Archives for posts with tag: chuan jiang

 

W130xH70xD30, China

The carp fish is a blessing symbol for the Chinese, there are many legends regarding the carp fish and here is one of them:
Once upon a time there is an orphan named Ji Qing, without a family he made his living as a boat tracker on the Chuan Jiang River.  Life was hard but he lived his days joyfully, being a good swimmer he is able to retrieve any objects his passenger accidentally dropped into the ocean.  Diving deep into the water he had a special bond with the carp fish, even if he is hungry he will not harm them, his friend made fun of him and called him silly Qing.  One day when he was tidying up the tow string, he saw a beautiful golden carp but at the same time a water snake was about to make it his dinner.  Ji Qing threw the string on the water snake and saved the golden carp, he took the injured carp to his hut and nursed it for days.  One evening exhausted from a day’s water he rushed home to see the carp but it was no where to be found.  Oddly on the table was 4 gold bars and there carved the words, “I have jumped to the sky and swam to the reef but failed to be a dragon (it is believe that if a carp can jump over the mountain it will turn into a dragon), here I am to give wealth to Ji Qing.

Would this be the golden carp?

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L450xW100xH150mm, China

Chuan Jiang  is upper course of Chang Jiang River running between Si Cuan and Hu Bei.  Chuan Jiang was the main route for goods transportation serving the areas around the region.  In Qing dynasty with  Chong Qing opened up as a port, it also became a major routing for the import and export goods, boats on Chuan Jiang were in their thousands.  There are many different kind of boats; boat tracker range from a few to a hundred, each boat tracker’s ranking and task is well defined.  The Chun Jiang has a drop in level of  more than 120m, hundreds of  torrents, invisible reefs and shoals, at each of them the boat trackers would have to disembark the boat and to manually steer or pull the boat to course.  To reduce the fiction of the pressure from the rope and their clothing, the boat trackers prefer to work naked.  In winter time they will rub their body with a layer of lard to prevent froze bite by the freezing water.  Since the introduction of other means of transport and Three Gorges project the necessity of the boat trackers are longer.

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