Modern demands end life on ancient China waterway

YANGZHOU - For centuries, boatmen like 16-year-old Li Jinbiao have plied the waters of China's Grand Canal, transporting goods in overloaded barges that double as homes.

But the boatmen now face the prospect of being grounded as China prepares to revitalise the world's longest and oldest man-made waterway by replacing thousands of rusty river boats with larger and more efficient barges.

"I am looking forward to life ashore," said Li, standing aboard a barge that also serves as his family home.

His parents plan to sell the boat and move to a nearby town after a local government law banned small vessels from the river to relieve congestion in the waterway, an important supply route for coal to local electrical generators.

"I don't hate the river, but I would like more time to play football with my friends. I can still swim in the canal in summertime," Li said.

The Grand Canal was completed in 608 during the reign of Sui Emperor Yangdi to connect the fertile rice paddies south of the Yangtze with the capital 1800km to the north.

Changes in river patterns, war and neglect in an age of railroads, highways and airplanes have closed the northern and southern reaches of the canal.

But in the watery Jiangsu province, the remaining 683km are crammed with barges loaded with grains, crushed rocks and coal.

China's US$2.5 billion ($4 billion) plan to improve traffic along the canal complements a plan to develop ports along the Yangtze River.

Unlike the Yangtze River, shipping along the Grand Canal is mostly a small, family run affair.

Li's parents, who have operated a 60-tonne barge for the past decade, will sell it for about US$4000 and buy an apartment two blocks away from the river.

Li's mother will find a job in town to fund her son's education, but the family will retain its ties to the canal.

"Papa will work on a large barge belonging to my auntie, buying coal on the border of Jiangsu with Shandong and selling it here," Li said.

"In some villages in my county near the canal, almost every family makes its living from the barge business," said barge-owner Dai.

Dai's 400-tonne barge, with a regular route to Shanghai, would seem to make him a success. But the father-of-two is being forced to tighten his belt as his profits are squeezed by rising costs.

"I am going to quit smoking. I make less than last year," he said.

Dai and his wife are raising their children on about US$2500 a year. But a four-day round-trip from Yangzhou to Shanghai costs about US$250 more in fuel alone compared with last year.

He said this year was the worst in his decade on the canal. Barges that had been lured to Shanghai to transport steel were returning to Yangzhou, and the resulting competition was lowering bids for new business.

But Dai said his family would not leave the canal.

"The business is still better than a migrant worker, more profitable and free. No matter what, I am still a captain."

- REUTERS