The last Sampan doctor

Would you have thought that fishing boats need doctors too? Before the break of day, Mr. Blackdog, ‘the Sampan Doctor’, has already began seeing ‘patients’ on the banks of the Tamsui River. With the gradual silting up of the river over the years, the local fishing industry has undergone a huge transformation, with many of the fishermen slowly turning their hand to making boats for the tourist industry. Mr. Blackdog has been making boats since he was just 17; following on in his father’s footsteps. Although this is exhausting work, however come rain or shine, Mr. Blackdog insists on continuing to maintain this important service for local fishermen. Mr. Blackdog’s workshop is located off a small alley within the local mangrove forest. It’s quite astonishing that within such an ordinary little workshop is concealed deep technical skills; a place where boats are literally resurrected from the dead.

Mr. Blackdog’s deep love of the fishing boats inspired him to manufacture a series of model boats, each and every one the exact replica of the real thing, and the process involved to make them, equally as grueling. The fishing customs here were inherited from Mainland China, and the eyes painted onto the Sampan boats became a special characteristic of the area. Mr. Blackdog’s deep emotional ties with the sea are seen in his insistence that the whole process is 100 percent handmade. Today, Sampan ‘doctors’ are few and far between, and the young generation is simply unwilling to study this skill, marking the inevitable demise of the age-old traditional skill. The thought of losing this art fills Mr. Blackdog with great sadness, and so he continues to develop and promote the Sampan culture.

The last Sampan doctor

URL: http://www.peopo.org/news/82720

(以下是中文對照)

 
末代舢舨醫生 ( 奶昔 )

照片

你有想過漁船也需要看醫生嗎?!天色還沒亮，舢舨醫生黑狗師就已經在淡水河邊「看診」了。隨著淡水河道逐漸淤積，漁業開始轉型，許多會修漁船的人，紛紛轉而 投入製造觀光遊艇。黑狗師從17歲就開始做船，他傳承了老父親的技術，儘管風吹日曬，非常辛苦，他仍堅持為淡水的漁船服務。黑狗師的工作室在紅樹林旁的小 徑，在這看似平凡的小空間裡，卻擁有很深的學問，更是賦予船隻新生命的地方。黑狗師憑著對漁船的濃厚情感，打造出一艘艘的模型船，製造過程一點也不輸給做 大船時的認真態度。淡水的漁船承襲了大陸的風俗，有眼睛的舢舨船成為了當地一大特色。黑狗師堅持以純手工製作，紀念不同時期的淡水漁船，以表達他對大海的 情感。今日舢舨醫生已越來越少，很少年輕人願意來學習，對於這項技術的逐漸沒落，黑狗師深感可惜與不捨，只希望將來能夠傳承下去，繼續發揚舢舨文化。

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