Sampan

A sampan (Chinese: 舢舨; pinyin: shānbǎn; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: sam-pán) is a relatively flat bottomed Chinese wooden boat. Some sampans include a small shelter on board, and may be used as a permanent habitation on inland waters. Sampans are generally used for transportation in coastal areas or rivers, and are often used as traditional fishing boats. It is unusual for a sampan to sail far from land as they do not have the means to survive rough weather.

The word "sampan" comes from the original Hokkien term for the boats, 三板 (sam pan), literally meaning "three planks". The name referred to the hull design, which consists of a flat bottom (made from one plank) joined to two sides (the other two planks). The design closely resembles Western hard chine boats like the scow or punt.

Sampans may be propelled by poles, oars (particularly a single, long sculling oar called a yuloh) or may be fitted with outboard motors.

Sampans are still in use by rural residents of Southeast Asia, particularly Malaysia, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Burma (Myanmar) and Vietnam.

Sampan (film)

Sampan aka San-Ban is a 1968 film which was the first feature directed, written and co-produced by Terry Bourke. The film was successful at the box office.

Plot

In Hong Kong, the owner of a sampan has two sons, one good and one bad. One son falls in love with his stepmother.

Production

The script was written by Bourke, who was working as a journalist in Hong Kong, He met Gordon Mailloux who agreed to produce.

References

According to Mailoux, the film was the most successful movie made in Hong Kong that year. Bourke claimed the movie contained the first naked scene in Chinese cinema. It was banned in Taiwan.

External links

Sampan (newspaper)

Sampan is a newspaper based in Chinatown in Boston, Massachusetts. It is New England's only bilingual Chinese and English newspaper. The newspaper was founded in 1972 by volunteers of the Asian American Civic Association, then known as the Chinese American Civic Association; its slogan is "Boston's oldest bilingual Chinese-English newspaper since 1972". It is distributed throughout Greater Boston and covers news of Boston's Chinatown as well as the Greater Boston Asian American community.

A sampan is a flat-bottomed wooden boat, still used today in parts of Southeast Asia for fishing, transportation or even habitation. It is a metaphor, which symbolizes that this newspaper would bring news of the Chinese community, in both Chinese and English, around the city of Boston, providing a means to acquire information about the community to non-English speakers as well as non-Chinese speakers.

Sampan primarily reports on the news of Chinatown and Asian Americans of Greater Boston. As a free, nonprofit newspaper, Sampan makes its profit almost entirely by advertisements.