造船大師保持著澳門海上歷史的縮影

造船大師保持著澳門海上歷史的縮影

Master shipbuilder Tam Kam Chun is on a mission. Every day, the 71-year-old spends hours at an abandoned Macao shipyard, hunched over a table, hard at work. With only stray dogs for company and a single electric fan to keep him cool, he meticulously hand-crafts the sort of fishing boats that have been made here for generations.

船長(zhǎng)譚錦春正在執(zhí)行任務(wù)。每天，這位71歲的老人都要在廢棄的澳門船廠工作好幾個(gè)小時(shí)，彎著背，埋頭苦干。只有流浪狗作伴，只有一臺(tái)電風(fēng)扇讓他保持涼爽，他一絲不茍地手工制作這種世世代代在這里制造的漁船。

But none of his creations will ever set sail. In fact, Tam's boats are miniatures designed to preserve the city's disappearing heritage.

但他的任何作品都不會(huì)起航。事實(shí)上，譚的船是微縮模型，旨在保護(hù)這座城市正在消失的遺產(chǎn)。

"There is so much history in the fishing and shipbuilding industries," he says. "I make model boats to show the craftsmanship and the building process (and) to educate people."

“漁業(yè)和造船業(yè)有著悠久的歷史，”他表示。“我制作模型船是為了展示工藝和建造過程，并教育人們。”

For centuries, the shipping industry was at the heart of life in Macao, a former Portuguese colony that was transformed from a small fishing village to a major port. In recent years, however, casinos have taken over as the city's main source of income.

幾個(gè)世紀(jì)以來(lái)，航運(yùn)業(yè)一直是澳門的核心。澳門曾是葡萄牙的殖民地，后來(lái)從一個(gè)小漁村變成了一個(gè)重要港口。然而，近年來(lái)，賭場(chǎng)已成為該市的主要收入來(lái)源。

And with mainland China able to produce state-of-the-art metal fishing vessels, quicker and at lower costs, demand for traditional wooden boats all but disappeared.

隨著中國(guó)大陸能夠生產(chǎn)最先進(jìn)的金屬漁船，速度更快，成本更低，對(duì)傳統(tǒng)木船的需求幾乎消失了。

No new boats have been made here since 2006. Not full-sized ones, at least.

自2006年以來(lái)，這里沒有制造過新船。至少不是全尺寸的。

Tam's makeshift studio lies in an abandoned shipyard in Macao's Lai Chi Vun village. The space, which is crumbling at its edges having endured several of the region's worst tropical storms.

譚的臨時(shí)工作室位于澳門荔枝灣村的一個(gè)廢棄船廠。在經(jīng)歷了該地區(qū)幾次最嚴(yán)重的熱帶風(fēng)暴后，這個(gè)空間處在崩潰的邊緣。

But for Tam, it's not just the place where he worked when he was young, it's also the place where he can remember the boom times for the industry.

但對(duì)于譚來(lái)說，這不僅是在他年輕時(shí)工作的地方，還是讓他能夠回憶起這個(gè)行業(yè)的繁榮時(shí)期得地方。

Tam believes that the miniature boats he creates are more than just models.

譚認(rèn)為，他創(chuàng)造的微型船不僅僅是模型。

"The shipbuilding process is the same," he said. "The only difference is the tools used."

“造船過程是一樣的，”他說。“唯一的區(qū)別是使用的工具。”

The complex techniques and precision required mean that Tam can spend up to 700 hours building a single boat, and will spend three months on each miniature on average.

復(fù)雜的技術(shù)和精度要求意味著譚要花費(fèi)700個(gè)小時(shí)來(lái)建造一艘船，平均每個(gè)微型船將花費(fèi)3個(gè)月的時(shí)間。

"At our age, our eyes are not so good," he adds, "so we are slower and can hardly see when it gets very dark... the small parts require more effort."

“在我們這個(gè)年紀(jì)，我們的眼睛不是很好，”他補(bǔ)充說，“所以我們行動(dòng)比較慢，天黑的時(shí)候幾乎看不見……小的部分需要更多的努力。”

There is no room for error, with almost every component supporting another.

幾乎每個(gè)組件都支持另一個(gè)組件，因此不允許出現(xiàn)錯(cuò)誤。

"It's just like a human body -- every part is important. If you don't have hands or feet, you can't eat or walk. No one part is more important than the other -- without each part, the boat cannot be completed."

“它就像一個(gè)人的身體——每個(gè)部分都很重要。如果你沒有手或腳，你就不能吃或走。沒有一個(gè)部分比另一個(gè)部分更重要——沒有每個(gè)部分，船就不能完成。”

In 2018, Macao's government recognized this shipyard as a cultural heritage site. But the future of this craft -- and the culture surrounding it -- is dependent on the next generation, he says.

2018年，澳門政府將這個(gè)船廠列為文化遺產(chǎn)。但他表示，這項(xiàng)技術(shù)的未來(lái)——以及圍繞它的文化——取決于下一代。