The Narration of Dragon “Boat”: The Legend of Dragon Boat Inherited for Hundreds of Years
第一部分：探秘广东最古老的龙舟制造和维修基地：上百条“冠军龙”的诞生地
Part One: Explore the oldest manual workshop of Guangdong dragon boat: the birthplace of hundreds of “Champion Dragon Boats”
鼓声隆隆，船桨起舞，千舟激浪，万人空巷。端午至，珠江及广州大小河涌之上龙舟跃浪，奋楫争先；两岸旁，看台观众摇旗呐喊、振奋精神。千百年来，珠三角水乡人平日沉睡着的“龙舟基因”，在端午时节被唤醒。
The drums are rolling, oars are flapping, thousands of boats are ploughing the waves, and people have gathered by the river. As the Dragon Boat Festival approaches, dragon boats ride the wind and waves on the streams and rivers of Guangzhou，including the Pearl River. On both sides, the spectators are lifted up，they shake flags，whoop and holler. For thousands of years, the sleeping“dragon boat gene” of residents in the water towns of the Pearl River Delta is awakened.
一船会端午，一水寄乡情。龙船里有速度与激情、友谊与祝福、创新与传承。那么,就以龙船为引，让我们走进水乡人的世界。
Dragon boats converge during the Dragon Boat Festival, rivers maintain friendship between water towns. Speed and passion, friendship and blessings, innovation and inheritance，a lot of positive spirits can be found in Dragon boats. So, let dragon boats be the guide, we will explore the inner world of people in the water towns.
第一部分：造“龙”
Part One： Building “Dragon” Boat
▎制作技艺迄今已140多年
Building skills have been inherited for over 140 years
河涌边，绿树掩映，一座座低矮厂房成排矗立；厂房里挥汗如雨，木屑纷飞，工匠们一锤一刀手工雕琢岭南水乡人的图腾——龙舟。
Beside the river, with green trees providing shade, rows of low factory buildings stand tall，in the manual workshop of dragon boat，craftsmen are working tirelessly, carving the totem of the Lingnan water town —dragon boat by hand with hammers and chisels.
这里是广州市番禺区洛浦街上漖村，广东最古老的龙舟制造和维修基地。上漖村龙舟制作技艺迄今已有140多年历史，历经六代传人，不少简易厂房都是“百年老字号”。 直到现在，珠三角九成的传统龙舟都来自这里。
Here is Shangjiao Village in Luopu Subdistrict, Panyu District, Guangzhou City, the oldest dragon boat manufacturing and maintenance base in Guangdong. The dragon boat handcrafting skills of Shangjiao have a history of more than 140 years and have been passed down through six generations. Many of the crude workshop buildings are “century-old brands”. Even now, 90% of the traditional dragon boats in the Pearl River Delta come from here.
Shangjiao Village is located on Shajiao Island in Luopu Subdistrict, surrounded by the Pearl River, with crisscrossing river networks and convenient water transportation. It is a natural good harbor for shipbuilding.
▎选用可保存百年的坤甸木
Pick Belian preserved for hundreds of years
对于广东人来说，造一条新龙舟是极为隆重的，广东龙舟讲究传承，造一条新龙舟就要一代一代传下去。据番禺龙船世家第五代传承人黄剑挺介绍，20世纪80年代，一条龙船的造价要1万元，“当时可以说是‘天价’。”
For the people of Guangdong, building a new dragon boat is a very grand event. Guangdong dragon boats emphasize inheritance, and the tradition of handcrafting dragon boat is passed down from generation to generation. According to Huang Jianting, the fifth-generation inheritor of the Panyu Dragon Boat Family, in the 1980s, the cost of building a dragon boat was 10,000 yuan, which was considered a “sky-high price” at the time.
Huang Jianting, the fifth-generation inheritor of the Panyu Dragon Boat Family
如今，制造龙舟主要使用两种木材，坤甸木和杉木。使用进口的坤甸木做的龙船密度高、质量好、耐用，需要藏在湿泥里隔绝空气保存。而用杉木做的船轻、吃水浅，起步快，平时需要吊挂起来保存。
Nowadays, two types of wood are mainly used to building dragon boats，belian（also known as borneo ironwood or eusideroxylon zwageri ）and fir. Dragon boats made of imported belian have high density, good quality, and durability, and need to be stored in wet mud to isolate them from the air. Boats made of fir are light, have a shallow draft, and are quick to start, so they need to be hung up for storage.
上漖龙船厂选用的是坤甸木，这种木材可以保存100年。关于木材的选择，有这样一个故事。清朝同治、光绪年间，上漖村出现了最早的造船师傅黄弘。黄弘将技艺传授给黄寮。黄寮自创“柱利”船厂，以造龙船见长，兼造其他木船。珠江三角洲常受台风侵袭，龙船在波涛汹涌的“龙舟水”中，时有船体被冲击破坏甚至破裂翻沉的危险。为了让龙舟更加坚固耐用，经过反复研究实践，黄寮大幅改良了龙舟的制作工艺，还创新性地引入坤甸木作为制作龙舟的材料。“这种木头产自马来西亚，越泡越结实，所有现存的百年老龙基本都是坤甸木做成。”黄剑挺介绍。
Shangjiao Dragon Boat Manual Workshop picks belian, which can be preserved for 100 years. There is a story about the choice of wood. During the Tongzhi and Guangxu years of the Qing Dynasty, the earliest dragon boat craftsman，Huang Hong, was living in Shangjiao. Huang Hong passed on his skills to Huang Liao, who founded the “Zhuli” workshop, which specialized in building dragon boats and also built other wooden boats. At that time, The Pearl River Delta was often hit by typhoons, and dragon boats were at risk of being damaged or even capsized by the turbulent “dragon boat water”. In order to make the dragon boats sturdy and durable, Huang Liao greatly improved the manufacturing process of the dragon boats after repeated research and practice, and innovatively introduced belian as the material for making dragon boats. “This kind of wood comes from Malaysia, and the more it soaks, the stronger it becomes. All the existing century-old dragon boats are basically made of belian.” Huang Jianting explained.
