Dam cleanup team helps protect Yangtze

After learning about the plan, Zhou thought about joining the team. However, his family opposed the notion as the construction business was going well.

"I told my family that I was born and raised along the Yangtze River," he said. "I eat its fish and drink its water, so it is my responsibility to protect the river.

"People cannot only think about making money in their life, but also need to do something meaningful."

He said his two daughters were already grown up and the family's expenses were not so high, which meant the salary from cleaning the river was sufficient.

In April 2006, he gave up the construction business, bought a boat with friends and founded the dam's first debris removal team with a dozen villagers.

Since then, he has risen at 5:30 am and returned home after dark. In order to motivate his team members, he always does the hardest job.

During winter, he is the first to jump into the freezing water to remove sticks obstructing the boat's propeller.

"As I managed a squad of soldiers well in the military, I can also manage a team of cleaning 'frogmen'," he said.

During peak times, there are almost 100 frogmen removing objects from the river in Zigui, and more than 20 retired soldiers have joined Zhou's team.

He admits that removing the floating objects is hard work. During summer, temperatures on deck can rise to well above 50 C. Meanwhile, he needs to remove almost 20 kilograms of objects from each scoop of river water, a process he repeats nearly 1,000 times a day.

In November 2020, due to a change in wind and current, almost 40,000 cubic meters of floating objects were found at a river bend in the county, equal to the amount normally scooped up by the team in a whole year.

Zhou organized more than 30 boats and 100 people to remove the objects. They worked for more than 40 days and removed more than 2,000 tons of objects.

During that time, his mother had a cerebral hemorrhage, but Zhou stayed at his post. His mother stayed at the hospital for three months, and was looked after mostly by his wife and brothers. Zhou only had time to check up on her at night after work.

He said he felt indebted to his wife, who had taken on most of the responsibility for managing the family's affairs.