This thesis investigates a fishing community along east Taihu Lake, in Jiangsu Province, China. It attempts to explain how the transformation of the boat people‘s identities corresponds to the struggles with state regulation and control and changes of their livelihoods before and after 1949. It focuses on the construction of their identity as boat people, when living on water, to three identity layers since moving on land: boat people, fishermen and crab bosses. Before 1949, religious organizations, practices and unique family patterns made up their boat people identity. After that, the government administered all the water people under the name of fishermen. Religion was forbidden, political institution were built up in local society and resources were provided to improve thei...[ Read more ]

This thesis investigates a fishing community along east Taihu Lake, in Jiangsu Province, China. It attempts to explain how the transformation of the boat people‘s identities corresponds to the struggles with state regulation and control and changes of their livelihoods before and after 1949. It focuses on the construction of their identity as boat people, when living on water, to three identity layers since moving on land: boat people, fishermen and crab bosses. Before 1949, religious organizations, practices and unique family patterns made up their boat people identity. After that, the government administered all the water people under the name of fishermen. Religion was forbidden, political institution were built up in local society and resources were provided to improve their social status. In 1980s, local fishermen gained the privilege to raise crab in Taihu Lake and later they became bosses in the crab market. Fishermen became self-employed workers who used water resources under monitoring from government. At the same time, their religion has revived. In recent decades, the Yugang people do not abandon their identity of boat people, but lay "fishermen" and "crab bosses" on it when facing political change and forming the crab market. Behind the identities, there are social multi-layers that were generated from the coexistence of revived folk religious practices, state penetration and the prosperous crab market. The clarification and redefinition of the use right of water resources play critical roles in this process of identity changes and improvement in social-economic status.