How greed made the Vietnamese swim in baskets (5 photos)

All fishermen have boats, and half of the Vietnamese have thung chai. Which literally means "fishing basket". These vessels really do look like large wicker baskets, at first it even seems that they were just made to attract tourists, so that they would be more fun to ride.





But in fact, no, this basket has been in Vietnamese culture for at least 170 years. It is so deeply ingrained in the culture of the Vietnamese that many do not even like to sail on ordinary "bowed" boats. And this design of fishing boat appeared ... for the sake of economy. Or out of greed, depending on how you look at it.

The history of basket boats

The history of French colonization of Vietnam began in the 1850s. It became part of the colonial empire, and was immediately taxed in all sorts of ways. And since the French saw that Vietnamese people almost always ate from the sea and fishing, they decided to tax the most important part of life - fishing.



Homemade fishing boats made of bamboo

But the tax was not taken from the volume of the catch, but from each boat that belonged to the fishermen. In order to avoid taxing transport and other watercraft, the French have described in great detail in the tax law what exactly the tax should be issued for.

Namely: it should be a double-breasted watercraft with a sharp nose. The Vietnamese, no fools, have come up with the idea of ​​making boats that are not at all like typical fishing boats - without a nose at all! Round!





A Vietnamese woman takes a tourist boy for a ride and teaches him a special scheme for steering and rowing a round boat

As soon as a round boat was seen one day at sea... a month later half of the fishermen were using them, just to avoid paying extra taxes to the colonists. And the Vietnamese were really inspired by the fish baskets in which they stored their catch.

The tax authorities couldn't do anything about it, because the Vietnamese said that these were just big baskets for storing fish!

What are round boats made of



But modern boats look like auntie's basins after washing

It turned out that they were not expensive to make. Thung chai boats are made of dried bamboo, which was then coated with resin so that the bottom would not leak. It was very light in weight, much lighter than a wooden boat, which is why the locals loved it - it was easy to drag alone.

That's why even when the colonial problems receded, the Vietnamese did not want to give up such convenient boats. It turned out that you can learn to control them quite quickly, and there is a lot of space inside, only advantages. It almost never capsizes on the waves, and you don't need to take things out of it on dry land, you can drag it home right on the sand.



A funny leaky version

Today, even the industry produces thung chai boats in Vietnam, made of plastic and fiberglass - and they are in great demand in the country.