Interviews & Writing | DOCKSIDE Archive

The interview excerpts, articles, and poems featured below draw from field interviews and ethnographic notes collected through conversations with ferrymen, fishermen, and families living and working along the Dongzhou Port–Wenyan Ferry route. With the interviewees’ consent, I have adapted fragments of their speech, memories, and folk songs into documentary and creative forms that bring testimony, archival research, and imagination into conversation.

The River's Keeper -- Li Shifu of Wushan Dock

At the edge of Yuanpu Town, where the Qiantang, Fuchun, and Puyang Rivers meet, stands a little ferry pier named Wushan Dock. By the water is a small kiosk, barely the size of a fishing boat cabin. This is where Li Shifu, fifty-eight, sells bottled drinks, instant noodles, and daily goods to passing ferrymen and locals. When I walked in, he was sorting through boxes of mineral water, his hands rough and sun-darkened. “Business is small,” he said with a smile, “but it keeps me

Poem: "The Boatmen Community [A Neo-River Colony]"

After Don Mee Choi

The River's Keeper -- Li Shifu of Wushan Dock

Poem: "The Boatmen Community [A Neo-River Colony]"

Poem: "ANCHORAGE :: MOTHER-TONGUE"