造船大师保持着澳门海上历史的缩影

造船大师保持着澳门海上历史的缩影

Master shipbuilder Tam Kam Chun is on a mission. Every day, the 71-year-old spends hours at an abandoned Macao shipyard, hunched over a table, hard at work. With only stray dogs for company and a single electric fan to keep him cool, he meticulously hand-crafts the sort of fishing boats that have been made here for generations.

船长谭锦春正在执行任务。每天，这位71岁的老人都要在废弃的澳门船厂工作好几个小时，弯着背，埋头苦干。只有流浪狗作伴，只有一台电风扇让他保持凉爽，他一丝不苟地手工制作这种世世代代在这里制造的渔船。

But none of his creations will ever set sail. In fact, Tam's boats are miniatures designed to preserve the city's disappearing heritage.

但他的任何作品都不会起航。事实上，谭的船是微缩模型，旨在保护这座城市正在消失的遗产。

"There is so much history in the fishing and shipbuilding industries," he says. "I make model boats to show the craftsmanship and the building process (and) to educate people."

“渔业和造船业有着悠久的历史，”他表示。“我制作模型船是为了展示工艺和建造过程，并教育人们。”

For centuries, the shipping industry was at the heart of life in Macao, a former Portuguese colony that was transformed from a small fishing village to a major port. In recent years, however, casinos have taken over as the city's main source of income.

几个世纪以来，航运业一直是澳门的核心。澳门曾是葡萄牙的殖民地，后来从一个小渔村变成了一个重要港口。然而，近年来，赌场已成为该市的主要收入来源。

And with mainland China able to produce state-of-the-art metal fishing vessels, quicker and at lower costs, demand for traditional wooden boats all but disappeared.

随着中国大陆能够生产最先进的金属渔船，速度更快，成本更低，对传统木船的需求几乎消失了。

No new boats have been made here since 2006. Not full-sized ones, at least.

自2006年以来，这里没有制造过新船。至少不是全尺寸的。

Tam's makeshift studio lies in an abandoned shipyard in Macao's Lai Chi Vun village. The space, which is crumbling at its edges having endured several of the region's worst tropical storms.

谭的临时工作室位于澳门荔枝湾村的一个废弃船厂。在经历了该地区几次最严重的热带风暴后，这个空间处在崩溃的边缘。

But for Tam, it's not just the place where he worked when he was young, it's also the place where he can remember the boom times for the industry.

但对于谭来说，这不仅是在他年轻时工作的地方，还是让他能够回忆起这个行业的繁荣时期得地方。

Tam believes that the miniature boats he creates are more than just models.

谭认为，他创造的微型船不仅仅是模型。

"The shipbuilding process is the same," he said. "The only difference is the tools used."

“造船过程是一样的，”他说。“唯一的区别是使用的工具。”

The complex techniques and precision required mean that Tam can spend up to 700 hours building a single boat, and will spend three months on each miniature on average.

复杂的技术和精度要求意味着谭要花费700个小时来建造一艘船，平均每个微型船将花费3个月的时间。

"At our age, our eyes are not so good," he adds, "so we are slower and can hardly see when it gets very dark... the small parts require more effort."

“在我们这个年纪，我们的眼睛不是很好，”他补充说，“所以我们行动比较慢，天黑的时候几乎看不见……小的部分需要更多的努力。”

There is no room for error, with almost every component supporting another.

几乎每个组件都支持另一个组件，因此不允许出现错误。

"It's just like a human body -- every part is important. If you don't have hands or feet, you can't eat or walk. No one part is more important than the other -- without each part, the boat cannot be completed."

“它就像一个人的身体——每个部分都很重要。如果你没有手或脚，你就不能吃或走。没有一个部分比另一个部分更重要——没有每个部分，船就不能完成。”

In 2018, Macao's government recognized this shipyard as a cultural heritage site. But the future of this craft -- and the culture surrounding it -- is dependent on the next generation, he says.

2018年，澳门政府将这个船厂列为文化遗产。但他表示，这项技术的未来——以及围绕它的文化——取决于下一代。