities of the stern and secured by wire grummets. The stern was open. Rigging was two sails with the largest Traders also carrying a mizzen as the third sail set to starboard. Sail profile was a well balanced lugsail with a large number of battens for sail trimming. The Foremast was forward racked and the Mainsail vertical - most distinctively the foot of all sails were at the same height or line on the junk. Props supported both Foremast and Mainmast. All masts were iron bound.

On the bow was painted a Chinese tiger to ward away evil spirits. This junk had the ability to “see” where it is going through the Taoist 八 卦 ”ba gua” painted on both forequarters. The stern quarters have the Goddess of Mercy 观 音 “Guan Yin” sitting atop a Phoenix flying towards the bow, the owner choosing other decorations to taste.

Leeboards were each built of two or three strong frames of planks - leeboards were used to reduce the leeward drift of a sailing craft going to windward. Strong bolts were used to retain the leeboards.

The deckhouse* was small and simple, and primarily was the entrance to quarters below deck, as well as act as the galley. Matting was sometimes used to provide shelter for the crew and helmsmen.

All Hangchow Bay types are similar in design. The “Hangchow Bay Fisher,” from the northern side of the Hangchow Bay, was smaller than the Trader at rarely more than 60 feet and only carried two sails with no permanent deck structure. These fishing junks were from Chapoo (Zhapu) port, their fishing grounds the Yangtze estuary. They sold their catch in Shanghai.

The “Hangchow Bay Trader”, hailing from the southern side of the Bay, was used for the trading of cotton and charcoal with Shanghai. The Chinese name of “shao xing” for these junks was derived from the ancient Hangchow Bay port; the same place from where many of the owners hailed.

*Note: Tara's research includes works from G.R.G. Worcester, Ivon A. Donnelly, Louis Audemard and Valentin A. Sokoloff. While researching this junk they found significant differences in deckhouse descriptions between Worcester and Donnelley - they chose to use the formers.

Click on links to view: a Diagram and a painting by Valentin A. Sokoloff