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Going upriver on the Chang Jiang (Yangtze), coal loading and unloading was a common sight. This wasn't so surprising since it is China's main fuel source (every home that could afford heating had a coal furnace)(unless they were rich or living in a high rise)(or maybe if they were living in a high rise...). What did surprise me was that it was always being loaded by hand! Here in Badong there is a light green-blue truck with two very small guys shoveling the coal off the side of the truck into a heap. This heap would later be shoveled down one of the chutes onto a waiting barge. In the western world the cost of labor would be much higher for two guys' working over the lifespan of a hydraulic dump truck, but apparently not here. A bit further upriver I watched the chute stage without the benefit of elevation--a continuous ant line of people exchanging chits for each yoke-load of coal dumped onto a barge. It was hard to fathom how long it would take to full a barge with coal at a walking pace, but it couldn't have been more than a day or two with 20 people... Previous Image
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