CGTN Documentary Follows South China Sea Fishing Families

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 12 (Bernama) -- China Global Television Network (CGTN) has produced a documentary titled The Sea We Call Home, featuring five stories of islanders and fishermen in the South China Sea.

The film explores traditional navigation, changing fishing practices and the ties between fishing communities and the sea, according to CGTN in a statement.

One story follows Fu Yuhua, whose husband Su Xianli was among 30 men lost at sea when their fishing boat failed to return in 1975, leaving her to raise three young children.

Her son, Su Biaowei, became a fisherman, and his wife, Lu Chunxiang, lost her father in the same disaster. Both were five years old when their fathers died, and they later married.

“I do worry about him, especially when the weather is bad or the sea gets rough,” Lu said in the documentary.

The film also features fishermen from Tanmen, a fishing town in Hainan province, where some still dive among reefs to catch fish, though fewer young people are taking up the traditional method.

“Men venture far out to sea. They do it for home. Women wait for them and raise their children. That is home. When the children grow up, they follow in their fathers’ footsteps. That, too, is home,” said Wang Zhenzhong, who, as a child, waited with his mother on the shore for his father’s boat.

-- BERNAMA