The first records of junks can be found in references dating to the
Han dynasty (220 BCE–200 CE).
2nd century junks (Han dynasty)[edit]
The 3rd century book "
Strange Things of the South" (南州異物志) by Wan Chen (萬震) describes ships capable of carrying 700 people together with 260 tons of cargo ("more than 10,000 "斛"). However, these vessels did not originate from China, but rather from
K'un-lun (southern country, that is either
Java or
Sumatra). He explains the ships' sail design as follows:
The four sails do not face directly forward, but are set obliquely, and so arranged that they can all be fixed in the same direction, to receive the wind and to spill it. Those sails which are behind the most windward one receiving the pressure of the wind, throw it from one to the other, so that they all profit from its force. If it is violent, (the sailors) diminish or augment the surface of the sails according to the conditions. This oblique rig, which permits the sails to receive from one another the breath of the wind, obviates the anxiety attendant upon having high masts. Thus these ships sail without avoiding strong winds and dashing waves, by the aid of which they can make great speed.
— Wan Chen,
[23]
A 260 CE book by Kang Tai (康泰) also described these ships, called
K'un-lun po (
K'un-lun ship), had with seven masts, traveling as far as
Syria.
[24]