Harmony between humans and the sea

On December 11, 2022, over 100 residents of the Zhongshan community in Xiamen, a coastal city in Fujian Province, carried a brand-new wooden boat 4 km to the seaside before setting it on fire in front of thousands of onlookers. Making an offering of the boat, known as a wangchuan, literally meaning a boat for Ong Yah, a deity believed to protect the community from disaster.

After being carried to the seaside, the boat was set down with its bow facing the ocean and its stern to the community before being set alight. The ritual is complete once the ship's highest mast collapses in the flames. Known as the wangchuan ceremony, the practice was added to the UNESCO list of intangible cultural heritage in 2020.

According to Zhong Qingfeng, one of Xiamen's inheritors of wangchuan shipbuilding, those who have died at sea become lonely wandering souls, so the ceremony has been held every three or four years in 14 communities across the city to summon those who died at sea in that time and deliver them from torment. "People also pray for safe ocean voyages, good weather, a prosperous country and a peaceful life during the ritual," Zhong told Beijing Review.

Each of the 14 communities in Xiamen holds the ceremony on a different date, mostly during the last two months of the lunar year. It takes months to prepare for the ceremony, which is made up of three phases: ship building, a parade and ship burning. During the parade, folk performances such as stilt walking and dragon dancing are staged along the way, escorting the wangchuan all the way to the seaside.

The ceremony and its related practices were developed in southern Fujian between the 15th and 17th centuries, and are now mostly practiced in the coastal areas of Xiamen and Quanzhou cities, as well as in the Chinese communities in Melaka, Malaysia.

Zhong Qingfeng, an inheritor of wangchuan shipbuilding in Xiamen, Fujian Province, makes a wangchuan model in his workshop on August 11, 2022 (YIN KANG)

Boats fit for a deity

Zhong, who is 82, has been a carpentry enthusiast since childhood. He began an apprenticeship at the Xiamen Shipyard when he was 19 and became head of another local shipbuilding business in 1972.

At that time, Zhong built only fishing boats as the wangchuan ceremony had been banned as a superstitious practice in the 1950s. Building of wangchuan had been halted for more than three decades until, in 1984, a local village invited Zhong to make one—his first. "I had no idea how to make a wangchuan back then because the last time I saw an authentic one had been in 1952, when I was 12," he said.

What's worse, there was neither sample, nor blueprint. Most of the old craftsmen who knew how to make the vessels had passed away. With little help, Zhong did his best by making a fishing boat in what he remembered to be the wangchuan style; however, not surprisingly, local seniors all shook their heads at his creation.

"The craft of making wangchuan should not disappear during my lifetime. I must save it," Zhong thought. He decided to make a real wangchuan. Wang undertook a search for old wangchuan builders and after finding only one, took him as his teacher. The old man explained to Zhong the differences between fishing boats and ritual boats. For example, unlike a fishing boat, a wangchuan always features a lion on the bow and a dragon on the stern.

After four years of study and assisted by the memories of the elderly, Zhong drew up his first blueprint for a wangchuan and built it in 1988. "When it was finished, the seniors said it looked just like those in the old days," Zhong said.

From then on, more and more communities invited him to build a wangchuan. Every year, at least one village or community invited him to make one for a ceremony. "I have produced over 100 wangchuans, including models for display," Zhong told Beijing Review.

Producing a wangchuan requires carpentry, wood carving, painting and decorating techniques. Zhong used to do all the work himself, but now he mainly undertakes the carpentry only. "People today expect a more delicately crafted wangchuan, so professional carvers and painters also join us," Zhong said.

(Left) A wangchuan ceremony in Melaka, Malaysia on November 16, 2020 Zhong Qingfeng, an inheritor of wangchuan shipbuilding in Xiamen, Fujian Province, makes a wangchuan model in his workshop on August 11, 2022 (XINHUA)

Passing on the heritage

At the time Zhong revived the ancient technique in the late 1980s, few young people—apart from his youngest son—were interested in learning the craft. "Most of the younger generations have graduated from colleges and universities. They don't want to become carpenters," he said.

But things began to change in the last decade. The ritual was listed as a national-level intangible cultural heritage in 2011. "People now treasure the practice more," Zhong said.

Since 2015, the culture surrounding the boats and the ritual has begun making its way into schools. The principal of Zhongzhai Minzu Primary School in Xiamen wanted to introduce the intangible heritage to students, and so the school invited Zhong to come and teach them about it.

In the very beginning, Zhong taught pupils to make wangchuan using saws and planes, and was very surprised by the students' enthusiasm. Making a vessel model takes days of continuous work and cannot be accomplished in a 45-minute class. Yet Zhou found that students wanted to keep working long after school hours—and sometimes even after dark—rather than going home.

To make the process more school-friendly, Zhong in 2018 designed kits, outsourced their bulk production, and brought them to the school for the students to assemble in class. As a result, more and more students began signing up for the class. "I can't keep track of how many students I've taught since 2015, but I do know this kind of intangible cultural heritage cannot be lost and must be passed down," Zhong said.

In addition to assembling the models, students are also encouraged to research and write articles about wangchuan and to draw them. "These are good ways to educate students about the tradition," Zhong said.

While teaching at the school, Zhong met Chen Wenjing, a campus security guard. Chen took an interest in wangchuan building, began assisting Zhong in his lessons and soon became Zhong's youngest apprentice. "He has mastered the craft and is now teaching most of the shipbuilding classes in the school," Zhong said.

The wangchuan ceremony's world heritage listing has raised its profile and increased the value attached to it by the community. As a result, Zhong now has seven apprentices. "They will one day have their own apprentices, who can all pass down the skills generation after generation." 

Copyedited by G.P. Wilson