LITTLE SPARROW BOAT WITH WORKER

1/24 Made & designed by Steven [Feb. 2025]

【Dreaming Under The Bridge Series work】

The name ‘Little Sparrow Boat’ comes from a bird, which is a very common animal in Ningbo. During the Great Leap Forward period, they were killed as one of the ‘Four Pests’. However, it was later discovered that the lack of sparrows would lead to the destruction of the natural ecosystem, and the government ordered the protection of sparrows. In the poor times before that, sparrows were also used as food, and until the beginning of this century, it was still customary to eat sparrows in Ningbo, usually fried and served with sauce. The positioning of the sparrow boat was similar to that of a private car that almost every household has nowadays, but the sparrow boat was a cheap means of transport. It is also one of the most basic vehicles in the work under the Boat Dream Bridge. It is most often found in the river, and seldom goes to the sea. At the same time, there can be many different models of sparrow boats, the main difference being the length and cargo capacity. The main difference is the length and cargo capacity, which is somewhat similar to the difference between a four-seater car and a truck. It is also worth mentioning that a Sparrow Boat is a cement boat from my point of view, but it can also be a boat made of steel plate. Both of them have the same shape, but they can be distinguished from each other by the difference in the colouring and texture of the surfaces. Cement ships were very common in China in the 1960s and 1970s, mainly because they were quicker and cheaper to build and did not require the use of steel, which was very expensive at that time. So China became a major manufacturer of cement ships. Until the nineties of the last century, the production and use of cement ships greatly reduced because of the weakness of the cement ship's deep draught, slow speed and poor impact resistance and the significant increase and decrease in steel production led to the use of her less and less people. Now in the 21st century there are still a few people using these ships, but most of them have been disposed of or have long been stranded and unmanaged.