Historical Studies (Chinese Edition)

No.3, 2015

 

People “Living on the Water” in Coastal Regions in Middle Antiquity

(Abstract)

 

Lu Xiqi

 

In the literature of the Han, Jin and Northern and Southern Dynasties, the term “sea people” (海上人) referred to groups active on the coastal regions or islands. Most of those who roamed along the coastal waters, rearing birds to help their fishing, were beyond the control of the imperial state. In the Tang Dynasty, the sea people of the southeast coastal regions were called “you ting zi” (游艇子 boatmen). Those who were registered officially were called “yi hu” (夷户 barbarian households), and those who were conscripted for corvee labor were called “bai ding bian shui zhe” (白丁便水者 civilian seamen) or “bai shui lang” (白水郎 fishermen). The “Story of the Conch Girl” and legends recounting the advent of the goddesses from the sea by boat, including “Sacred Mother of Dongling,” and “Sacred Maiden from the Eastern Sea,” reflect the historical process by which the sea people gradually settled on land. Stories like “Floating Luofu Mountain” were metaphors for migration along the coast. Among the coastal dwellers, “going to sea” referred to going beyond the reach of the government; “floating at sea” referred to living on houseboats and catching and breeding fish; and “going ashore” meant being registered on various government records. Together, these three constituted the basic way of life of coastal dwellers during middle antiquity.