No money for land in China? Fly or swim (6 photos)

This village chose to float, that is, to build their houses on stilts or floating in bays. Of course, it was not today’s China that evicted them there, but the rulers almost a thousand years ago. But now the inhabitants of the “water world” do not know how to live on land. And they don't want to.





The town of Saduao, in Fujian province, is literally an atoll city that actually drifts on the water. The houses here are built mainly from bamboo using traditional technologies, which is why they are very light and floating. To make the houses “sustainable,” they are placed on bamboo pontoons, and plastic canisters are added underneath. This is a modern engineering improvement!



You can’t get anywhere here on foot, you even have to swim to your neighbor

The history of the town is lost, presumably, the inhabitants simply escaped from constant raids, wars, and in times of peace - from new taxes. If you don't have land, you have nothing to pay tax on.

Saduao swims in a quiet bay where there are almost never high waves, so residents never get seasick.





There are boats here, both old flat boats and modern boats

If you don't sail to city hall, city hall will sail to you

Everything here floats on bamboo rafts! Because these are not water gypsies, but a real respected city.



You can’t go anywhere here without a boat. Each family has several

Literally everything stands on bamboo rafts here - the police station, grocery stores, restaurants, cafes. A souvenir shop has been set up for tourists; there are plenty of people who want to swim to the town.

“We have nothing to do on the other side”

Residents of the city do not like to go ashore, because... there is nothing to do. Locals eat fishing, raise shellfish, and sometimes sell souvenirs. If you need something, you can order it in a store or online.



See white canisters everywhere? They are purchased by residents directly on an industrial scale. Floating is too painful!

That’s why from a bird’s eye view the city looks so checkerboard-structured. These are all fishing grounds and fishing nets. The yellow gorse is bred here on an almost industrial scale.

However, even sailing away from everyone did not help during the Second World War and the Japanese bombing. Many buildings were destroyed by bombs, so the houses here are relatively “young”; there are no buildings older than 60 years. Although there used to be floating huts that were hundreds of years old (with repairs, of course, replacing wood).



Have you seen Chinese water agriculture? Looks very technologically advanced

I don’t just want to visit such a city, but to live for a couple of weeks. This is where you find real zen, where it doesn’t matter what’s going on on the big continent. This is their problem, not the inhabitants of the Water World.