| People | Jing · 京 |
| Region | Guangxi, Dongxing: Wanwei, Wutou, and Shanxin islands on the Beibu Gulf shore |
| Role | hauled goods |
Tea
The seaward shoulder of exports from the Beibu Gulf coast. After the Yantai Convention of 1876, Beihai opened as a treaty port, and goods from Yunnan, Sichuan, and Guangxi began moving through the gulf; in the export records of the old Hepu port, tea 茶 chá is listed alongside sugar, tung oil, and salt since the lifting of the maritime ban in 1685. The Jing are China’s only maritime people: their three islands, Wanwei, Shanxin, and Wutou, sit right next to Dongxing, the twin city of Vietnamese Mong Cai, and cross-border trade through this isthmus continues to this day.
Topknot
Tea cibik: a small wooden crate placed on the crown with a corner facing forward, wrapped in a cross-hatched rattan weave, with a stenciled mark 茶 chá on the side; the board at the lid has split, and tightly packed dark leaves show through the gaps. It differs from the Loba basket in that the latter is an open-topped woven basket with no lid and a torn, open edge, while this is a sealed cargo container with a lid and straight edges; at 6 mm, the crate with a corner forward reads as a rhombus with straight faces, whereas the Loba basket reads as a straight-walled cup with a ragged top.
Headgear
圆顶帽 yuándǐngmào — the third headpiece in the Jing everyday set, alongside the conical 葵笠 kuílì and the headband 头箍 tóugū. Woven from palm leaf 葵叶 kuíyè in a warm straw tone, sun-bleached to a soft ochre: a low domed crown and a narrow brim, slightly drooping all around; a dark woven band runs along the base of the crown, and a dark binding edges the brim — the dark bands break up the light field; a chin cord is attached. The slot for the crate is a square nest in the crown, its edges whip-stitched with the same palm tape, and the crate sits in it with a corner forward.
Outline at 6 mm. Mushroom: a domed crown plus a narrow drooping brim. Zhunya’s is not a mushroom, with no domed crown: a flat cylinder and a horizontal turn-back shelf, while this one has a rounded cap and a softly hanging brim all around. It differs from Anczi by having a brim and twice the overall size, and from Yanka by lacking a point.
Clothing
A long narrow robe with a crossed left-over-right closure, rolled-up trousers, a folded net over one shoulder, and a wooden float at the waist.
Palette
Salt-bleached palm leaf, gray-blue robe, warm crate wood, black stenciled mark.