d. The Poyang Waterway System
This system drains the entire area of Kiangzi province. Every hsien, city, and important town is reached by waterway. Waterways are the only means of communication in this province as well as in all the provinces of Southeastern China, before the advent of railways. The lower part of the Kiangsi waterway system suffers the same irregularities as those of the lower Yangtze as both are on low land. So, to regulate it, a similar work as that for the Yangtze should be applied. The Poyang Lake should be divided by deep channels from the junction of each river, and these should join together to form larger channels and finally unite into one main channel at a point near Chuki and, running through the narrow part of the lake, join the Yangtze at Hukow. The sides of the deep channels should be lined with submerged stone ridges as high as the shallow part of the lake, whereby the channels would serve the purpose of draining as well as of navigation.
The shallow space beside those channels will be reclaimed into arable land in due time. So the work of regulating the Poyang channels will be well paid by reclamation.
e. The Han River
This river is navigable for small crafts through its main body up to Hanchung in the southwest corner of Shensi; and through its branches up to Nanyang and Shekichen in the southwest corner of Honan. This navigable stream commands quite a large area of watershed. The upper part, that is above Siangyang, is in mountainous country. From Siangyang to Shayang it is in a wide, open valley and below Shayang it runs into the Hupeh swamp.
To improve this river dams should be built above Siangyang in order to utilize water power as well as to make locks for larger crafts to ascend to the navigable point now navigable only for small crafts. Below Siangyang, where the river is very wide and shallow, rudimental dikes should be constructed of stones or piles in order to restrict its channel and to reclaim the shallow space on both sides by natural process. In the swamp, the river should be straightened and deepened. A new canal between the Han and the Yangtze at Shasi should be constructed to provide a shorter passage between Hankow and Shasi and beyond. This canal in the swamp should be open to the lakes along its course so as to let the silt-carrying water enter into them in the flood season, thus filling them up quicker.
f. The Tungting System
This system of waterway drains the whole province of Hunan and beyond. The most important branches are the Siangkiang and the Yuankiang. The former runs through Hunan into the northeast corner of Kwangsi province and connects with the Sikiang system by a canal near Kweilin. The latter runs across the west border of Hunan into the eastern part of Kweichow province. Both could be improved for the navigation of large crafts. The canal between the Yangtze and the Sikiang watersheds should be reconstructed and modern locks should be provided in it as well as along the two waterways. Thus, vessels of ten feet draught may freely pass between the Yangtze and the Sikiang. The Tungting Lake should be drained by deep channels in the same manner as the Poyang Lake, and its shallow space reclaimed by natural process.
g. The Upper Yangtze
I include the part from Hankow to Ichang also in the Upper Yangtze, because it is at Hankow that the ocean navigation ends, and the inland water communication begins. So, in dealing with the improvement of the Upper Yangtze, I will begin at Hankow. At present the Upper Yangtze is navigable for shallow draught steamers up to Kiating, a point about 1,100 miles above Hankow by river. If improvement be made farther on, than shallow draught steamers could navigate right up to Chengtu, the capital of Szechuen province, and the center of the richest plain in West China, about sixty miles up the Min River.