The International Development of China

by Yat-sen Sun

With a profit of $30,000,000 in the course of twenty years before us, it is a worth-while proposition to take up. Now let us see what amount of capital should be invested before the whole project of our reclamation work could be completed. In order to reclaim this 450 square miles of land two hundred miles of embankments have to be built. Part of these projected embankments will be along the shore line, a greater part will be in midstream, and a small part in deep channel. Those along the shore line need not be bothered with except that the concave surface must be protected with stone or concrete work. Those in midstream should be filled up with stone ten feet or less below low-water level just enough to give a resistance to the undercurrent in order to prevent it from running sideward. Thus the main current would follow the line of least resistance and cut the channel, as directed by the rudimental embankment, by its own force. This rudimental embankment would cost less than the sea wall which I estimated at $200,000 per mile. Except at one point, that is, the junction of the North Channel at Mason Point, which has to be blocked up entirely, the cost for which, as has been estimated by experts, would amount to over a million dollars for a distance of two or three miles. Thus the profits accruing from the reclaimed lands would be quite sufficient to pay for the embankments. So far we see that the regulating of the Yangtze from the sea to Kiangyin is a self-paying proposition from the reclamation of land alone, aside from the improvement of the navigation of the Yangtze River.

c. From Kiangyin to Wuhu

This part of the river is quite different in nature from that below Kiangyin. Its channel is more stable and only in a few places sharp curves occur and the water has cut into the concave sides of the land, thus occasionally making new channels along the sides of the two shores. This section of the river is about 180 miles in length. See Map VII.

The regulating works here would be more complicated than those below Kiangyin. For besides the dilated parts which have to be reclaimed in the same manner as those of the lower part of the river, the sharp curves have to be straightened and side channels have to be blocked, and midstream islands have to be removed, and narrows have to be widened to give uniform width to the river. However, most of the existing embankments in this part could be left as they are except some of the concave surfaces of the shores have to be protected by either stone or concrete work. The regulating works of the channel and the embankments can be done by artificial means as well as by natural processes so as to economize as much as possible. The cost of the whole works of this part of the river cannot be accurately estimated until a detail survey is made; but in a rough guess $400,000 per mile may not be very far from the mark. Thus 180 miles will cost $72,000,000 exclusive of the expenses for the widening of the point between Nanking and Pukow, in which case valuable properties will have to be removed.

The Kwachow cut is to straighten the three sharp curves in front of and above Chinkiang by converting them into one. Two and a half miles of the land in the northern shore opposite Chinkiang will have to be cut into in order to form a new channel of a mile or more in width. The part of the river in front of, and above and below Chinkiang has to be reclaimed. The new land thus reclaimed would form the water front of Chinkiang city, the value of which may be sufficient to defray the cost of the work and compensate for the land taken away on the northern shore, to form the new channel. So the works of this part will be at least a self-paying proposition.

The narrow between Pukow and Hsiakwan from pier to pier is barely six cables wide. The depth of the water in this narrow from the shallowest to the deepest is six to twenty-two fathoms. The land of the Hsiakwan side had occasionally sunk away on account of the too rapid current and the depth of the water. This indicates that this part is too narrow for the volume of the Yangtze water to pass. Therefore a wider passage must be provided for. In order to do so, the whole town of Hsiakwan must be sacrificed as the river must be widened right up to the foot of the Lion Hill, so as to provide a passage of a mile wide at this point. What the cost for the compensation of this valuable property of Hsiakwan will be will have to be submitted to the experts for a careful investigation before it can be determined. This will be the most costly part of the whole project for the regulating of the Yangtze. But undoubtedly some equally valuable property can be created along the riverside near by in place of Hsiakwan, so that a balance may be realized by the work itself.

The channel below the Nanking Pukow Narrow will follow the short passage alongside of the foot of the Mofushan to Wulungshan. The loop around the island north of Nanking will have to be blocked up in order to straighten the course of the river.

The section of the river from Nanking to Wuhu is almost in a straight line with three dilatations along its course one just above Nanking the other two just above and below the East and West pillars. To regulate the first dilatation the channel above Me-tse-chow should be blocked up and the island outside of it should be partly cut to widen the proper channel. To regulate the other two dilatations the river should be made to curve toward Taiping Fu to follow the deep channel on the right bank. The left channel should be blocked up. The islands along this curve should be partly or wholly removed. To regulate the dilatation above the Pillars, the Friends Channel should be blocked up and Friends Island be partly cut away. And the left bank below Wuhu should also be cut to give the channel a uniform width.