thumb|250px|right|Sampan on the [[Yangtze River (Chang Jiang), China]]

thumb|250px|right|Model of sampan in [[Lanyang Museum]]

A sampan is a relatively flat-bottomed wooden boat found in East, Southeast, and South Asia. It is possibly of Chinese or Austronesian origin. but this is likely to be a false etymology. A possible Austronesian origin of the word has been suggested, as it is attested in an Old Malay inscription from 684 CE.

Sampans may be propelled by poles, oars (particularly a single, long stern sculling oar called a yuloh (simplified Chinese 摇橹/ traditional Chinese 搖櫓)) or may be fitted with outboard motors.

Sampans are still in use by rural residents of Southeast Asia, particularly in Malaysia, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Vietnam.

Malay communities in Southeast Asia also use the term sampan for their boats. Large boats such as sampan panjang, kolek and perahu panjang are used and built by the Malays and Orang Laut living in their coastal villages.

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Image:Sampan-01.png|Traditional hongtou (red-head) sampans of Shanghai, China

File:Indonesian Sampan.jpg|A contemporary sampan comes back from fishing, on the north coast of Java

File:Japon-1886-32.jpg|Japanese sampan-like river boat. Dating from before 1886

File:Sampan under sunset Hong Kong.jpg|Small sampan still being used for passenger transportation between islands in Hong Kong

File:Sampan.jpg|A Sampan in Shanghai, China

File:Boats in Barishal Bangladesh (3).JPG|Bangladeshi fishermen resting in the shade of a sampan in Barishal

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See also

  • Casco (barge), Filipino version of Sampan
  • Sampan panjang, Malay boat

References

  • "Cranks with Planks presents Sampans -n- Yulohs" (via Wayback Machine) (includes excerpt from G.R.G. Worcester's Junks and Sampans of the Yangtse.)