蜑戶是一群生活於水上的族群，關於他們的起源一直眾說紛紜，沒有確切的定論，歷史上對他們的記載也不多，多屬零碎、片面的資料，直到宋代之後才有較多的篇幅敘述，他們主要分布於中國東南沿海一帶，其中又以廣東人口最多。明朝之後，他們被列進賤籍階層，受到不平等的待遇，直到清雍正、乾隆時才下令廢止他們的賤民身分，但受限於過往數百年的刻板印象，他們在社會中仍是最弱勢的一群。民國之後，蜑民逐漸與陸上居民融合，他們的生活方式也產生重大改變，且不少蜑人刻意隱瞞身分以求能夠順利融入陸上社會，因此對於蜑民的過去，今人所知愈來愈少，蜑民的文化也逐漸流失，筆者有鑑於此，希望可以透過對過往文獻的蒐集，整理出明清時期廣東蜑民的職業，希望可以藉此更進一步了解當時蜑民的生活。

Dan-Hu（蜑戶） is a group distributed over the southeast coast of China and lives on the river and sea; most of them live in Guangdong province. They are the lowest stratum of society. There are a lot of versions about their origin, but there is no final conclusion. The records of Dan-Hu are fragmentary. Since the Song dynasty, there is more information about them. In Ming dynasty, the law required that they be pariah, so they have to bear unequal treatment. In the Ching Dynasty, emperor Yong-Zheng（雍正） and Qian-Long（乾隆） repealed their pariah label, but Dan-Hu still live in
an unfair society. People who live on land still discriminate against them. After Dr.Sun Yat San founded the Republic of China, Dan-Hu’s fate changed. They started to move on the ground, hiding their identity, they could merge into society. However, the more Dan-Hu hide their identity, the more Dan-Hu’s tradition disappear, so the author expects that we can know more about Dan-Hu through the research about their career.