Page:The international development of China (IA developmentchina00suny).pdf/129

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DEVELOPMENT OF CHINA
95

should be regulated by submerged dikes to secure a uniform channel and to make the velocity of the current even, so that a stable fairway could be maintained all the year round. The traffic of this river would be sufficiently great to pay for all the improvements which we propose to make.

(2) From Wuchow to the Junction of the Liukiang. At this junction, a river port should be built to connect the deep navigation from the sea and the shallow navigation of Hungshui Kiang and the Liukiang which penetrate the rich mineral districts of Northwest Kwangsi and Southwest Kweichow. This port will be about fifty miles from Shunchow which is the junction of the Nanning branch of the river. So here we have only to improve a distance of fifty miles, for the improvement of the river between Shunchow and Wuchow will be included in the plan for the Nanning Port. Dams and locks would be necessary to make this part of the river navigable for ten-foot draught vessels. But these dams at the same time would serve the purpose of producing water power.

(3) Kweikiang or the North Branch of the West River from Wuchow to Kweilin and beyond. As Kweikiang is smaller, shallower and has more rapids along its course, so its improvement will be more difficult than that of the other parts of the waterway. But this will be a very profitable proposition in this Southern waterway project, for this river not only serves the purpose of transportation in this rich territory but will also serve as a passage for through traffic between the