In May 2018, a foreign tourist group was taking a boat tour on the water of Tonle Sap in Cambodia.
By the lake, a mother wearing a white sun hat and yellow long sleeves was rowing a boat. There was a sleeping little boy on her waist.
The little boy's sister stood on the bow of the boat, staring at the passing sightseeing boat with her big dark eyes.
This little girl who looks to be only six or seven years old knows that with a live snake hanging on her shoulder, she will definitely attract the attention of tourists.
Sure enough, a tourist picked up his camera and pointed it at her. When the tour guide saw this, he reminded her: Don’t take pictures of her!
However, there was still a "click" shutter sound coming from the camera. At this time, the mother rowed the boat over...
Only then did the tourists realize that the little girl made money by taking pictures, so they had to pay the mother.
Some tourists will meet local children, who will rub their shoulders and feet. At this time, unless the tourists show a firm refusal, the children will give up, otherwise they will have to pay for it.
Things like this happen countless times every year in Tonle Sap Lake, and it has long become a habit of the locals. Some adults, in particular, may even encourage their children to take the initiative to ask for tips from foreign tourists.
Such an approach will undoubtedly make visitors feel unhappy, but many things must have their effects for a reason.
The reason why the locals do this is actually more or less helpless, because many of them do not have a stable source of livelihood, or even a country where they can find a sense of belonging.
Around this largest freshwater lake in Southeast Asia, located in Cambodia, there are about 3 million people living, of which about 80,000 are stateless people.
The reason why Cambodia does not open accounts for this group of people living in its own territory is because they are basically from neighboring countries Vietnam .
In history, there have been many wars between Vietnam and Cambodia, and the fighting was particularly fierce from the 1970s to the 1990s.
Many Vietnamese came to Cambodia to settle for various reasons. Naturally, Vietnamese also settled around the Tonle Sap Lake, which is rich in fishery resources (note: there are also some normal population migrations).
Cambodia obviously does not welcome this group of people, and after leaving the motherland, Vietnam does not intend to re-accept them.
As a result, these "Cambodian Vietnamese" have become "black households" with no nationality, no identity, and have been ignored for a long time (Note: Cambodia once issued citizenship certificates to them, but the government changed and the certificates were cancelled. ), from then on they could only live in the lake.
Tonle Sap Lake, the two colors are the water area in dry and wet seasons.
Tonle Sap Lake, which is connected to Mekong River , has a very different water area in the rainy season and dry season. These "black households" who live by the water They came up with strange ways of coping.
They built stilt houses by the water to adapt to the large water level difference. During the dry season, the houses hang high on the ground, and people enter and exit the rooms through stairs. During the rainy season, the houses are close to the water. At this time, boats become a means of travel, and some people simply put their homes on boats.
Therefore, people call these settlements "floating villages" or "floating villages". There are about hundreds of such villages around Tonle Sap Lake. Some villages are also called "Vietnamese floating villages" because they are mostly Vietnamese.
People living in the "floating village" basically have to learn to deal with water since childhood. This is not only a daily necessity, but sometimes also a life-saving skill, because the occasional strong wind on Tonle Sap Lake may overturn the boat.
Children start learning to swim at the age of two and can row and fish at the age of four. By the time they are seven or eight years old, many water-related skills will be basically mastered, which also means that their fisherman career has taken the first step.
Children need to fish in the tidal flats on the shore, which is the main way for people in the floating village to make a living.When they grow older, they will follow their parents to the center of the lake to fish.
If you reach the age of talking about marriage, and the two families intend to become in-laws, they must find ways to buy a boat for the newlyweds as their living tool.
On the wedding day, the man has to rent one or more boats to form a larger wedding platform and invite relatives and friends to have a meal.
As for the issue of education, there is basically no need to consider it in floating villages, because they have almost no opportunities to receive modern education.
Opening a school on the water is inherently difficult, so for a long time, there was no decent school in the floating village. It was also difficult to expect children who might go fishing in the lake with their families to go to school on time at any time. .
