Ferry services fading as roads improve in Guizhou

GUIYANG — Lu Xiyong treasures a photograph capturing him using a bamboo pole to push his ferry away from the shore.

The photo was taken last year. On that day, he returned the boat he had worked on for 18 years to the government, bidding farewell to his days as a ferryman.

Lu, 60, lives in Fengyan, a small village next to the Wujiang River in Weng'an county, Guizhou province. Situated on the eastern side of Wumeng Mountain, the Wujiang is considered the mother river of Guizhou. The flowing waters have nourished neighboring villages while also hindering villagers' travels.

Before roads were properly built and maintained in the area, ferries served as a primary mode of transportation for locals. However, with the expansion of rural road networks in mountainous regions, ferries have gradually faded into history.

The Shuangchi Ferry Dock, where Lu used to work, had existed for about a century.

"Villagers used ferries to visit relatives or go to market fairs. It was normal to take a ferry more than a dozen times a day," Lu recalled.

"But the road conditions alongside the river were poor then. It took up to an hour for villagers to trek to the dock."

Lu said he can't recall precisely when the decline in ferry passengers began. Since roads have been improved, it now takes villagers only 10 minutes to drive to the dock.

"More roads means less demand for ferries," he said, adding that less cargo is transported by the boats nowadays. Lu is now a farmer and also volunteers to collect garbage from the river.

Huang Jiangkai, deputy head of the county's transportation bureau, said the county has formed a road network of six expressways and more than 1,500 kilometers of rural roads. "Ferries have been replaced by roads," said Huang, adding that the number of ferry docks in the county's four townships along the river has declined from 11 to just one since last year.

In Yuqing county, the Maluo Ferry Dock is one of only four that are still in operation, while the other 23 have closed.

Shang Kongli and his wife are the third generation of his family engaged in the ferry business.

Shang said that their business was running well when they took over from their uncle in 2011, with dozens of passengers crossing the river daily during peak periods.

In 2015, when an expressway became operational, cutting the travel time from their village to the other side of the river in half, the number of villagers using the ferry dwindled significantly.

To make a living, Shang decided to leave the ferry business to his wife and go to Guiyang, the provincial capital, to find a job. Song Meimai, Shang's wife, also farmed oranges to earn extra income.

According to Song, while enhanced transportation options have impacted the ferry business, they have also been compensated for their losses in another way.

"In the past, I had to carry oranges, pigs and other agricultural products down the mountain for sale. Now, the buyers can drive to our doorstep, saving a lot of time and making sales much easier," said Song, 33.

Gao Zhan, a transportation official in the county, said that over 2,000 km of rural roads have been built in the county, and every township is no more than a 20-minute drive from an expressway.

"The Wujiang River is no longer an obstacle for transportation. Ferries have gradually become history," Gao said.

Xinhua