| 释义 |
‖ Tanka1|ˈtæŋkə|
Also tankia, tanchia.
[a. Chinese (Cantonese), f. Chinese tan, lit. ‘egg’, + Cantonese ka, in South Mandarin kia, North Mandarin chia, family, people.]
The boat-population of Canton, who live entirely on the boats by which they earn their living: they are descendants of some aboriginal tribe of which Tan was apparently the name. Tanka boat, a boat of the kind in which these people live.
1839Chinese Repository VII. 506 The small boats of Tanka women are never without this appendage. 1848S. W. Williams Middle Kingd. I. vii. 321 The tankia, or boat-people, at Canton form a class in some respects beneath the other portions of the community. Ibid. II. xiii. 23 A large part of the boats at Canton are tankia boats, about 25 feet long, containing only one room, and covered with movable mats, so contrived as to cover the whole vessel; they are usually rowed by women. 1909Westm. Gaz. 23 Mar. 5/2 The Tankas, numbering perhaps 50,000 in all, gain their livelihood by ferrying people to and fro on the broad river with its creeks. |