History

The Junk is an ancient Chinese sailing vessel/ship design still in use today. Junks may have developed from the very early bamboo rafts, which had a high stern. Cro-magnon cave paintings on the Indo China coast show junk shaped double hull vessels.

Junks were developed during the Han Dynasty (206 BC – 220AD) and were used as seagoing vessels as early as the 2nd century AD. They evolved in the later dynasties, and were used throughout Asia for extensive ocean voyages. They were found, and in lesser numbers are still found, throughout South-east Asia and India, but primarily in China, perhaps most famously in Hong Kong. Found more broadly today is a growing number of modern recreational junk-rigged sailboats.

Classic junks were built of softwoods (although of teak in Guangdong) with the outside shape built first. Then multiple internal compartment/bulkheads accessed by separate hatches and ladders, reminiscent of the interior structure of bamboo were built in.

Traditionally, the hull has a horseshoe-shaped stern supporting a high deck. The bottom is flat in a river junk with no keel (similar to a sampan), so that the boat relies on a dagger board, leeboard, or a very large rudder to prevent the boat from slipping sideways in the water. Ocean going junks have a curved hull.