US EUROPE AFRICA ASIA 中文
    China / Cover Story

    Red river keeps on rolling

    By Yang Jun/Zhao Lei (China Daily) Updated: 2015-03-27 08:08

    Red river keeps on rolling

    The Chishui, or "Red Water", River is a tributary of the Yangtze River. The world-famous Moutai liquor is made with water drawn from the river, which also holds a special place in modern Chinese history because of events during the Long March in 1935. WANG ZHUANGFEI/CHINA DAILY

    Every Chinese person knows that the Chishui River in Guizhou province has two claims to fame: One military, the other cultural.

    It's said that 80 years ago, during the Long March, Mao Zedong stood on the banks of the river and stared deep into the wine-red water before giving the order to cross the swollen torrent.

    During a four-month period in spring 1935, the Communist forces crossed the river four times to evade Kuomintang troops and negate their attempts to strand them.

    The victory saved the Red Army from annihilation, and many historians consider it to be the turning point that helped Mao and the Chinese Communist Party to establish the People's Republic 14 years later.

    The river is also famous because Moutai, the best-known alcoholic beverage in China, is made with water drawn from it. The potent liquor is so highly rated that late premier Zhou Enlai toasted Richard Nixon with it at a State banquet held during the former US president's first visit to China in 1972. Nixon is said to have been deeply impressed by the drink's unique flavor.

    The Chishui, or "Red Water", River is a tributary of the Yangtze River, and rises in Zhenxiong county, Yunnan province, before flowing along the border between Guizhou and Sichuan province. Its name is derived from the color of the water during the flood season when iron-rich soil from the riverbank is washed downstream.

    Sewage 'lagoon'

    Many years later, the two world leaders and almost everybody who took part in the action along the river have passed away, and the local scenery has changed tremendously. Even the river itself is different.

    "In the recent past, we poured domestic sewage directly into the river, unwittingly polluting the water," said Chen Lin, from Huaiyangdong village in Tanchang township. The 47-year-old has lived beside the Yanjin River, a major tributary of the Chishui River, all his life. "The water was not so clean as it was when I was a child," he said.

    Yang Pushu, another Huaiyangdong resident, recalled that when he worked at a department store in Chishui city 10 years ago, a large number of factories upstream, mainly paper mills, used the river as a 'lagoon' for sewage and industrial waste.

    "A lot of different types of colored foam floated on the surface, and the smell was terrible," he said. "No one dared drink water taken from the river because it stank even after we boiled it."

    A metaphorical stench also reached the offices of the provincial leaders, sparking concerns that if they failed to rectify the situation the effect on local cities, whose economies are reliant on tourism and the liquor industry, would be catastrophic.

    According to official statistics, the two industries contribute a combined 20 percent of the province's annual tax uptake. However, their operations were being severely disrupted by the activities of small distilleries, coalmines, cement factories, and paper mills that discharged vast amounts of pollutants into the river basin, despite regulations and guidelines issued by the provincial government in 2011 and 2012.

    During a 2012 inspection of land along the Guizhou stretch of the river, Yuan Zhou, deputy head of the Provincial People's Congress' Standing Committee, described the ecological situation as "astonishingly bad" and ordered the local authorities and businesses to take all necessary measures to solve the problem.

    Top priority

    In 2013, the Guizhou government named the cleanup of the Chishui River as the No 1 project on its agenda for long-term environmental protection.

    To identify the specific responsibilities of local officials, a mechanism was set up to appoint city mayors, district heads and county leaders as "river section chiefs" who are personally responsible for environmental protection on their stretch of the river.

    Liu Ningrui, chief inspector of regulatory compliance at the environmental protection bureau in Renhuai, a county-level city, said the mechanism has been very effective.

    "Now, all the county and township leaders are section chiefs. They pay close attention to the supervision and regulation of local enterprises, and to raising people's awareness of environmental protection," he said.

    Designated teams patrol the riverbanks every morning to ensure that factories aren't pouring pollutants into the river and that villagers aren't disposing of household waste inappropriately.

    "The section chiefs have worked with my bureau to close down several unlicensed distilleries, and they have also ordered dozens of businesses to cease or upgrade operations that caused pollution," Liu said. "Of course, one important reason behind this active cooperation is that they know anyone who fails to conserve the river will be held accountable and punished."

    All the paper mills in the city have been closed down and the employees have either been transferred to farmland where they grow organic produce or work as tour guides.

    The government has also helped large distilleries, which contribute huge amounts of tax, but are also major polluters, to build and operate six wastewater disposal facilities, according to Liu.

    "These facilities treat about 1,800 metric tons of wastewater generated by distilleries every day. We have decided to build more of them to ensure that at least 7,000 tons of wastewater can be processed every day," he said.

    To control the volume of wastewater, nine townships in Renhuai have been banned from approving new distilleries or the expansion of existing plants, and the local government is making strenuous efforts to relocate distilleries to areas designated for the liquor industry, he added.

    Previous Page 1 2 Next Page

    Highlights
    Hot Topics
    ...
    精品无码一区二区三区在线| 久久精品无码专区免费青青| 国产AV无码专区亚洲AV男同 | 亚洲AV无码成H人在线观看| 中文亚洲日韩欧美| 中文字幕无码av激情不卡久久| 亚洲av无码潮喷在线观看| 日韩欧美一区二区三区中文精品| 亚洲中久无码不卡永久在线观看| 国产精品无码午夜福利| 亚洲日韩精品无码一区二区三区| 最近免费中文字幕大全高清大全1| 亚洲毛片av日韩av无码| av一区二区人妻无码| 无码区国产区在线播放| 中文字幕人妻无码一夲道| 综合久久久久久中文字幕亚洲国产国产综合一区首 | 亚洲精品无码99在线观看| 精品无码AV一区二区三区不卡| 国产日韩AV免费无码一区二区 | 中文字幕av无码专区第一页| 久久久久久无码国产精品中文字幕 | 在线a亚洲v天堂网2019无码| 欧美日韩不卡一区二区三区中文字| 国产成人三级经典中文| 日本阿v网站在线观看中文| 三级理论中文字幕在线播放| 亚洲中文字幕久久精品无码喷水 | 狠狠躁天天躁中文字幕无码| 午夜无码视频一区二区三区| 亚洲v国产v天堂a无码久久| 日韩电影无码A不卡| 中文无码一区二区不卡αv| 久久人妻AV中文字幕| 人妻少妇久久中文字幕一区二区| 久久精品亚洲中文字幕无码麻豆| 今天免费中文字幕视频| 日本乱人伦中文字幕网站| 亚洲日韩中文在线精品第一| 少妇无码AV无码一区| 亚洲av永久无码制服河南实里|