As a gateway to the museum, ten primitive boats are displayed to start the area’s presentation of the development of vessels. In ancient times, people made boats to fish, cross bodies of water and transport goods, often using readily found materials like wood, bamboo, straw and skin that are hollowed out or tied, woven or sewn together. Such locally and basically constructed, age-old forms of vessels are referred to as primitive boats. Being practical and simple to build, they are still in use in many places today.
Before the appearance of engine-powered ships, men have sailed in wind-propelled vessels for thousands of years. Many types of sailing ships have been developed in the West, ranging from small to large in size, having one or several masts, a square rig or a fore-and-aft rig. The advancement of sailing ships in the West allowed people to move from inland and coastal waters to the open ocean, and in the 16th-century Age of Discovery, explorers voyaged to distant parts of the world, linking the East and West in trade. The models displayed here are mostly of 15th-19th century European and American sailing ships, including the Koch, caravel, carrack, barque, clipper and schooner.
The remarkable achievement of the ancient Chinese in overseas trading is inseparable from the fact that they had exceptionally strong ships. Chinese sailing ships can be roughly divided into two types: the keeled Fujian ship (Fu-chuan) has a pointed bow, pointed stern, and deep draught, and the keelless junk (Sha-chuan) has a square bow and shallow draught. Both were suitable for ocean-going, but the Fu-chuan was more popular for having better functions.
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