This is Bao Zhengbin. And if all goes as planned, this is what he'll be doing for the next 5 weeks. Hailing from the city of Wuhan in China's central Hubei province, Bao is embarking on a journey that will see him swim 1,200 kilometers down the longest and most famous river in Asia- the Yangtze. His goal? To reach the shores of Shanghai where he can visit the ongoing 2010 World Expo.
Earlier this week, relatives, friends and well-wishers gathered to bid farewell to Bao before his big splash. Dressed head to toe in swim gear, Bao got primed for his journey as he recited two pieces of poetry for the crowd. One was Mao Zedong's 1935 poem “The Long March”.
Floods, storms, drought, snow. Weather wise- It’s been a strange year so far in many parts of China.
On July 22nd, the city of Zhouqu in Gansu Province experienced the heaviest rain in the region’s history. The rain caused a catastrophic landslide that killed more than 1,400 people, with an additional 300 people reported missing. And what is strange is that the northwest Gansu is traditionally a dry area.
Meanwhile, the Three Gorges dam in the Yangtze river witnessed its most intense flooding since its establishment. In July, the Dam reached a flood peak of 70,000 cubic meters per second exceeding even the Yangtze River Floods back in 1998 that caused thousands of casualties.
Qinghai Province is a sparking jewel set on the northwest plateau of China, where in the Yangtze River, the Yellow River as well as the Mekong River take their source. The scenic quality of Qinghai's widely varying landscape is superb and enticing, offering from the ranges of gleaming mountains with glacier-capped peaks over 6000 meters high to the ge bi desert dunes of Qaidam, from lush ranchland to the sapphire-like lakes of vast area, all this has created a land of marvel, mystery and persity.
Qinghai Province is a sparking jewel set on the northwest plateau of China, where in the Yangtze River, the Yellow River as well as the Mekong River take their source. The scenic quality of Qinghai's widely varying landscape is superb and enticing, offering from the ranges of gleaming mountains with glacier-capped peaks over 6000 meters high to the ge bi desert dunes of Qaidam, from lush ranchland to the sapphire-like lakes of vast area, all this has created a land of marvel, mystery and persity.
The ongoing debates on climate change and global warming have been gaining in significance following the severe drought in Southwestern China, and the vicious winter storms which have hit the North, resulting in some of the worst winter weather in over 40 years.
The Yellow River is the longest river in Northern China. Its waters are used to irrigate almost 15% of China's total arable land, and in turn, around 140 million people.
But the regional drought and lack of rainfall in 2009 has meant that the Yellow River's water reserves have been plummeting. The Yellow River Conservancy Commission says the river's water levels had fallen 30% compared to previous years.