Water conservation drive gets boost

BEIJING - Veteran Lyu Qingrong, 55, is a well-known "river guardian" in his hometown, Xingjiagou village, in northeast China's Liaoning province.

Over the past 34 years, he has collected nearly 100 tonnes of garbage with his bare hands from the banks of the Biliu River, a major water supply source for Dalian, a coastal city with about eight million people.

Lyu started collecting the garbage in 1984 when he retired from the army and became a forest ranger. Lyu was one of the earliest environment volunteers at a time when public awareness was low.