I was reading the "Advent and Development of Shanties" thread, and got sidetracked into looking for Chinese sea shanties. So far, I've found a couple of great clips from a documentary on work songs of the "boat trackers" on the Yangtse River. The sound is bad at times when the narrator is talking, but clear when the singing is the focus. They've gone a little heavy with the reverb; presumably, they're trying to recreate the echoes that would sound from the steep cliffs banking the river.

Songs of the Boat Trackers

I believe there are five clips in the series.

The 'translations' that appear to be Chinese words - e.g., 'hei hai' - are nonsense vocables.

If others come across related clips or info., perhaps they could add them to this thread.