▎多道大工序近20天完工
Most of processes were completed in nearly 20 days
制造一条龙舟，到底需要多久？这就得从龙舟制造工艺说起，传统的龙舟制造主要包含10多道大工序，“再细分则约有数十道小工序，即便在现代设备的帮助下，仍然需要20天的工时，才能做好一条龙船。慢工出细活，好的龙船急不来。”黄剑挺说。
How long does it take to build a dragon boat? This question leads us to the manufacturing process of dragon boats. Traditional dragon boat manufacturing involves more than 10 major steps, “and if broken down further, there are dozens of minor steps. Even in the case of using modern equipments, it still takes 20 days of work to complete a dragon boat. Good things take time, and a good dragon boat cannot be rushed.” Huang Jianting said.
而针对不同的水域特点，龙舟又各有不同。在珠江流域的西江水系使用的龙舟称为“鸡公头”，而东江水系使用的则是“大头狗”。
Dragon boats vary according to the characteristics of different rivers. The dragon boats used in the Xijiang River of the Pearl River Delta are called “Chicken Heads,” while those used in the Dongjiang River are called “Big Head Dogs.”
这是因为西江水系的“鸡公头”龙舟细长狭窄，龙头造型干练，远看像只公鸡，适合在浅窄多弯的河涌中行驶。东江水系的“大头狗”船身宽阔，平底，驶起来平稳，龙头造型稍宽胖些，适合在宽阔浪大的江面上行驶。
This is because the “Chicken Head” dragon boats of the Xijiang River are slender and narrow, with a sleek dragon head design that resembles a rooster from a distance, making them suitable for navigating in shallow, narrow, and winding rivers. The “Big Head Dog” of the Dongjiang River has a wide and flat-bottomed hull, providing a stable ride, and a slightly wider and fatter dragon head design, making it suitable for navigating on wide and wavy rivers.
实际中，珠三角地区的龙舟以竞渡为主，普遍采用上漖村生产的“鸡公头”龙舟，样式好、密度高、划得快、够坚牢。上漖村龙舟则是“鸡公头”龙舟制作技艺的集大成者，其掌握的侧立偏差控制、掌口、钉眼处理和船体设计四大独特技术，具有不可替代性。
In practice, dragon boat racing is the main focus in the Pearl River Delta, and the “Chicken Head” dragon boats produced in Shangjiao are widely used due to their good design, high density, fast rowing, and sturdiness. Shangjiao dragon boats are the culmination of “Chicken Head” dragon boat craftsmanship, mastering four unique skills inside deviation control, palm opening, nail hole treatment, and hull design, making them irreplaceable.
▎一个月来船厂已“爆单”
Boat workshop “boosted orders” in the past month
“今年龙船鼓响得特别早”。今年年初，黄剑挺就感受到这个信号了。年初，黄剑挺负责的龙船厂收到了不少从广州发来的订单。“龙船代表村子的形象，每年都要帮龙船打扮一番，有些村子每隔几年翻新龙船，以光鲜亮丽的形象去游龙探亲。今年农历二月初二猎德村就早早起龙，11条龙船都送到我们厂里翻新。” 黄剑挺算了下，今年新龙船订单有13艘，旧船翻新的有四五十艘，一个月左右，他的船厂就“爆单”了。
“The dragon boat drums sounded especially early this year.” At the beginning of this year, Huang Jianting already found this. At the beginning of the year, the dragon boat workshop of Huang Jianting received many orders from Guangzhou. “Dragon boats represent the image of water villages and towns, and every year we need to dress up the dragon boats. Some villages renovate their dragon boats every few years to present a bright and beautiful image when visiting other villages with their dragon boats. This year, on the second day of the second lunar month, Liede Village started their dragon boat preparations early, and 11 dragon boats were sent to our workshop for renovation.” Huang Jianting said, and he calculated that this year there were 13 new dragon boat orders and 40 to 50 old boats to be renovated. In about a month, his workshop was “fully booked”.
除了本地的订单，还有不少龙船厂接到外省的订单。在记者探访当日，上漖村陈汉慧龙舟基地的工匠正忙着为一艘即将竣工的龙舟修补钉缝。70岁的曾师傅介绍，“这条龙舟是江西一个村子订的，还有几天就要运走了。”
In addition to local orders, many dragon boat workshops also received orders from other provinces. On the day of our visit, craftsmen at the Chen Hanhui Dragon Boat Workshop in Shangjiao were busy repairing nail seams on a soon-to-be-completed dragon boat. The 70-year-old Master Zeng explained, “This dragon boat was ordered by a village in Jiangxi, and it will be shipped out in a few days.”
Shangjiao Dragon Boat Workshop and Dragon Boat Family
文/广州日报·新花城记者：肖桂来、何钻莹、吴多
图/广州日报·新花城记者：李波、陈忧子、莫伟浓
Text/ Guangzhou Daily · Xinhua City Reporter: Xiao Guilai, He Zuanying, Wu Duo
Reported by Xiao Guilai, He Zuanying, Wu Duo/Guangzhou Daily (Guangzhou Converged News Center)
Photo by Li Bo, Chen Youzi, Mo Weinong/Guangzhou Daily (Guangzhou Converged News Center)
