6 HKFOCUS Jiangxi Huichang county June 30-July 1, 2018 CHINA DAILY HONG KONG EDITION 7 province Anyuan county Fujian Xunwu county province Dongjiang River Dingnanshui River

Kind strangers: Guangdong Tonghu town province Heyuan city

Dongjiang River DONGGUAN Taiyuan Pumping Station

Dongguan Lianhu Pumping Station city The story Changping Shenzhen town Qiling Pumping Station Hong Kong

of HK’s Jinhu Pumping Station Fenggang town clean water SHENZHEN Villagers in Jiangxi province have made enormous sacrifi ces, Shenzhen Reservoir including giving up their ancestral homes, to ensure Hong Kong gets unpolluted and adequate water from the Dongjiang River. Dara Wang says their e orts have contributed to close bonds Muk Wu Pumping Station between Hong Kong and Jiangxi people.

HONG KONG With its source in Jiangxi province, the The mountain Dongjiang River supplies between 70 and 80 percent of Hong Kong’s fresh water. is the land of SONG PING / CHINA DAILY our country. Protecting the forest is to guard our country.” Gong Longshou, forestry guard

Gong Longshou, 60, has worked as a forestry guard since retiring from the army in 1980. He helps protect Scan the QR code to the forest from timber poachers and see the story in video fi res. NORA ZHENG / CHINA DAILY Songwuchang group inhabitants of Qingfeng village were cleared from their homes between 2006 and 2013, leaving the Dongjiang River’s source mountains untouched by contamination, ie Yujie, 65, stood looking over After improvement works She said the e orts of people in Jiangxi versities. The Hong Kong Yanai Foundation guaranteeing the purity of the water supplied to Hong Kong. DARA WANG / CHINA DAILY the land that had been his ances- province touched her. “The lives of mainland donated 10 million yuan to build a Siyuan tral home for 350 years. He has Schematic Layout Plan of Dongjiang-Shenzhen Before improvement works people were very di cult at that time. Many primary school in the county.

Dongjiang returned there many times in Taiyuan Pumping Station Water Supply Scheme experienced famine. But, they still gave us Gong hopes more Hong Kong people will moreX than a decade since he and his fel- Shangpu Pumping Station generous help to supply fresh water when visit the mountain source of their mother low neighbors were cleared to safeguard the Shaling Pumping Station Hong Kong was in great need.” river. He also wants to visit the special admin- purity of the Dongjiang River that supplies Stage 2 & 3 Dongjinang Yantian Tunnel “I appreciated their help. But many young istrative region. “Hong Kong should be a up to 80 percent of Hong Kong’s fresh water. Pumping Station people do not know the close relationship prosperous city and people there must be Qiaotou Matan Pumping Station Yantian Zhutang Pumping Station Yantian The decision to clear the village came as the town Shima River Pumping between Hong Kong and Jiangxi in the very warm,” he said. Reservoir result of local farming practices. Xie’s ances- Station 1960s,” she said. Gong said he now faces fewer challenges Shawan Water Tunnel tral home lay at the foot of the Yajibo Moun- Tangxia Pumping Station protecting the forests. Local villagers have tain, from which the Dongjiang River fi nds The river guard become aware of the importance of conserva- its source. The mountain spans across three Shima Pumping Station Tangxia Jinhu Pumping Station Shenzhen Reservoir Water shortages seem to have been eradi- tion. With improved living standards, they do Qiling Pumping Station counties of Jiangxi province — Huichang, Bio-nitrifi cation cated in Hong Kong because people at the not need to cut down trees to build houses. Anyuan and Xunwu — providing for hun- Plant river source have never stopped sustaining On the other side of the river source, in dreds of villagers living there for hundreds Taiyuan Pumping Station and stabilizing the supply of clean water. Huichang county, next to Anyuan county, Qiling Pumping Station Shenzhen Reservoir of years. Shawan Gong Longshou, 60, was born and raised in people moving out of Qingfeng village are Lianhu Pumping Station Jinhu Pumping Station Deliver Xie lives at the mountain side of Huichang Yantian Tunnel Water Tunnel Point to Hugang village, some 4 kilometers from San- adapting to their new lives. county. The land here is fertile. Xie recalled Hong bai Mountain, Anyuan county of Jiangxi prov- Xie Jiawan said children now have easier that local villagers planted rice and raised Kong ince. He has been a forestry guard since 1980 access to improved education. They can go to

