What is a junk

A junk is a type of ship which is closely associated with China, its nation of origin. Contrary to the implications of the name, a junk is anything but. In fact, junks were quite novel for their time, and they were superior to anything produced in Europe for centuries; the Chinese junk also integrated a number of innovations which continue to be used in ship building to this day. Despite the fact that junks were developed around 200 CE, and are therefore quite old, these ships continue to be widely used throughout Southeast Asia today, and you can see many fine examples under full sail in this part of the world.

Like other early ships, the junk is a sailing ship. However, the junk rig is extremely flexible and versatile, allowing people to sail junks into the wind, and to control the ship with a minimal crew. The ship is controlled with a rudder, another innovation, and the hull of a junk is broken up into compartments. Although the thought of a compartmentalized hull might sound obvious to you, it was a strictly Chinese invention, and didn't appear widely in European ships until the late 1700s, when numerous people including Benjamin Franklin recommended building compartmentalized ships “in the Chinese style.”