The result is that only a small number of people have barely received primary education, and many more people have no idea about school at all.
floating school
Medical problems are also not a concern for people in floating villages. Living in a difficult and backward environment, their average life expectancy is only 54 years old. Many people basically end their lives before they have any physical problems.
If it is a sudden illness, whether you can wait for treatment depends on luck. The nearest clinic or hospital is often on the shore more than ten kilometers away from the lake.
Regardless of whether these people have money for medical treatment, even finding a reliable land travel vehicle is not easy for people who make a living by boat all year round.
With no education and poor health, villagers in the floating village often have to rely on fishing for a living. But as fishery resources gradually depleted, they had to slowly transform. Some people raised fish in pens for breeding, some raised pigs on boats, and others raised crocodiles.
At the same time, due to the development of tourism (note: the local area is close to the world famous attractions Angkor Wat ), some tourists will also come to the floating village near Tonle Sap for sightseeing.
But in the cake of tourism, this group of Cambodian Vietnamese who have no legal citizenship and no culture can only get a very small piece.
They rarely have the opportunity to openly work in the tourism industry, and even when tourists come to visit their villages on or near the water, the $20 entrance fee is charged by others.
But the reality will not be as smooth sailing as people imagine. To the country of Cambodia, they have always been outsiders and "stateless persons" who are illegally residing. Cambodia can be indifferent for a while, but that doesn’t mean it will never be indifferent.
Like the little girl we mentioned at the beginning who is a snake charmer and makes money by taking pictures, she is already very "self-reliant".
Of course, no matter what the visiting foreign tourists think of this place, the people in Tonle Sap Floating Village still maintain their own style of doing things.
They always believe that their lives will continue for a long time like the regular rise and fall of Tonle Sap Lake, and as long as life can continue, it no longer matters which country or nation they are.
But the reality will not be as smooth sailing as people imagine. To the country of Cambodia, they have always been outsiders and "stateless persons" who are illegally residing. Cambodia can be indifferent for a while, but that doesn’t mean it will never be indifferent.
In recent years, the Cambodian government has begun to rectify the illegal residents in the country. Illegal residents must re-submit their applications to the Cambodian government in accordance with the procedures and requirements, otherwise they will have to be deported.
For example, during a round of crackdowns in April 2019, more than 70,000 foreigners in Cambodia had their household registration cancelled, 90% of them were Vietnamese, living in the "stateless" Vietnam around Tonle Sap Lake. It is naturally difficult for people to be alone.
They need to voluntarily declare their household registration documents to the Cambodian government in order to be inspected. At the same time, the Cambodian government will continue to conduct inspections. If they do not meet the immigration standards, they can only be deported back to Vietnam.
Although Cambodia’s own development situation is not good and its requirements for immigrants are not very high, it is still a difficult threshold for the Vietnamese on Tonle Sap Lake to cross.
However, Vietnam is not willing to fully accept this group of people. Vietnam not only regards accepting the deportees as a diplomatic "favor" (Note: Cambodia-Vietnam relations are not good), but it also intentionally or unintentionally uses this issue to Cambodia. To add to the obstacles, they constantly made various demands to the Cambodian government to protect their rights.
But Cambodia has apparently made up its mind to clean up Tonle Sap Lake and hopes that the floating villages will disappear completely.
As a result, the original lives of the Vietnamese who have not yet been repatriated began to be broken, their villages were disbanded, and everyone had to move to new places downstream without receiving a penny of relocation expenses.
Starting from June 2021, Cambodia has begun demolition work again. Although local villagers opposed it, it has no effect.
Perhaps in the near future, the floating villages around Tonle Sap Lake will tend to disappear. Time will tell whether these stateless floating villagers can find their next place to stay before then.
Content source:
Wu Zhennan and Yang Dan: "Vietnamese Boat People in Jonkeri Floating Village in Tonle Sap Lake, Cambodia", "World Nation" Issue 4, 2016
Wang Xiaoman: "The Real "Family on the Water" in Tonle Sap Lake", "World Culture" January 2018
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