There is a poem that goes like this: “Who has been a hero? A farmer or a fisherman.”
Zhou Mai Sheng (Brother Sheng) is a man on the water. He was born and grew up on a fishing boat. He still lives on the sea at the age of 62, and fishes tirelessly with his wife. Brother Sheng only attended kindergarten for 3 months in his life – he did not grow up in an environment where he was required to study obediently. When he was only 6 years old, he had to travel long distances to land and catch a bus to go to school. No wonder he had no interest in studying. Although he only knew how to write his Chinese name, he raised four children and built a three-story building with his pimpled hands, and he had never done anything other than fishing.
In addition to taking care of his children, he, nicknamed “You Yi”, is very loyal to his relatives. He once sold a house to cash in and spent millions (HK dollars) to treat one of his daughters-in-law.
Brother Sheng’s fishing boat, which is also his residence, is anchored in the waters of Aberdeen. He was full of energy and spoke loudly because fishermen were used to shouting from the bow to the stern, and then from their boat to the opposite boat.
One of his boats is divided into two parts: the front is the lounge, which has an air conditioner, a bed, a TV, a bench, etc., and the back is a work area filled with fishing nets, protective clothing, plastic baskets, etc. The floor is made of fiber material, and the surface is covered with deep pits to allow sewage to drain away easily.
When the fisherman’s boat anchors at the shore, it usually faces east, because it cannot “turn west”. A bright red flag was planted on the bow of his boat with the words “Zhu Da Xian” written on it, which is the patron saint of fishermen.
However, the most eye-catching thing about the entire ship was the photo of him with his family. Wherever there were empty seats, these group photos were plastered. It can be seen from this how much Brother Sheng loves his family.
The story begins in the early 1960s when Brother Sheng was born on a boat. He recalled: “The boats in the past had no motors and had to rely on wind power to drive the boats. My mother was in labor for several hours and she gave birth to me before the boat could even sail back to the shore. At that time, our boat was probably in the waters of Macau. .”
He said it was difficult to say where he was from because “water people go everywhere… We are self-sufficient.” He has seven brothers and sisters in his family, and he is the eldest brother. Everyone on the water, male or female, must work on the boat.
Brother Sheng cannot write or read any words except his name. He only studied in kindergarten for 3 months of his life.
“Back then, the kindergarten I attended was in Shau Kei Wan. For example, if the boat docked in Aberdeen, I would have to go back to school by car and shuttle by myself. Naturally, I would not be interested in studying.”
When asked if he regretted anything now, he said: “There is nothing regrettable. Everyone was like that in those days.
“Oh, it’s very difficult for me to hold a pen…Except for my parents, I am the oldest in the family, so I have to help Lao Dou.”
Since then, he has been isolated from reading. “When I was twelve or thirteen years old, Lao Dou’s fingers on his left hand were broken by a machine and he couldn’t work. I took on the responsibility of running the house.”
Diving to pick up coins from no pocket money
What did Brother Sheng play on the boat when he was a kid?
“In the summer, we swim and dive. I can dive to a depth of five or six meters.”
He smiled and said: “Or sometimes we skip rope and catch beans (pronounced: drawing paper, that is, bean bags) with the children on the next boat. There are also many ghost guys on the big boats like Taibai and Huanggong (Seafood Fang) to entertain us, and from time to time Throw some ‘Dutch tops’ (bottle soda tops) or coins into the water and we’ll dive in and pick them up and play.”
His parents never gave them pocket money, so he relied on this method to make money. He bought snacks as soon as he landed ashore. Not only did he buy what he wanted to eat, but he also “buy what his younger siblings like to eat.”
When asked about his daily fishing work, he said: “We catch shrimps, tartar sharks, red shirts, squids… we have all kinds of fish. We usually go out to sea at night and return early in the morning.”
Doesn’t he sleep at night? “It’s not that we don’t sleep, it’s that the brothers and sisters take turns sleeping.”
“Since we sell fish in the morning to supply to restaurants and markets, and the fish needs to be fresh enough, we fish in the evening.”
He revealed that after selling fish, they would often mend the fishing nets before resting, and then go out to sea to fish again at night, and so on, over and over again.
It’s very cheap to have a few days of wedding banquet and eat seafood
Brother Sheng got married when he was 19 years old. The man from the floating family has a ritual when they get married, which is called “raising big characters”, that is, adding “zi” to “name” (ancient literati often did this operation, they were “Gone a name” in childhood, and then “chosen a character” in adulthood. This is what is meant by “the crown and the character”.
His character was “You Yi”, and a plaque was commemorated on the wedding day.
Mrs. Zhou is also a water person. “My wife has been living with me for a year.” Although the cabin’s seating area is not large, they divided it into two areas, and he and his wife each had one.
“Invite her to the theater…and then wait for their parents to agree.” Brother Sheng has a good memory, and he even remembers that they served drinks in a wine boat (or songtang boat) called Shen Ji.
“We set up 20 boats, divided into two boats. We had four or five meals in a row and set up wine for several days.”
Isn’t that expensive? “It’s very cheap. A big meal is only HK$800 per table. We usually have seafood.”
Do his guests want gift money? “Of course!” he shouted.
