This Tuesday commemorates the third year since the South-to-North Water Diversion Project’s central route has been in operation. This monumental infrastructure initiative was conceived to channel water from the southern part of the nation to the parched northern areas via three distinct routes.
Up to this point, over 10 billion cubic meters of water have been transferred to Northern China through the central route, positively impacting the lives of more than 53 million individuals.
The environmental enhancements resulting from conservation efforts in the water supply regions – namely Henan, Hubei, and Shaanxi provinces – have appealed to investors and created fresh employment prospects in green sectors like tourism and ecological farming, thus benefiting the local communities.
Xia Qinghua, a 43-year-old local, is one such beneficiary. After a 12-year stint at a small toy factory in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, he decided to return to his roots in Chenjiawan, a village in Hubei’s Shiyan city, this past June.
While a job deficit kept him away for long, the scenario transformed once Hubei Beidouxing Eco-agriculture and Forestry Co started investing in the area in 2014, drawn in by the improved environmental conditions.
“There’s been a huge positive shift in the environmental health of my hometown. When I moved out at 17, I had never seen an egret. Now, birds are a common sight. It’s a beautiful transformation,” Xia explains.
In Shenzhen, despite making over 5,000 yuan ($756) per month, Xia often worked till 11 pm.
“While the pay was good, the absence of family left me feeling isolated and lost,” he confesses.
In 2011, he tried moving back to Chenjiawan. Unfortunately, the lack of commercial opportunities in the economically backward region thwarted his plans. Xia invested 50,000 yuan in a small truck to start a transportation business. A year of losses left him 20,000 yuan in debt, and he had no choice but to return to Shenzhen.
Post this setback, he only came home once a year during the Spring Festival holiday. Each departure from his family was a heart-wrenching experience.
“I distinctly remember the evening I left home on the fifth day of the Lunar New Year in 2013. My wife, my daughter, and I wept in each other’s arms. They didn’t want me to leave,” he recalls, his eyes misting over.
Today, he manages the warehouse at a farm run by Hubei Beidouxing, earning around 2,000 yuan a month. Although it’s less than what he made in Shenzhen, he’s happier now. He’s close to his family, takes care of his sick 70-year-old father, and supplements his income by leasing 0.5 hectares of farmland to Hubei Beidouxing which brings in an extra 4,000 yuan annually.
