What is a kyay boat?

What is a kyay boat? The kyay boat is a non-motorized rectangular flat-bottomed boat, usually fixed to the shore. It was originally used only as a floating dock for loading and unloading goods or passengers, and later used for commercial, recreational and aquatic school purposes. A pontoon (pinyin dǐnchuán) is a rectangular flat-bottomed non-self-propelled boat.

What is a kyay boat?

 

 

A kyay boat is a non-powered rectangular flat-bottomed boat, usually moored to the shore. Initially used only as a floating dock for loading and unloading cargo or passengers, it later served commercial, recreational, and educational purposes. A pontoon (pinyin dǐnchuán) is a rectangular flat-bottomed, non-self-propelled boat without a power plant. It is usually moored to the shore and serves as a "floating dock" for ships to berth, passengers to embark and disembark, and cargo to be loaded and unloaded. Early kyay boats were typically 40 to 50 meters long, or even hundreds of meters, including lower-level compartments, with a total of three to four decks, known as a waterborne "giant". The boats were fully equipped, combining storage, trade, and living spaces. These kyay boats and islands are all at sea; they are a combination of land and water.

 

Barges are mainly used as wharf platforms, for cargo transfer, or as cross-sea passages. As they usually have no power plant, movement relies on tugboats or other external forces. Barges will be equipped with a crane arm for hoisting and transferring cargo from ships unable to dock. Before the Opium War, foreign illegal traders used barges to transport harmful goods. Illegal British and American merchants would transport harmful goods to barges for storage. Each barge could carry approximately 1000 boxes of dangerous goods. Chinese merchants would collect goods from the barge according to the bill of lading and then charter crab boats to transport them back to the Guangzhou Da Jiao Tou port for resale. As harmful goods became more prevalent, foreign traffickers changed their practices, directly transporting harmful goods from the barge to buyers onshore. After the Xinhai Revolution of 1911, with the continued shrinkage of China's opium goods, kyay boats, due to their simple structure, large size, and low cost, were particularly suitable for smooth passage in the lower reaches of the Pearl River. They integrated into the water city circle of the Pearl River Basin, serving as floating docks, kyay boats, liquor stores, restaurants, amusement parks, cargo bars, waterside hotels, clubs, offices, etc.

 

In earlier years, there were hundreds of merchant ships in Jiangmen, Foshan, Zhaoqing, Jiujiang, Wuzhou, Liuzhou, Nanning, and other places. In earlier years During this period, Wuzhou, Xijiang Town, had a population of over 200,000. River blockage led to urban development on both sides of the mountains. Subsequently, various pontoons and kyay boats were utilized, leading to the development of the wide river and creating the famous prosperous "water city" scene. Trade and urban residents shifted along the river embankment and the central waterway to the Yangtze River, known as "Little Hong Kong." In the early days of liberation, on the Pearl River in Guangzhou, the government converted three to four "water schools" (and some on land) from old kyay boats. These schools were converted from old kyay boats, each floor having wooden stairs and two to three classrooms. The top floor had a railing floor, a library, and a "deck playground" for children to play. The classroom roofs were made of tin, and the walls were thin. These water schools were moored in areas where boat people lived, allowing children to attend school nearby.