Jiang-Shenzhen
Shaling Pumping Station Zhutang Pumping Station a Jinhu Pumping Station hu Pumping Station Shangpu Pumping Station Yantian Pumping Station
“We received water (tap water) every four days, four hours each time,” Chow recalled. Her family used every container they could lay their hands on to store water. The water was pumped from the first floor to the upper floors. Neighbors on the lower floors might take more than their fair share, leading to quarrels.
“Mosquitoes grew in the water but we still had to drink it. We had no other option,”
Yantian Reservoir Yantian Tunnel After improvement works Before improvement works Yantian Tunnel
Shawan Water Tunnel Shenzhen Reservoir
Bio-nitrification Plant
Shenzhen Reservoir Deliver Point to Hong Kong
Shawan Water Tunnel Chow said. “We did not have spare water to flush the toilet, so we had to go to a nearby mountain to relieve ourselves. The water was not enough for a shower. We used wet towels to wipe our bodies.”
Local associations, including the Chinese General Chamber of Commerce and the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions, sought assistance from the central government. In December 1963, the central government committed 38 million yuan to the construction of the Dongjiang-Shenzhen Water Supply System.
On March 1, 1965, about 68 million cubic meters of water began flowing into Hong Kong from the Dongjiang River.
Over the past five decades and after a major reconstruction and three large-scale expansion programs, the project has increased its annual water supply to Hong Kong — from 22 million cubic meters to the current up to 820 million cubic meters.
According to the environmental protection agency of Jiangxi province, the water quality in the source area of the Dongjiang River has remained above the Class II national standard for 50 years.
Asked whether she knew if the fresh water came from the Dongjiang River, Chow raised her voice, saying: “Of course, I know.”
She said the efforts of people in Jiangxi province touched her. “The lives of mainland people were very difficult at that time. Many experienced famine. But, they still gave us generous help to supply fresh water when Hong Kong was in great need.”
“I appreciated their help. But many young people do not know the close relationship between Hong Kong and Jiangxi in the 1960s,” she said.
The river guard
Water shortages seem to have been eradicated in Hong Kong because people at the river source have never stopped sustaining and stabilizing the supply of clean water.
Gong Longshou, 60, was born and raised in Hugang village, some 4 kilometers from Sanbai Mountain, Anyuan county of Jiangxi province. He has been a forestry guard since 1980 after retiring from the army. He helps protect the forest from poachers and forest fires.
“The mountain is the land of our country. Protecting the forest is to guard our country,” Gong said.
His life as a forestry guard hasn’t been easy. In the 1980s, Gong earned less than 100 yuan monthly. Besides patrolling, he conducted door-to-door checks to ensure villagers were not felling trees.
Gong promoted awareness of forest protection to every villager, and whenever he found poachers cutting down trees, he reported them to the police. Chopping trees meant the forest would slowly lose the capacity to conserve water.
Gong knew since the 1970s from village elders that the river has been supplying fresh water to Hong Kong. “Chinese people should care and help each other,” he said. “Hong Kong people are my compatriots. As a son of the mountain, protecting the hill and the river is my honor, also my responsibility.”
Hong Kong people, on their part, have made donations to education on the mainland as a way of thanking the local people for protecting the water supply. Since 2007, the Federation of Hong Kong Shenzhen Associations has donated to the Tianxin Wulong elementary school, Tianxin Xinhuai elementary school and Anyuan No 1 Middle School in Anyuan county, as well as to setting up scholarships for students admitted by universities. The Hong Kong Yanai Foundation donated 10 million yuan to build a Siyuan primary school in the county.
Gong hopes more Hong Kong people will visit the mountain source of their mother river. He also wants to visit the special administrative region. “Hong Kong should be a prosperous city and people there must be very warm,” he said.
Gong said he now faces fewer challenges protecting the forests. Local villagers have become aware of the importance of conservation. With improved living standards, they do not need to cut down trees to build houses.
On the other side of the river source, in Huichang county, next to Anyuan county, people moving out of Qingfeng village are adapting to their new lives.
Xie Jiawan said children now have easier access to improved education. They can go to school — only a 10-minute walk from where they live.
Xie Jiawan’s new house in the township center has an area of about 150 square meters over three floors. The government built a concrete road to villagers’ homes and installed street lamps and sewer pipes. He said the improvements mark a great change for community life. In the past, all the people had was a mud road.
There is a Chinese saying: Living from what the land and sea can give. Villagers at the Dongjiang River source take this to be their living principle, with the added premise of “not destroying the environment”. To guard the mother river of Hong Kong people, some have left their 300-year-old ancestral houses, while others guard the forest foot by foot.
For those older generations of the Hong Kong people who experienced the drought, the Dongjiang River also carries the kindness of the Jiangxi people. Meanwhile, to the young people of Hong Kong who live without the water shortage problem, the name of the river seems remote and strange.
More exchanges and mutual visits between people from the Dongjiang River source and Hong Kong should be held to strengthen the bonds of the people. That is the wish of all those interviewed in this article.