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Shipbuilders in Ming Dynasty

Shipbuilders (船匠) in the Ming Dynasty(1368~1644) where not the same as the shipbuilders in other Chinese dynasty because of the accumulated experiences for hundreds of years and two rapid changes in Ming Dynasty. Basically, shipbuilders in Ming Dynasty mostly work for the government, under command of ministry of public works(工部).

Early Ming (1368~1476)

During early time in Ming Dynasty, the policy toward sailing was open. It is during this time that Yongle Emperor Zhu Di(永乐大帝朱棣) send Zheng He(郑和) and hundreds of ships to South East Asia, India, Mid East and finally Eastern Africa to build relationships with over thirty countries. After Zhu Di’s death, his son Ming Renzong Zhu Gaochi(朱高炽) and grandson Zhu Zhanji(朱瞻基), although they didn’t emphasize navigation, they were not against navigation. This led to highly commercialization and increased numbers of trade. Large numbers of ships were built to meet the demand. "A fleet of 62 ships of this size(the number of ships given in the MING shi for the first voyage) would have required about 1,525,200 trees. Moreover, this ships would have lasted only about ten years before they had to be completely rebuilt. This would have included not only fir, but also more expensive and exotic woods of teak and cedar for parts of the ships requiring extra strength, such as rudders and tillers."

The famous Ming expeditions that were accommodated by Zheng He required large numbers of labor. The Ming expeditions numbered as many as 300 ships and 28,000 men.The shipbuilders were brought from different places from China including Zhe Jiang(浙江),Jiang Xi(江西)，Fu Jian(福建)，Hu Guang(湖广). They gathered at the shipyard in Nanjing. One of the most famous shipyards was called Long Jiang Shipyard(龙江船厂). The Long Jiang Shipyard was located in Nanjing near the Treasure Shipyard where the ocean -going shipyard was built. The shipbuilders could built 24 models of ships. They were all different in sizes.

There were several types of ships: Sha Chuan(沙船), Fu chuan(福船)and treasure ships(宝船). The type of Zheng He’s treasure ships were regarded as Sha Chuan types, mainly because they were made in the treasure shipyard in Nanjing. Sha Chuan, or ‘sand- ships’, are ships used primarily for inland transport. Fu Chuan were sharp- bottomed, and that this made them fairly stable and easy to control while sailing along narrow and reef- laden sea- routes.But, in recent years, more researchers agree that the treasure ships were more of the Fu type. “It is said in vol.176 of ‘San Guo Bei Meng Hui Bian(三朝北盟汇编)’ that ships made in FuJian are the best ones” . Therefore, best shipbuilders and labor were brought from places that built the best ships to support Zheng He’s expedition.

The shipyard was under the command of ministry of the public works (工部). The shipbuilders had no control over their lives. The builders, commoner’s doctors, cooks and errands were the ones with the lowest social status. They were forced to move away from their hometown to build the best ships. So, there were two major ways to enter the shipbuilder occupation. One was the family tradition, and the other one was apprenticeship. If a shipbuilder entered the occupation due to family tradition, the shipbuilder learned the techniques of shipbuilding from his family and very likely to earn a higher status spot in the shipyard. Also, he had network that could help the shipbuilder to find clients. If a shipbuilder entered the occupation in apprenticeship way, this meant that this shipbuilder was likely a farmer before he was hired as a shipbuilder or he was previously an experienced shipbuilder.

To many shipbuilders working in the shipyard, they were mostly forced into the occupation. For Zheng He and his 28,000 men that followed him to the expedition, the ships needed to be waterproof, solid, safe and be able to fill lots of merchandise. Therefore, due to the highly commercialized society that was being encouraged by expeditions, trades and government policies, the shipbuilders mainly needed acquire skills to build ships that have great isolation and waterproof.

Even though there is still fierce disagreement among scholars on this subject nowadays. Those who argue that Zheng He's ships were 44 Zhang long and those who believe they were 2,000 liao in size both prove that ships during Ming were extremely large in scale. Shipbuilding required lots of resources.

Shipbuilding was not the only demand on China;as forests at that time; the new capital was being built in Beijing from approximately 1407 onwards, which also required huge amounts of high- quality wood. Thus the effect of just these two of Emperor Yongle's ambitious projects on the environment and the economy, even if the ships were half the dimensions given in the Ming Shi, was enormous, not to mention the pressure on the infrastructure which would have been required to transport the trees from their point of origin.

Shipbuilders were usually divided into different groups and had separate jobs. Some were responsible for fixing old ships; some were responsible for making the keel and some were responsible for building the helm.

• It was the keel that determined the shape and the structure of the hull of Fu Chuan Ships. The keel is the middle of the bottom of the hull, constructed by connecting three sections; stern keel, main keel and poop keel. The hull spreads in the arc towards both sides forming the keel.

• The helm was the device that controls direction when sailing. It was a critical invention in shipbuilding technique in ancient China and was only used by Chinese for a fairly long time. With a developing recognition of its function, the shape and configuration of the helm was continually improved by shipbuilders. The shipbuilders not only needed to build the ship according to design, but needed to acquire the skills to improve the ships.

  Late Ming(1478~1644)

      After 1477 until the end of the Ming in 1644, the Ming government stayed negative toward navigation. During this period, the Chinese navigation technology did not make any progress and even declined in some aspect. By 1553, only 120 years after the end of the voyages when the Treatise was written, the specification for the long- distance sailing ships had already been forgotten.