Water Life - Shui Min Yan

Everyone is attracted to water; about 90% of vacations away from home are spent near water, oceans, seas, rivers or lakes. Water is always associated with relaxation, in our dreams large bodies of water are said to represent the soul; the sound of crashing surf or lapping water on a river or lake is spiritually uplifting, the reasons for this may be many and varied. Of course we all need water to survive; our bodies are made of mostly water; the Earth is largely covered with the spiritual liquid; it may be that we have a special affinity with water because life itself began in water, on a personal level we were all born from water in the womb and on an ancient ancestral level we are all evolved from sea creatures.

The boat people of Hong Kong live virtually their entire lives on the water; in a quite corner of Aberdeen Harbour in Hong Kong around 6000 people live permanently on boats, their roughly repaired craft bob up and down in the breeze with white sails swaying gently and eternally from side to side; there are other collections of these sampans all around Honk Kong, their inhabitants totalling about 70,000. To an outsider the collection of boats may seem like a jumble of random wood, rigging and sails; but to the Shui Min Yan the sampans are a complete working city, a place to live out their whole lives. The families are mostly fisher folk but they have all kinds of livestock that are also kept on the boats; many still consider it unlucky to go on land and prefer to leave the land dwellers to their land dweller problems. The only time a Shui Min Yan would normally go on land would be to attend a funeral; sea burials are forbidden by the law so funeral ceremonies must take place on land.

Every amenity and system you’d expect to find in a city is catered for within the floating community; they have pharmacies, green grocers, butchers, a postal service and even schools where the children are taught all the main subjects with a special emphasis towards seafaring skills. The Shui Min Yan have open-air restaurants and bars; they even have a red-light district of sampans where ‘pleasure ladies’ work. The boats are filled with people and animals, with many colours, exciting aromas of cooking and spices; but inside each sampan visitors would find everything scrupulously clean and well kept, like the inside of a tidy apartment and, in some case, even equipped with satellite TV. The Shui Min Yan hardly ever go to hospital; diseases common to land dwellers like tuberculosis and other contagions are pretty much none-existent on the well-kept sampans and their water bound city. Most women give birth at home on their boat with a midwife and family around, where generations live together and help each other.

The boats are made from bamboo and their appearance is fragile; in reality they are amongst the sturdiest structures around, surviving the fiercest typhoons the South China Sea can throw at them. Like many fisherman around the world, the Shui Min Yan are very superstitious; every boat has a Buddhist or Taoist shrine, resplendent with incense sticks and paper flowers to bring protection and good fortune. During Chinese New Year, women make paper boats and lanterns and launch them across Hong Kong harbour, while the men stay at home and guard the shrine to aid their luck in fishing for the year ahead.

Any visitor to Hong Kong will notice the importance of water to its inhabitants; to get from Kowloon on mainland Hong Kong to Hong Kong Island most people still use the ferry services that are constantly shipping people across the harbour. The Hong Kong territory also consists of lots of little residential islands; all of which have their own ferry service to and from Hong Kong Island, these ferries are ideal for tourists to get a real look at Hong Kong life. The island ferries usually have someone serving hot noodles that come with chop sticks, so one can really take in the atmosphere, food and surroundings as the ferry chugs along to its destination across sparkling waters, all for a few pennies. Lantau Island is one of the favourite destinations for tourists from China and the West; it is home to the majestic Po Lin Monastery and the largest bronze Buddha in the world. There are also cheap sampan rides around the Shui Min Yan communities where one can visit the famous Jumbo floating restaurant.

Useful Reading:

Lonely Planet Hong Kong & Macau by Steve Fallon