The Great Voyage丨Sheepskin Raft on the Yellow River: Can sheepskin be “blown”?

Entering the Maritime History Museum of the China Maritime Museum, the first thing that catches the viewer's eye is a small yellow-brown sheepskin raft. This sheepskin raft model is made of 14 sheepskins stitched side by side.

Why “small”?

The reason why it is called a small model is that a large sheepskin raft is much larger than this model. It is said that a large sheepskin raft weighs about 20 tons, is more than ten meters long, and six or seven meters wide. It is made up of hundreds of leather bags and is mostly used for long-distance transportation. Small ones, such as the one exhibited in the museum, can be made up of dozens or even four or five leather bags. They are mostly used for short-distance transportation of vegetables from the suburbs to the city and for ferrying pedestrians on both sides of the river.

Tied sheepskin raft

How long is the history of sheepskin rafts?

The leather raft has a long history in my country. In ancient times, humans had a considerable understanding of buoyancy and tried to use buoyant objects such as tree trunks, gourds, and leather bags for wading activities. As an ancient means of transportation on the Yellow River, sheepskin rafts are mainly distributed in the route centered on Lanzhou in the Yellow River section of Gansu, Ningxia, and Qinghai. This distribution is mainly determined by the local geographical environment. The land transportation conditions in the upper reaches of the Yellow River are poor, and the cost of manpower land transportation is too high. At the same time, sheepskin is abundant in the northwest. "Sheepskin is used as a bag, blown up and floated on wood", which can be obtained locally. The advantages of sheepskin rafts are that the material is flexible and wear-resistant, the production is economical and simple, and it is light and practical, does not break when encountering reefs, has a shallow draft and a large load capacity. Therefore, it is widely used in the Yellow River water transportation and has played an important role as the only water transportation tool in this area for a long time. However, since this tool is used by ordinary people, there are few records of it in official archives, and most of them are stored in local historical records. These scattered historical materials provide important information for future generations to understand the specific form of sheepskin rafts and related shipping events.

Sheepskin rafts in Lanzhou during the Republic of China

The earliest time of the appearance of rafts is unknown, but according to the "Gaochang Biography" and "Wang Yande Biography" in the "History of Song Dynasty" and the "Heyuan Chronicle" of the Yuan Dynasty, there were rafts on the Yellow River west of Lanzhou at that time. After the Qing Dynasty, travel notes, paintings and photos about sheepskin rafts and cowhide rafts appeared in an endless stream, perhaps reflecting the history of the prosperity of raft shipping at that time. In the 1950s and 1960s, sheepskin rafts were also used for ferrying across the Yellow River. Today, sheepskin rafts are no longer used to carry goods, but are used as one of the local sightseeing projects and have become the first choice for tourists.

How to make a raft?

Different from the leather boats made of animal skins and covered on wooden frames in the Yarlung Zangbo River and Lhasa River areas of Tibet, the sheepskin raft is made of sheepskin bags that are inflated and tied to a wooden frame. The bags float on the water, and the frame carries people and goods.

When making a sheepskin raft, the skin is peeled off slowly from the neck of the sheep without any scratches, so that it can be inflated later. This process is called "huntuo". Therefore, the sheepskin raft is also called "huntuo". After the sheepskin is processed, the maker blows air through the holes in the sheep's legs with oil in his mouth, and puts salt water in to prevent leakage. Then the head, tail and limbs of the leather bag are tied tightly and dried in the sun, and it becomes the basic parts of the sheepskin raft. The leather bag after drying is transparent yellow-brown. After the above work is completed, the leather bags are tied under the square wooden frame one by one, and the leather raft is completed.

Does a sheepskin raft also have disadvantages?

Although the raft has many advantages in seaworthiness, it can only go downstream, "but not upstream". After the long-distance transportation of large sheepskin rafts, the raft workers have to dismantle the leather bags and dry them, hire camels to transport them back to the starting point, and then inflate and assemble them again when they are used; after the short-distance transportation of small rafts, the raft workers carry them back to the starting point on foot, so there is a local saying that "people who go down to the water ride on rafts, and people who go up to the water ride on rafts". Relatively speaking, the experience of taking a short-distance small raft is not a good one. In addition to the possibility of clothes being stained by oil on the raft, there is also the danger of inconvenience in turnover and easy to get wet by water. In 1937, the famous historian Mr. Gu Jiegang took a sheepskin raft in Lanzhou and wrote down the situation that "people sitting on luggage are inconvenient to turn around, and the waves rush sideways, soaking the clothes and shoes".

What is a rafter?

Rafting workers engaged in rafting are called "rafters" or "rafting sons" in the local area. When rafting workers accumulate experience to a certain stage and become experts, they are called "gorge masters" and can engage in the "gorge-turning" business of helping inexperienced rafting workers to sail out of the gorge. Most rafting workers come from the lower classes. They have been engaged in transportation work for many years, working very hard to support their families. It is precisely because of the difficult working conditions and hard life of rafting workers that they help each other and set up their own associations. For example, there was a rafting business association in Lanzhou during the Republic of China.

Raftsmen return with sheepskin rafts

When talking about sheepskin rafts, we have to mention Yellow River Flowers. Yellow River Flowers is a popular love song created by raft workers in the past to find joy in the hardship of carrying passengers and goods. It describes the beautiful scenery on the banks of the Yellow River and the love between lovers. The lyrics are beautiful and graceful, and are often sung by raft workers while working, expressing their expectations for a better life.

References

Sun Chunlong: "Sheepskin Rafts and Their Evolution", New West, No. 1, 2003

Jiang Hongyuan: "Years of Sheepskin Rafting", Shaanxi Archives, No. 6, 2011

Ren Shichen: Sheepskin Rafts on the Yellow River, China Photographer, No. 8, 2011

Wu Di, Li Xiaolin: "Sheepskin Rafts, Ancient Ferry, Bridge", Chinese Ethnic Group, No. 6, 2012

Shang Yan: "Research on the Verification and Development of Sheepskin Rafts", Master's thesis of Northwest University for Nationalities, 2016