"Chinese Fishing Nets:" a short bibliography
The standard reference work Fishing Methods of the World by Andres Von Brandt is indispensable for understanding fishing gear and how it works—and is accessibly written for specialists and lay people alike!
A most useful resource for understanding the uses of Kerala’s cheenavalla, with invaluable information about the social organization of their use is found in a substantial 2003 report by Dr K.T. Thomson of Cochin University of Science and Technology entitled Economic and Social Management of Estuarine Biodiversity in the West Coast of India and available here: https://irade.org/eerc/pdf/MES_FR_KTThomson.pdf
Also valuable is a 2020 research article on the economic value of Chinese nets on Vembanad Lake by Chandrasekar et al. in the International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences (2020) 9 (7): 2365-2372.
The general type “lift nets” includes several subtypes besides the stationary devices described in this piece; lift nets may be operated by hand or with winches from boats: https://www.fao.org/fishery/en/geartype/105/en
There are several journalistic articles online relating to the challenges facing Kerala fishermen. Here is a selection: https://www.deshabhimani.com/deshabhimani-english-/kerala-news/kerala-shrimp-industry-faces-challenges-40088
On the logistics of preservation and owners/fishermen dilemma after the latest accident:
https://icsf.net/newss/kerala-chinese-fishing-net-operators-fall-on-hard-times-decry-apathy/
On artisanal fishing and mechanization
On Karemeen (Ektroplus suratensis) and how to make a typical karemeen recipe!
https://www.tasteatlas.com/karimeen#modal
https://www.keralatourism.org/kerala-food/karimeen-vatti-pattichathu/151/
The common story of Chinese origins and its connection to the Ming treasure fleet and the rivalry between Calicut and Cochin is told in a straight-forward manner on this Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry webpage related to Cochin’s heritage management: “The Chinese Fishing Net Story,”
https://iccicochin.com/kochi-heritage-tour/the-chinese-fishing-net-story/
The story also includes the very useful sketch of the device that appears in my post!
For the amazing Indian Ocean voyages of the Muslim eunuch admiral Zheng He, see Edward L. Dreyer, Zheng He: China and the Oceans in the Early Ming Dynasty, 1405–1433 (New York: Pearson Longman, 2006); and Louise Levathes, When China Ruled the Seas: The Treasure Fleet of the Dragon Throne, 1405–1433 (New York: Simon&Schuster, 1994), which presents the quote of the Cochin tablet that I have included in the post.
None of the articles on Ma Huan’s account of Zheng He’s expedition mentions fishing technology specifically among gifts brought by Chinese delegates to the governments around the Indian Ocean. See the following studies for details on what is actually mentioned in those accounts:
Ptak, Roderick. “Wang Dayuan on Kerala.” Explorations in the History of South Asia:
Essays in Honour of Dietmar Rothermund. Eds. Georg Berkemer et al. Delhi:
Manohar, 2001. 39–52
Ptak updates the translation of the travel account by Wang Dayuan, a Chinese traveler who appears to have visited the Indian Ocean in the early 14th century.
Phillips, Geo. “Ma Huan’s Account of Cochin, Calicut, and Aden.” Journal of the
Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland (1896): 341–351.
Also, the one picture I can find of “Chinese nets” in China is in a 19th-century publication called Cyclopedia (volume IV, p. 84) where the lithograph drawing is attributed to a photograph but has no indication as to where it was taken; moreover, the text, which is about “civilizations” and “races” contains racist statements, such as “It is almost impossible for a Chinaman to understand a piece of machinery. He stands before it dazed.” I screen captured the photo from that volume on archive.org (I first came across it in a alamy link that Dimitra sent me, https://www.alamy.com/chinese-fishing-methods-drawn-by-theodore-weber-from-a-photograph-from-cyclopedia-universal-history-embracing-the-most-complete-and-recent-presentation-of-the-subject-in-two-principal-parts-or-divisions-of-more-than-six-thousand-pages-by-john-clark-ridpath-1840-1900-publication-date-1895-publisher-boston-balch-bros-volume-7-history-of-man-image543433410.html
I would very much like to further research the murals of the Mattancherry Palace, which in the limited literature and numerous online presentations that I have seen are appreciated for their marvelous scenes of the Ramayana and life of Krishna but rarely depicted in their entirety.
A film by the Indira Gandhi National Center for the Arts on the mural painting tradition of Kerala shows the figural program of the Mattancherry but unfortunately the fishy borders are not visible. https://archive.org/details/dli.Murals.Of.Kerala, from 10:41 to 18:00
I first visited Kerala with my dear friend and colleague Dr. Scott Kugle, whom I thank profusely for introducing me to the region and sharing with me his deep knowledge of and endless enthusiasm for this magnificent land and its people. I also thank my wonderful friend Rebecca Liebeskind for the valuable suggestions, crucial introductions, and wonderful conversations about Cochin and its many delights.