He rarely wears the gold ring he wore when he got married. “Fishermen don’t wear rings because they will get caught in the fishing nets.”
After marriage, Brother Sheng and his wife had three sons and one daughter. “They were all raised by my mother and sent ashore to take care of them. They are all studying. If my wife and I need to read documents, they help us. Our children are now married, and I have eight grandchildren!”
When the author shouted out loudly, Brother Sheng laughed several times: “Hey hey hey… two of them drive boats and the other one is a closed-circuit television electrician.”
Living on a boat all year round makes me most afraid of thunderstorms
When living on the boat, Brother Sheng said that the most difficult thing was encountering “Dashi Lake” (Shui Lao dialect), which was a thunderstorm.
“Modern people have mobile phones, and they can get the latest information from their mobile phones. In the old days, when there was no such information, we could only rely on the naked eye to see the sky. Southwest Shi Hu (a typhoon blowing southwesterly winds) was the strongest and there was radar. In the past, once haze appeared on the sea, would I just tell my brothers and sisters to pay attention to the sounds around them, in case other ships collided with them. Now, we have radar, and it will be much more convenient as long as the screen can display nearby ships.”
As for a person who lives on the sea, would he prefer the pain caused by summer or winter?
“Of course it’s summer, I sweat until…” he said with a sigh.
In the past, he would go out fishing late and return early. Now, Brother Sheng said with a smile that he has reached the sixth level and is not as competitive as when he was young. Now he usually sets the fishing net at 4 pm and leaves at around 7 pm.
“Depending on whether there are a lot of fish, if there are a lot of fish, it will probably last all night.”
Brother Sheng has been living on the boat since birth, but sometimes he goes ashore to stay with his elderly mother.
“She’s over eighty years old.” Brother Sheng doesn’t talk much and always answers long questions and short answers. He will not stay on the ship after retirement. “I will have to go ashore one day. It’s already very hard now. My wife’s feet hurt, and my hands and feet hurt. How many more years can I last?”
Treat your daughter-in-law as your own and spend huge sums of money on medical treatment
Many fishermen will apply for public housing after retiring. But you don’t have to worry about Brother Sheng. It turns out that the money he earned from fishing has been used to pay for the three-story building, and that was the first floor he bought after the SARS epidemic when property prices were low.
“I paid 10 cents! After that, I saved a little and saved up enough money to buy it again. At that time, the property price was cheap, and I could buy a house with more than one million yuan.”
He bought this 3-story building, with one room for his mother to live in, one room for his son to live in, and one room for rent.
At this time, someone at the interview site said: “You are already rich and don’t need to work anymore!”
I saw Brother Sheng replying in an understatement: “Oh, it’s too boring not to work. Buying a building is just for living, what’s the point of being prosperous!”
When asked what prompted him to buy a property, he did not hesitate to say that it was related to his children. “I have children…”
He patted his thigh and continued: “We are fishermen, and all the money we get back is blood and tears. Therefore, fishermen are most afraid of gambling. Many people in our industry go to play mahjong, and the stakes are huge!”
The shadow of his childhood also affected him, “When a new ship is put into the sea, you can’t move in immediately. It takes time to put in the equipment. When we were young, when we encountered this gap, we had to stay in other people’s places, such as setting up a temporary shed in an open space. Zi, open an umbrella, and the whole family can live there for 20 days to a month. At that time, my father was too poor.”
Brother Sheng doesn’t speculate in real estate. He only sold a house once. The reason was to cash out to treat his wife’s illness.
“She is a foreigner and suffered from gastric cancer. (She does not benefit from public medical care.) Therefore, she was taken to a private hospital for treatment. The medical expenses cost nearly one million Hong Kong dollars. All the money earned from selling the property was spent like this.”
When praising him for his affection and righteousness, he said: “I treat my wife as my daughter, and that’s how I behave.” Unfortunately, this daughter-in-law eventually died of cancer and passed away.
Now that he has three floors, why does Brother Sheng still live on the boat? “You can work as soon as you wake up…” He stretched and said, “I feel free and the air is good!”
I have never seen a water ghost in my life.
People on the water have some special festivals, among which the birthday of Zhu Da Xian is the largest, and Zhu Daxian is the patron saint of fishermen.
Brother Sheng said: “When Zhu Da Xian celebrates his birthday every year around March (lunar calendar), we burn clothes and eat fast – 7 meals in a row, which is 3 and a half days. We also offer sacrifices to Shui You. We spread some mustard greens (no need to boil them). , just cut into pieces) and put into the sea, and a temple will be built on the sea to perform rituals.”
When talking about gods, it is natural to talk about ghosts. Brother Sheng said that after living at sea for 60 years, he had never seen a water ghost.
When talking about the strangest experience, he said: “In the 1970s to 1990s when Vietnamese boat people poured into Hong Kong, we saw many refugee boats every day. Because the boat people were without water or food, we gave them some water and rice.”
However, not every ship is lucky enough to be rescued. He said that some experts had seen shipwrecks and even found human bones while trawling, and suspected that they were Vietnamese boat people whose bodies fell into the sea after their ship sank.
“They were only in small boats, which could easily be sunk by wind and waves.”
