Junk (ship)

The junk is a traditional Chinese sailing ship developed over more than a thousand years, distinguished by battened sails divided into rigid panels by bamboo strips, which let the crew reef or unfurl canvas quickly without climbing the rigging. Junks used a stern-mounted rudder and, on many hulls, watertight bulkheads dividing the hold into separate compartments, features that reached Western shipbuilding centuries later. Built in sizes ranging from small river and fishing craft to the enormous treasure ships associated with the early Ming dynasty maritime expeditions, junks served as the backbone of Chinese coastal and river trade, and variants were adopted throughout Southeast Asia. The type remained in everyday commercial and fishing use in Chinese and Hong Kong waters well into the twentieth century.