poultry on the lowlands and grew mush- Dongjiang after retiring from the army. He helps protect school — only a 10-minute walk from where rooms higher up on the mountain slopes. Source: Water Supplies Department the forest from poachers and forest fi res. they live. (From top) Xie Yujie, Xie Jiawan and Xie Yuncai Xie Yuncai, the current Party branch sec- “The mountain is the land of our country. Xie Jiawan’s new house in the township were among some 100 villagers from the retary of the village, explained that the excre- is a venerable elder of the village. He left his Chow said. “We did not have spare water to Protecting the forest is to guard our country,” center has an area of about 150 square meters Songwuchang group at Qingfeng village who ment from chicken and other poultry leached home and was among the fi rst of the villag- fl ush the toilet, so we had to go to a nearby Gong said. over three fl oors. The government built a con- left their ancestral homes to safeguard the crete road to villagers’ homes and installed purity of the Dongjiang River. into the soil, contaminating the river. When ers to do so, wanting to set a good example mountain to relieve ourselves. The water was His life as a forestry guard hasn’t been easy. ZHU HAIPENG / FOR CHINA DAILY they planted mushrooms, farmers cut chunks for the rest of the village. He demolished his not enough for a shower. We used wet towels In the 1980s, Gong earned less than 100 yuan street lamps and sewer pipes. He said the of wood from living trees. They bored holes ancestral home in 2007 and moved to the to wipe our bodies.” monthly. Besides patrolling, he conducted improvements mark a great change for com- in the harvested wood and planted mycelium township center, 6 kilometers away. Local associations, including the Chi- door-to-door checks to ensure villagers were munity life. In the past, all the people had spores. As a result, trees began to die off, “To be honest, I was reluctant to leave the nese General Chamber of Commerce and not felling trees. was a mud road. and the savaging of the local forests slowly mountain,” said Xie Yujie. “But I had to leave the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions, Gong promoted awareness of forest protec- There is a Chinese saying: Living from reduced the capacity of the forest to conserve to preserve the purity of the water for Hong sought assistance from the central govern- tion to every villager, and whenever he found what the land and sea can give. Villagers at water. Kong people,” he said. ment. In December 1963, the central gov- poachers cutting down trees, he reported the Dongjiang River source take this to be According to Xie Yujie, the government’s Xie Yujie and local officials persuaded ernment committed 38 million yuan to the them to the police. Chopping trees meant their living principle, with the added premise removal order issued in 2006 was to ensure Xie Jiawan for several months. Finally, Xie construction of the Dongjiang-Shenzhen the forest would slowly lose the capacity to of “not destroying the environment”. To guard clean drinking water for Hong Kong, and the Jiawan agreed to move o . By 2013, around a Water Supply System. conserve water. the mother river of Hong Kong people, some villagers had to move. hundred villagers of the Songwuchang group On March 1, 1965, about 68 million cubic Gong knew since the 1970s from village have left their 300-year-old ancestral houses, Each villager received a 3,500-yuan ($540) from Qingfeng village had evacuated from meters of water began flowing into Hong elders that the river has been supplying fresh while others guard the forest foot by foot. subsidy to build a new house in the center of the mountain. Kong from the Dongjiang River. water to Hong Kong. “Chinese people should For those older generations of the Hong Qingxi township, Huichang county, said Liu Over the past fi ve decades and after a major care and help each other,” he said. “Hong Kong people who experienced the drought, Chaohua, Party secretary of Qingxi township. Friendship over half a century Deserted homes of the Songwuchang group at Qingfeng village, Huichang county, nestled at the reconstruction and three large-scale expan- Kong people are my compatriots. As a son the Dongjiang River also carries the kind- foot of the Yajibo Mountain, one of the water sources of the Dongjiang River. NORA ZHENG / CHINA DAILY Not all villagers went easily. Xie Jiawan It’s not the fi rst time people on the Chinese sion programs, the project has increased its of the mountain, protecting the hill and the ness of the Jiangxi people. Meanwhile, to the felt the settlement was unfair. Songwuchang mainland have to make sacrifi ces to ensure annual water supply to Hong Kong — f rom river is my honor, also my responsibility.” young people of Hong Kong who live without group — where he comes from, along with Xie Hong Kong gets clean water supply. The story lasted eight consecutive days. At the height “We received water (tap water) every four 22 million cubic meters to the current up to Hong Kong people, on their part, have the water shortage problem, the name of the Yujie and Xie Yuncai — was the only one of began over a half century ago. of the drought, reservoirs in Hong Kong were days, four hours each time,” Chow recalled. 820 million cubic meters. made donations to education on the main- river seems remote and strange. fi ve groups in Qingfeng village to be ordered Chow Kee-lin, 69, born and raised in Hong reduced to just 43 days of water supply. Her family used every container they could According to the environmental protection land as a way of thanking the local people More exchanges and mutual visits between to vacate, as their human behavior would Kong, remembers the moment in 1965, Eight members of Chow’s family were lay their hands on to store water. The water agency of Jiangxi province, the water quality for protecting the water supply. Since 2007, people from the Dongjiang River source and directly infl uence the source of the river. when she was 16, seeing fresh water from trapped inside an 80-square-foot room on was pumped from the fi rst fl oor to the upper in the source area of the Dongjiang River the Federation of Hong Kong Shenzhen Asso- Hong Kong should be held to strengthen the “Our whole family had lived on the farm- the Dongjiang River pour from her water tap, the third fl oor of a tenement in Po Hing Fong, fl oors. Neighbors on the lower fl oors might has remained above the Class II national ciations has donated to the Tianxin Wulong bonds of the people. That is the wish of all land for generations. How can we farmers ending a water shortage that had persisted Sheung Wan, near Tung Wah Hospital. Neigh- take more than their fair share, leading to standard for 50 years. elementary school, Tianxin Xinhuai elemen- those interviewed in this article. for two years. bors had to share a toilet and kitchen. They quarrels. Asked whether she knew if the fresh water tary school and Anyuan No 1 Middle School Each villager from Songwuchang group, Elderly Qingfeng villagers return to their ancestral hall each year for the Dragon Boat Festival, earn a livelihood without farmland?” he asked. Xie Yujie, who had served as the Party sec- Hong Kong su ered a drought in 1963. In had to put their chopping boards on the toilet “Mosquitoes grew in the water but we still came from the Dongjiang River, Chow raised in Anyuan county, as well as to setting up Contact the writer at Qingfeng village, received a 3,500-yuan ($539) slaughtering a pig as an o ering to the gods. ZHU HAIPENG / FOR CHINA DAILY retary of the village for 16 years since 1983, May that year, temperatures reaching 33 C lid and remove them when using the toilet. had to drink it. We had no other option,” her voice, saying: “Of course, I know.” scholarships for students admitted by uni- [email protected] subsidy to build a new house in the center of Qingxi township. ZHU HAIPENG / FOR CHINA DAILY