(QNO) - For thousands of years, Ghe Bau (wooden sailing boat) has been always a faithful friend of many Vietnamese families. Their families, their life and their business along the rivers and in the seas and their Ghe Bau is one. About 5 centuries ago, Ghe Bau created an eventful time in business of Hoi An city and Quang land. Therefore, they were called “the flying wooden craft in the sea”…
 |
| An old Ghe Bau model. |
When visiting Hoi An Ancient Town of Quang Nam province, many tourists stopped at the Hoi An Trading Ceramic Museum (80 Tran Phu street, Hoi An city). Many objects being displayed over here made them happy and identified the important role of Hoi An port in the ceramic business network - “The Silk Road on the sea” at one time. When entering the museum, the first image in your eyes is a Ghe Bau model which is made by artisan Huynh Ry of Kim Bong carpentry craft village.
In the decade 1930-1940, people in Quang Nam province often saw the Ghe Bau groups of Thanh Chau, Cam Pho, Thanh Ha, Son Pho, Ban Thach, Duy Vinh trading associations setting sails toward the sea for many days, long trading trips. Most of their cargoes were local products such as areca, cinnamon, sugar, forestry, agricultural and aquatic products, rattan and bamboo commodities… When sailing back, they bought rice, salt, fish sauce, ceramic… for daily use and selling. According to an old document, with the transporting capacity of 40-100 tones per one, in this period, 120 Ghe Bau of Hoi An city transported about 34,000 tone of various products every year.
 |
| A Ghe Bau made following the old one model to serve tourists in Hoi An city. |
May be you will be surprised with these numbers. But it was reality. According to many elders, Ghe Bau is a normal boat made from wood, but with two or three sails attached to catch the wind and a body divided into many small cabins, it could carry much cargoes and move in high speed in the sea. Especially, based on “cutting wind and waves” moving method, Ghe Bau had a better feature in compare with other regional boats when moving in the opposite direction of wind. About the name, many fishermen said that “Ghe Bau” term came from its “oval shape”, but other ones showed that it was called after another pronunciation from the word Prau (it meant boat) of Malaysian language.
At (In) one time, the traditional carpentry craft villages of Hoi An city such as Tra Quan, Tra Nhieu, Kim Bong… were famous places of “Flying boats” production. Today, this prosperous job ended. New comfortable boats with modern machines, high transporting capacity and high speech have replaced old Ghe Bau. Many joung people, however, have still been proud of their forefathers’ occupation. In their mind now is only an old “Ghe Bau” kept carefully in their house or in local museums…
 |
| Mr Tran Dai with his Ghe Bau at Hoai river. |
Before and after liberation days, many researchers have studied about Ghe Bau to maintain old folk knowledge and experience of making and selling this traditional products. In 2011, under Vietnamese Folk Literature Association’s support, a deeply research master plan on “Ghe Bau in the cultural life of Hoi An city- Quang Nam province” was carried out and then published by the Hoi An Cultural Heritages Management and Preservation Center. This book gave us an enough image about the origine, name, features, shape, structure and the role of Hoi An Ghe Bau in local spiritual and cultural life.
“In past years, some fishermen living in Cua Dai water region discovered some Ghe Bau or some wooden pieces of Ghe Bau sunk under the bottom of Co Co and Thu Bon river. At present, many new Ghe Bau have sailed every day in Hoai river (Hoi An city) to serve tourists. It’s a happy news for us” - An said.
It’s seven years since the day going to Cua Dai, Trung Phuong and up to Cau Lau, Mr Tran Dai bought 3 old Ghe Bau. Some people said that he was “mad”, but now, he has a precious property to do tourism. Many tourists like to sightsee Hoi An ancient town, beautiful landscapes along two banks of Hoai and Thu Bon rivers and listen to music from Dai’s Ghe Bau…
By QUOC HAI
