The basic traditional Chinese ship style is the junk, a flexible design used in river and oceangoing vessels of various sizes. The design's predecessor seems to have been bamboo rafts, with flat ends and many internal compartments separated by bulkheads, a design that was easily adapted into a variety of easily maneuvered vessels; by the ninth century the junk was plying international waters in South and Southeast Asia. The use of multiple internal bulkheads created a series of watertight compartments that gave the junk further stability and seaworthiness. Older junks had no keels, relying on thick wales (planks) that ranalong the sides of the vessel to provide rigidity. River junks usually had only one mast, though space was provided for oars in the forward section, with cabins and other types of superstructures always placed aft of the mast. These vessels could reach up to forty-six meters in length, though most were between eleven and thirty meters long, and were used for all kinds of transportation. In certain areas where rapids or narrow channels caused difficulties in navigation, articulated or twisted ships were built, though the basic junk design was retained.
(WOLFGANG KAEHLER/CORBIS)" />A river junk on the Chang (Yangtze) River in the Three Gorges area. (WOLFGANG KAEHLER/CORBIS)
Articulated ships could also be adapted for military use; incendiary devices placed in the forward portions of the vessel, which was brought up to an enemy position, were uncoupled and left to explode. Oceangoing junks had a design very similar to that of river junks but could reach fifty-two meters or more in length. The design of both types of junk provides for the greatest width of the ship to be at the rear, in a conscious imitation of aquatic birds. Many ships were built without the use of metal, the artisans preferring to use wooden pins. The flat-bottomed design also allowed comparatively large ships to dock in shallow waters or navigate up relatively small rivers or canals. Propulsion for Chinese vessels could be by sails or oars, or a combination of both. Evidence of the first true rudder, connected to the ship by a post and balanced on an axis, can be found on tomb models of Chinese ships from the first century CE. Junks are still commonly used today.
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