Part 2 of the Dongjiang Expedition series picks up at the same open-air garbage dump from Part 1.
Tag: garbage
Dongjiang Expedition Part 1: The meaning of “free-range”
You may recall that awhile back, I participated in an expedition to explore the watershed of Dongjiang River, the source of 80% of Hong Kong’s water supply. Over 90% of the watershed’s land area is in Guangdong Province, while the remainder is in Jiangxi Province. As you can see from the route map above, we traced the river from its mouth (lower right) at the Pearl River Delta (虎門) up to its source (upper right) in the mountains of southern Jiangxi.
Through written treaties, China has promised to provide a continuous supply of Dongjiang water to Hong Kong as well as maintain Dongjiang’s high water quality. Despite these promises, many are skeptical of China’s sincerity.
For several reasons (first, political sensitivity, then, laziness), I’ve held off on posting about that expedition…until now.
Sanniangwan garbage mystery – partially solved
Remember all the garbage that washed up on the beaches of Sanniangwan after the last typhoon? That was an extreme example, but the truth is that regular tides bring in enough trash to litter the beaches every day. We often speculated on the source of all this garbage – How much of it came from Sanniangwan locals? How much washed in from shores far away? Sanniangwaners insisted that it washed down from the rivers feeding the estuary, namely Dafengjiang (大風江） and Luerhuanjiang （鹿耳環江).
A visit to Lovers’ Island
Lovers’ Island (情人島) is a small island, less than 1 square kilometer in area, located a few kilometers away from the fishing village of Sanniangwan, Guangxi.
Our team went there yesterday, hoping to dig up a few whale and dolphin skeletons that were buried there a few years ago.
From afar, Lovers’ Island, with its brightly painted lighthouse, small pine forest, tidal pools full of colorful sea creatures, and wide sandy beach, is beautiful, and deep down it really is a romantic spot, but unfortunately it is yet another great place ruined by…