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~~f~!:; ~'~: '.~~o' 00240~ /~~!t~; '"0' o~';O;o WATER! RESOURCE DEVEIL()PMENT PROGRAMS 23 ,. The Yellow River, which drops 16,000 feet from its mountain source over a 3,000-mile course to the sea draining a third of a mil- lion square miles, illustrates China's problem better. It may be the heaviest silt carrier~mong ~ig riv~rs an:yw~ere. Therefo~e, 3;s it ap- proaches the ocean It has hfted Itself III Its own. bed wIth Its own silt a considerable distance over the surrounding plain. It fre- quently breaks its banks and goes threshing around for hundreds of miles in its rich plain. Since most of China's 600-million-~lus popu- lation are concentrated along its rivers, and the Yellow RIver inter- mittently flows through, over, or around the metropolis of Tientsin, resultant havoc cannot be measured in normal terms. In recorded history the river has changed its course 26 times. Thatl in the in- stance of this single stream, is an indication of the Chmese Com- munists Yellow River problem. They have a basinwide plan for full potential development and control, reviewed, revised, and rec- ommended by their U, S. S. R. counselors. Millions of Chinese now toil along the Yellow River from its source to the sea, building all manner of. beneficial works] including i~ the canyons a couple of hydroelectnc plants each WIth the capaCIty of Boulder Dam under flood-regulating reservoirs. They can be at their tasks for decades, so that, as theIr leaders frequently tell them, Communist China at- tains the economic strength to survive and prevail in the world. WATER TRANSPORT IN RED CHINA Inland waterways have long served as the prime movers of China. In a land of large distances, larger populations, few highways and railroads, but major rivers tapping the consuming and producing centers, it was inevitable that water transport be made a major fea- ture of the country'sriver development. This has been and is being done on an all out basis that in its entirety eclipses, both in velocity and totality, that of the United States. Some perspective can be gained by considering only the Yangtze River passing through 9 Provinces and cradling 200 million persons- more than the total United States population-who rely on the river for their highways. On the deep Yangtze channel, 1,000-ton sea- going steamships ply the year round from the great port of Shang- hai for 1,555 miles up to the recent national capital of Chungking, and smaller vessels go 186 miles beyond to the city of Tinchu. Two- thousand-ton vessels (13-foot draft) operate in high water from Hankau to Tchang Gorge, which is 404 miles below Chungking. After improvements now outlined and commenced, vessels up to 10,000 tons will be able to operate all the way from the ocean to Chungking. One scheme, engineered but not finally adopted or put in construction as yet, plans to get the huge traffic past the squeeze-point in the Yang- tze Gorge by a shipway through a multiple-purpose dam, higher than today's highest at Boulder, with a 100 billion-kilo watt-hour power production. This is unique in the whole world. Comparati,ve mathematics are meaningless to reflect China's total waterways traffic or velocity of increase, since the Communists keep no all-inclusive national total tonnage or ton-mile figures embracing sampan, scow, junk, and powered vessels that are myriad. Water- haul facilities, whenever feasible, are invariably embraced in China's vast river program as a national policy essential to economic strength. .. o.~: ;~.::;; ~:-.. ~~: ';.~~~-;:o "~/< ".~~.::~~~?;.: :~>._ ,t;:.:;;~::;:.~~.~_~~~~t,';}>;~i3::;:;