INGENIEUR
Between 1840 and 1938 , as international trade started to flourish in China , sheepskin rafts and raft-men played important roles in trading and ferrying passengers along the Yellow River .
INGENIEUR
Between 1840 and 1938 , as international trade started to flourish in China , sheepskin rafts and raft-men played important roles in trading and ferrying passengers along the Yellow River .
used them to ferry men and supplies during the war . It was used later as a convenient water transportation mode along the Yellow River .
Between 1840 and 1938 , as international trade started to flourish in China , sheepskin rafts and raft-men played important roles in trade and provided ferry sevices for goods and passengers along the Yellow River . During that period , they were mostly used to transport goods like leather , hookah , and wool from the northwest region of China to its east coast .
The mid 20 th century witnessed the decline of the sheepskin transportation mode due to the wider use of boats and other more sturdy motorised vessels which are more convenient and safer to ply along the Yellow River .
For tourism and cultural purposes , these rafts are still being used in Lanzhou and some other parts of Yellow River for ferrying tourists along the river .
During the Second World War , the Japanese army blocked the military supplies of the Chinese army along Jialing River . Lanzhou Sheepskin Raft Chamber of Commerce sent two skilled workers to Chongqing city to make sheepskin rafts that were later used to carry military supplies and soldiers across the river . Sheepskin rafts are thus considered an important contribution to the Chinese army counter offensive to the Japanese army during the Sino-Japanese war and a symbol of Chinese patriotism .
Construction of Sheepskin Raft
The sheepskin raft consists of the wooden raft as a platform with a number of bloated sheepskin bags tied below it to stay afloat . The wooden raft is usually made from willow wood to form a rectangular platform tied rigidly with the sheepskin bags .
For the sheepskin bags , the raft-makers will select sheep in November , when the animals are fat and have thicker skins . After butchering them , they will use rapeseed oil to season the skin and make it water-resistant . The skins will then be dried during the following spring and summer , when they turn yellow and transparent . Following that , the skins are then sewn into bags .
The sheepskin bags are inflated by mouth only as there will be more moisture in the air to give the bags a longer life . Experienced boatmen can blow up a sheepskin bag within 30 seconds , while for others it may take about 20 minutes . The shaving and cutting of the sheepskin is the most difficult part as one small careless scratch can render the whole skin useless .
On the average , one sheepskin bag can be used for three to four years . Every day the boatmen will take each sheepskin raft out of the water and dry it in the sun . Before putting the rafts back into water , they have to blow into the sheepskin bags to make sure every bag is ready for use .
Every month , the rafters also prepare a mixture of salt water and linseed oil to moisturise the interior of the sheepskin bags . They use about 500g of the mixture per bag .
According to one sheepskin raft boatman who has been in the business for more than 40 years , it is hard to find any successors in the future for this trade . Many elders in this industry have passed away and young people are not keen to pick up this trade because it is smelly and filthy when making sheepskin bags . This trade and skill may be lost after his generation . Beginners are discouraged by the smell of sheepskin , akin to “ rotten meat ”, during the processing process , plus the tedious daily maintenance work .
The building of sheepskin rafts was listed as an Intangible Heritage in Ningxia in 2009 .
REFERENCE China Daily , Xinhua
68 VOL 95 JULY-SEPTEMBER 2023