Watertight-bulkhead Fuchuan Building Technique

The watertight-bulkhead fuchuan technique is practised in the coastal areas of Jinjiang and Quangang in Quanzhou and was a core method of ancient Chinese seagoing shipbuilding carried far along the Maritime Silk Road.

Transverse bulkheads divide the hull into independent, watertight compartments so that flooding in one does not imperil the whole ship; craftsmen master timber selection, lofting and joinery through oral transmission.

The design greatly improved safety at sea and profoundly influenced world maritime history; it entered the second national ICH list in 2008 and UNESCO's List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding in 2010.

A few inheritors in places like Shenhu in Jinjiang and Fengwei in Quangang still build wooden sailing vessels by the traditional method.