Fishermen's songs are a kind of folk music that spreads in the Zhapu area of Pinghu. They play a role in boosting morale and unifying the pace of fishermen during their work. Zhapu, Pinghu, is located at the strategic point of water and land. It has always been a place of contention for military strategists. There were naval forces stationed there in the Song Dynasty. During the Qianlong and Jiaqing years of the Qing Dynasty, some officers and soldiers of the Fujian Navy moved to Zhapu to guard the Xishan Sea (i.e., Pinghu Shanwan), and their descendants became Shanwan fishermen. Shanwan fishermen have always taken boats as their homes and fish as their companions. The harsh environment and heavy labor have formed their generous, cheerful, optimistic, open-minded character and the spirit of hard work, solidarity and mutual assistance. Fishermen's work often requires the cooperation of many people. In collective labor operations, in order to maintain a unified pace and consistent transportation capacity, one person must give a voice command, and everyone must respond, thus gradually forming fishermen's songs. Fishermen's songs are divided into two categories: boat-pulling songs and sail-pulling songs. When a fishing boat is damaged and needs to be repaired, the boat must be pulled onto the beach, and after the repair, the boat must be pulled back to the sea before it can resume operation. Due to the huge size of the boat, this work must be done by more than a dozen or even dozens of people at the same time. When pulling the boat, a thick rope is first tied on both sides of the bow. The fishermen who pull the boat are divided into two teams, each holding a rope. In order to ensure the unity of pace and the same capacity, the fishermen often sing together. The leader stands in the middle of the two teams to command. When he gives the command, the boat pullers will respond, sing the command while leaning forward, and pull the boat up a distance together; the commander gives the command again, and the boat pullers once again echo, and the boat is pulled up a distance again. In this way, with the sound of the call, the boat is pulled onto the beach or back to the sea step by step. It is in this process of cooperation that the boat pulling call is formed. When a fishing boat enters the sea, it must pull up the sail to run faster and farther with the help of the wind. When pulling the sail, several people pull the sail rope at the same time and pull the sail up little by little. When the sail is raised to halfway, due to the height of the mast and the wind force, the weight in their hands is already quite heavy, so the sail pulling call must be sung at this time. The conductor gave a call, and the sail pullers responded, squatting down together and pulling the sail up a distance. This was repeated continuously, and with a call and a combined force, the sail was slowly raised to the masthead. In this process, the sail-pulling call was formed. The fishermen's call is the crystallization of the fishermen's labor and fully reflects the creativity of the fishermen. Its melody is simple, the lyrics are casual, and it can be repeated many times, reflecting the fishermen's simple and honest character; the rhythm is sonorous and powerful, and the melody is passionate, reflecting the fishermen's brave and fearless spirit of tenaciously fighting against nature; the fishermen's call is sung and coordinated tacitly, and the friendship and harmony between the fishermen are fully displayed. The fishermen's call has a strong local flavor and mysterious marine style, and is a unique fishermen's culture. However, due to historical reasons, there are only a few people who can sing the fishermen's call and they are old, and the fishermen's call is on the verge of being lost. The fishermen's call has been included in the second batch of Jiaxing City's intangible cultural heritage list. Information source: text/Jiaxing City Library Picture/Lu Aibin Information source: text/Jiaxing City Library Picture/Lu Aibin