Isolated Island In The Torrent: Another Floating Life Of "Cargo Ship Pilot" In The Yangtze River

China is a big transportation country.In various modes of transportation,waterway transportation has always occupied an important position.As the best inland river in China,Yangtze River shipping has always been an important part of China’s water transportation network.According to the data of the Ministry of transport,by the end of 2018,14 provinces and cities in the Yangtze River system had nearly 120000 inland river cargo ships,with an average tonnage of 1780 tons of main line cargo ships,an annual cargo throughput of 2.69 billion tons,more than 2 million Yangtze River shipping employees,indirectly promoting employment of more than 10 million people,and a direct contribution of more than 200 billion yuan to the economic and social development along the river every year.In the official data,the Yangtze River shipping practitioners have made important contributions to the social and economic development.The Cargo ship pilot in the Yangtze River studied in this paper is a group of people who drive cargo ships to engage in waterway transportation on the river.They travel between the wharves in the upper and lower reaches of the Yangtze River,and they are "porters" on the "main artery" of the Yangtze River.In this study,the boatman group and its organization "boatman" were deeply investigated.It was found that boatman drifted and flowed on the river most of the year,which was a typical mobile group.Their movement included the flow of body,social space and media use.But compared with other mobile groups,the flow of boatman was "different",because Mobility has not changed their ideas,behavior and interpersonal relationships.In the face of the risk and competition on the river,Cargo ship pilots from the clan society form "boat Gang" according to the blood and geographical relationship.In the boat Gang,Cargo ship pilots maintain a set of values in the clan society,and the boat Gang seems to be a floating home on the water.As a breakthrough force,the use of media has not helped Cargo ship pilots to change this "alternative" flow mode.They use media technology to achieve risk competition,mutual assistance,psychological and emotional support through communication within the boat Gang,so as to help themselves maintain and strengthen the reliable relationship circle between the members of the boat gang.The first chapter of this paper introduces the source of the topic,research methods and related concepts,and summarizes the relevant research.The second chapter first combs the career of "Cargo ship pilot" and the historical evolution of its internal organization from the time dimension,then introduces the establishment of "boat Gang" organization and some internal rules,and finally introduces the group characteristics,living environment,media contact and use,interpersonal relationship of Cargo ship pilot.The third chapter shows the mobile life of ship runner from three aspects: the flow of body,the flow of social space and the flow of media use.The fourth chapter focuses on the core hypothesis of the paper: the Cargo ship pilot is a mobile group,but their mobility is "different".The fifth chapter tries to discuss the reason of "alternative" from the two dimensions of risk and competition,clan and local.On December 6,2019,the author boarded the Yangtze River cargo ship Heyou 319 and began a one week field survey.During this period,the author and the Cargo ship pilot ate,lived and worked together,interviewed the crew members on the ship,and distributed questionnaires to them.Heyou 319 belongs to the "Yu family boat Gang" of Tongling nationality.The captain is also the eldest of the three brothers of the boat gang.In the process of following the boat,the author finds that the boat gang of Yu family is a group established on the basis of blood relationship.Within this group,the interpersonal relationship is abnormally close.At the same time,although the Cargo ship pilots traveled all over the country,their ideas and behaviors still followed some old habits and ways of the clan society on shore."Liquidity" has not resulted in individualization and abandonment of tradition in them,so their mobile life is different.Tiktok can also use mobile phone,and will build WeChat group,and will use the jitter in their leisure time.But their media contact behavior has not caused the "breakthrough" status,but intensified the cocoon room relationship of the social relationship in the ship group.The use of media has helped maintain the close relationship between the ships and also caused their ideological and behavioral side Curing.