Chinese Junks on the Pacific: Views from a Different Deck by Hans Konrad Van Tilburg. Gainesville. University Press of Florida. paperback. 288 pages. June 2013. A volume in the series New Perspectives on Maritime History and Nautical Archaeology, edited by James C. Bradford and Gene A. Smith. 6 x 9. 55 b/w illus. 9780813049212.
FROM THE PUBLISHER -
‘It is Van Tilburg’s goal to broaden our understanding of Chinese nautical technology, to explore the evolution of Chinese vessels between the fifteenth and nineteenth centuries, to investigate the differences between Chinese and Western ships and, in the absence of historical documents, to read the vessels themselves as cultural artefacts [sic] or texts that contain historical information regarding their construction and functions that would otherwise be lost to history.’ —International Journal of Maritime History ‘Treats surviving ships as living records of China’s pre-modern shipbuilding and shipping practices at an archaeological and anthropological juncture. This is a welcome move in scholarship.’ - Mariner’s Mirror ‘By focusing on the voyage of ten junks that crossed the Pacific between 1905 and 1989. [Van Tilburg] reveals the multifarious history behind these vessels and the stereotypes held by an intrigued American public witnessing their arrival.’—Bulletin of the Pacific Circle.
Hans Konrad Van Tilburg, maritime heritage coordinator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, is the author of A Civil War Gunboat in Pacific Waters: Life on Board USS Saginaw.