Hong Ky canal, Lam Chau, Ha Nam province. The canal was hewn from the Thai Hanh Son mountain range in the 1960s. The canal was chiseled by villagers with rudimentary tools, without the use of bulky machinery.
Lam Chau has a history of frequent droughts. In the approximately 500 years before the founding of the People’s Republic of China, more than 100 severe water shortages occurred in the region. About 1650 people starved to death during the drought between 1942 and 1943. Water has been the dream of many generations of people in the region.
Hong Ky Channel.
Everyone was very happy when in 1959, Yang Gui, the local leader, proposed to build a canal to bring water from the Zhanghe River. It took the villagers 10 years to complete the large-scale project. They wound ropes around their waists to dig holes to the steep cliffs and break through the hard rock with homemade explosives.
About 300,000 people participated in construction and 81 people died during construction. Once completed, the canal has changed the lives of local people a lot.
Every year, about half of the water in Lam Chau comes from the canal, mainly for irrigation and industrial production. People reduce poverty and the ecosystem is improved.
At first, the canal was designed to be used for 20 years. But today, the building is still active.