On Board Fu Ning, The World’s Largest Traditional Chinese Wooden Sailing Boat

Fu Ning, the world’s largest traditional Chinese wooden sailing boat, was in town for the 2024 Singapore Yachting Festival held at ONE°15 Marina, Sentosa Cove.
The Fujian-built boat is made primarily of solids woods such as teak and rosewood.
Starting from China, Fu Ning has been retracing legendary admiral Cheng Ho’s voyages along the Maritime Silk Road.

If you were at ONE°15 Marina at Sentosa Cove on the very bright and hot morning of April 25, you simply cannot miss the traditional Chinese, fiery-red-hued wooden sailing boat docked among dozens of pastel-toned super yachts.

Fu Ning, regarded as the the world’s largest sea-going traditional Chinese wooden sailing boat, was in town for the 2024 Singapore Yachting Festival, which ran from April 25-28.

Musings on the M49 was chuffed to be invited to the welcome ceremony of the China-built vessel, which was built as part of a commitment to UNESCO by Ningde City, Fuijan Province to preserve “Fuzhou watertight compartment manufacturing technology” and promote traditional Chinese maritime culture.

With lovely ladies dressed in traditional Chinese dance outfits acting as guides, the event started with an auspicious lion dance on the foredeck, followed by the obligatory photo shoots with the Fu Ning management and key guests.

The press conference took place later in the main salon, followed by tours of the ship, before refreshments were served.

Owned by Chinese entrepreneur Mr Lin Chang Jiu (right in above left picture), construction of the monumental ship started in 2015 and was completed and delivered four years later.

Measuring 41.6m in length, 12m wide and with a mast height of 26m, the boat is made primarily of imported woods such as teak and rosewood.

Integrating traditional craftmanship and modern technology, one of Fu Ning’s key features is a 300kwh onboard power bank that is able to provide the vessel’s electrical needs for one day on a single charge.

Part of its goal to promote traditional Chinese maritime culture, Fu Ning also aims to honor the achievements of legendary mariner and explorer Admiral Cheng Ho by re-tracing his historic routes along the Maritime Silk Road.

Starting from Guangzhou, China, the Fu Ning had hence made stops at Hong Kong, Vietnam and Thailand before docking at Singapore. Its next stop is Malacca, Malaysia before making a return to our sunny shores.

With the main deck furnished with birdcage-like gazebos that boasts comfy lounge-like seating arrangements, and a glass-covered main salon able to hold sizeable events or function as exhibition space, the Fu Ning spokesperson said that chartering plans are still pending and dependence on local regulations.

In the meantime, the Fu Ming will primarily be used to promote traditional Chinese maritime heritage to the world, the spokesperson added.

If it intends to be based here in Singapore, it will be cool if the Fu Ning can be used or chartered as an event space where, say, Chinese food or lifestyle products can be featured, TCM herbs and benefits showcased, or maybe even a Chinese drama/anime party where invitees can come in cosplay as classic Chinese characters from stage and screen. The opportunities are limitless, really!

Finally, just want to give a shoutout to the wonderful catering team from Eclipse by BDC, an Asian-European contemporary dining concept in Chinatown, who not only provided us guests with many tasty canapes, but most importantly, loads of water to hydrate ourselves on an extremely hot and humid morning!

Fu Ning will be docked in Malacca, Malaysia by May 1. It will make a return to Singapore, date to be confirmed.