Chinese Junks on the Pacific: Views from a Different Deck (New Perspectives on Maritime History and Nautical Archaeology)

Van Tilburg, Hans Konrad

ISBN 10: 0813049210 / ISBN 13: 9780813049212

Published by University Press of Florida, 2013

About this Item

Num Pages: 288 pages, black & white illustrations. BIC Classification: HDD; JHM. Category: (G) General (US: Trade). Dimension: 229 x 156 x 19. Weight in Grams: 452. . 2013. 3rd Edition. Paperback. . . . . Books ship from the US and Ireland.

Seller Inventory # V9780813049212

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Chinese Junks on the Pacific: Views from a Different Deck (New Perspectives on Maritime History and Nautical Archaeology)
• Publisher: University Press of Florida
• Publication Date: 2013
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0813049210
• ISBN 13: 9780813049212
• Binding: Soft cover
• Edition: 3rd Edition
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

From a Western perspective, junks were among the most mysterious vessels ever to sail the open seas. Offering more than just history, Chinese Junks on the Pacific focuses on ten ships, such as the Whang Ho, Ning Po, and Amoy, that sailed to the United States in the early twentieth century. Hans Van Tilburg examines why these ships, some of the last commercial sailing junks of China, came to the West, what they represented, and why we are only now beginning to understand East Asian seafaring. Crowds gathered in San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Portland to welcome the ships with a mixture of surprise and derision. In the era of the steamship, these were quaint, unwieldy constructions fashioned to look like sea monsters and bizarre objects of fancy. But they were also traveling cultural objects. Some served as floating museums, displaying grisly weaponry and other artifacts. The arrival of these vessels allowed Western observers a rare glimpse of a littleknown yet sophisticated maritime technology and seafaring culture.

Combining history with ethnology, anthropology, maritime archaeology, and nautical technology, Van Tilburg provides a window into the lives of Chinese seafarers, their transpacific experiences, and a critical look at our own crosscultural perceptions. He draws on a wide range of newspaper sources, secondary texts, nautical treatises, archaeological site work, rare historical photos and sketches, and the personal testimony of the sailors themselves to view these junks not only as transport vehicles but as complex cultural artifacts that “speak” of a distant seafaring past and intimate cultural ties to the sea.

About the Author

Hans Konrad Van Tilburg, maritime heritage coordinator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, is the author of A Civil War Gunboat in Pacific Waters: Life on Board USS Saginaw.