Society

Water project causing many to leave homes

By Wang Qian and Sheng Jundong (China Daily)
Updated: 2011-05-06 08:06

A boy in Xichuan county, Henan province, says goodbye on Thursday to a family member before moving to Dengzhou city in the province. [Xiang Mingchao / China Daily]

XICHUAN, Henan - Although he had already taken care to pack all of his belongings, Liu Youshan looked around several times at his empty home on Thursday, afraid he might have forgotten something.

"Things can be packed, but the feelings and the familiar atmosphere cannot," Liu sighed, saying goodbye for the last time in his mind to his forefathers in heaven.

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Along with the 70-year-old Liu, another 692 people in Xichuan county, Henan province, moved to new houses in Yaodian county on Thursday. They are leaving because their old homes will soon be flooded by the South-to-North Water Diversion Project, according to the provincial government.

The large undertaking is designed to transfer water from the water-rich south, mainly the Yangtze River, to the drought-prone north, providing water to more than 20 cities, including Beijing.

To make way for the project, another 85,000 people in Henan will have to abandon the places where their families had lived for generations by the end of August, the government said.

For Liu, leaving the long-time home of his family has been hard. He noted how good and sweet the water tastes in the Danjiang River as it passes Xichuan and how beautiful the surroundings are there.

Unfortunately for him, the river area is part of the central route of the water diversion project.

"I really don't want to leave, but I have to," Liu said, patting an orange tree standing near his door.

Unlike Liu, Wu Chang'ai, 68, was eager to move from his shabby old house to a brand-new two-floor building.

"All of my family was gathered on Wednesday to have a dinner and celebrate our new life," Wu smiled.

And the new homes haven't been the only attraction to people like Wu. More opportunities to gain an education also exist in Yaodian.

Liu said it will be convenient for his grandson to go to school there.

This is not the first time Henan has uprooted part of its population for the water diversion project. In 2009 and 2010, the enormous undertaking caused about 76,000 people to move.

Cui Jun, deputy director of the relocation management office in Nanyang city, told China Daily that the relocation this time will affect more people, will occur in a shorter time period than the previous one and, as a result, will present greater difficulties.

"The relocation will divide the affected people into 111 groups and last about 112 days," Cui told China Daily. "We are making full preparations for this complicated migration."

Throughout 2011, the water diversion project is expected to cause about 190,000 residents in Hubei and Henan provinces to be resettled. They will join the 149,000 who have moved so far, E Jingping, the head of the South-to-North Water Diversion Office under the State Council said in February, according to the Xinhua News Agency.

In the diversion project, water will flow northward along three routes: an eastern route, a middle route and a western route.

The middle route will be completed in 2014 and will lead to the relocation of 345,000 people in Hubei and Henan provinces. Those affected live near the Danjiangkou Reservoir, which is the source of water for the middle route.