Danmin - Danmin

Also written as 蜑民. Originally, it referred to one of the non-Han peoples living in the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River, but after the end of the 10th century, the meaning of the word changed in China to refer to people living on boats in southern China. In the "Barbarian Book," river is called "tan," so the origin of the word dan is thought to be the barbarian word for river, but there is still no consensus as to why people started living on boats. They have been considered outcasts since ancient times, and in 1729 they were first allowed to live on land and work in agriculture, but for a long time after that they were not allowed to live on land, find employment on land, or intermarry with people on land. For this reason, they did not own land or buildings on land except for cemeteries, and for generations their only residence was a boat, and in many cases they used the same boat as their residence, working in fishing, barge work, ferry work, and various other water-based jobs around cities. Before the Pacific War, there were an estimated 2 million boat dwellers in the three provinces of Guangdong, Guangxi, and Fujian. They were not a specific ethnic group, but spoke the local dialect of Chinese. In recent years, discriminatory attitudes toward boat dwellers have changed dramatically, and the derogatory term "danmin" has been replaced by "suisho-jin" (water people). In the People's Republic of China, policies were implemented to encourage people to move to land, and in Hong Kong and Macau, as boats became more motorized, more people came ashore, making it easier to receive social benefits such as education and medical care. As a result, the number of boat dwellers in southern China has drastically decreased, and those who continue to live on boats have lost their original lifestyle.

[Hiroaki Kani]

"Hong Kong's Floating Residents" by Hiroaki Kani (Iwanami Shinsho)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

蜑民とも書く。元来、揚子江(ようすこう)の中・上流にいた非漢民族の一つをさしたが、10世紀末以後の中国では、中国南方の船上生活者をさすように、ことばの意味が変わった。『蛮書』に川を蛮語で(たん)というとあって、蛋の語源は蛮語の川だとみられているが、船上住居がなぜおこったかについては、まだ定説がない。昔から賤民(せんみん)視され、1729年初めて陸上に居住して農業につくことを許されたが、その後も長く、陸上に居住したり、陸上で就職したり、陸上の人と通婚しあうことができなかった。このため、墓地を除き陸上に土地、建物を所有せず、親子代々船を唯一の住居として、多くの場合住居と同じ船を使い、漁業、艀(はしけ)業、渡船業、その他都市周辺で雑多な水上業務についた。太平洋戦争前、広東(カントン)、広西、福建三省に推定200万人の船上生活者がいたとされるが、特定の民族集団ではなく、おのおのの土地で話される中国語の方言を用いていた。近年になって船上生活者に対する差別意識の改変が著しく、蔑称(べっしょう)である蛋民を改め水上人とよぶことが一般化している。また中華人民共和国では政策として陸上への住み替えが計られ、香港(ホンコン)やマカオでは船の動力化に伴って陸へあがるものが増え、教育、医療など社会的反対給付を受けやすくなった。こうして中国南部では船上生活者の数は激減し、また船上生活を続けるものも、その本来的な生活様式を失っているのが現状である。

［可児弘明］

『可児弘明著『香港の水上居民』（岩波新書）』

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