Reconstruction of the ropeway: project to change ropeways into footbridges in Sichuan, Yunnan and Tibet
Original, GPIG, 03-13-2018
The ropeway is a contraption to cross the river, which is mainly distributed over the cliffs and valleys in Hengduan Mountains Region. People use a steel cable or a thick string to connect the two sides of the valley, and fly over valleys and rivers by means of the overhead cable. One side of the steel cable or thick string connecting both sides of the valley is usually liigher at one end and low at the other. Due to harsh natural condition, the ropeway has been the only “overbridge” for the people in remote mountain areas in Tibet and Yunnan to get out of the mountains and establish a connection with the outside world. “The perilous narrow meandering footpath, ropeway and single-log bridge” is indicative of people’s difficulty in getting out.
The ropeway in Zogang County, Tibet Autonomous Region
In 2009, the Chinese government began to launch a pilot project in Sichuan, Yunnan and Tibet to change ropeways into footbridges. In 2010, initial success was achieved with the pilot project under the efforts of governments at all levels. Sichuan, for the first time initiated a project to change ropeways into ten chain bridges with a total length of 980.17 meters in seven counties like Ganzi Prefecture and Liangshan Prefecture, etc., directly overcoming the difficulty in walking out, going to school, seeing a doctor and increasing income. Yunnan launched five such projects in five counties like Baoshan City, Nujiang Prefecture, Diqing Prefecture, etc. In 2013, as the last bridge in the project to change ropeways into chain bridges was completed, the 84 ropeways stretching over the valleys and cliffs in remote areas in Tibet became a thing in the past, the project to change ropeways into chain bridges has benefited more than 40,000 farmers and herdsmen.
Xiangbaquzhen, a 67-year-old lady who has lived her whole life in Reba Village, Qamdo, Tibet said that, “Since there were bridges, supplies in our village has become more plentiful. And it’s no longer a difficult to go to the county to grind grains and purchase groceries.”
In Qamdo, new bridges were built, but the ropeway still remains. Dawa Tsering, director of the villagers committee in Reba said that, the ropeway is of some historical and cultural importance as it witnessed the transportation development in Tibet and carried in the memory of the local residents. Therefore, they planned to develop it as a travel program with local personality to lead villagers to step into a path pf prosperity.
In 2011, Deng Qiandui, a rural doctor in Nu ethnic group in Lamadi Village, Yueliang Town, Fugong County, Nujiang Lisu Autonomous Prefecture in Yunnan Province came into the public view: the 47-year-old “Ropeway Doctor” with medicines chest flies over the rampant Nujiang river by means of the ropeway.
28 year moving forward, Deng Qiandui, carrying his medicine chest kept going to one bank form the other by means of the ropeway and running on the rough mountain road regardless of day or night. He, who visited patients more than 5,000 times, guarded people’s health with painstaking efforts.
Villages distributed on the two sides of Nujiang River are very close to each other, but it takes people several hours to climb up on the mountain road to see a person in the opposite village. Although the ropeway is convenient, it is hazardous indeed.
At the age of 19, Deng Qiandui started his work as a doctor after completing the training at the township health center. There was a village with over 20 households in the opposite mountain ridge and it took two to three hours to reach there by making a detour to cross the suspension bridge. If Deng did not want to waste time on the road to see a patient, he had to depend on a 125-meter ropeway. Work as well as responsibility forced him to learn to use the ropeway.
Deng Qiandui, a local doctor, is going his rounds by ropeway
Gradually, Deng became proficient in using the ropeway and his medical skill also improved because of his efforts. His patient, not confined to residents in his own village, also included those from other villages. Even treating an old lady over 80, whose hand has many wrinkles, he could still precisely prick the needle into her blood vessel and cured the ailments.
However, behind the sight of the Ropeway Doctor was the bitterness of the backward transportation in the ares on Nujiang, Yunnan. After the report concerned the Ropeway Doctor Deng Qiandui, Weng Mengyong, the vice minister of the Ministry of Transport (MOT), led a team to the area to have and investigation. On that investigative trip, the vice minister promised to resolve the ropeway problem during the 12th Five-Year Plan period.
In 2013, a symposium on the project to change ropeways into bridges was held in Beijing. The symposium decided to launch 289 such projects in China from 2013 to 2015. The project is to be conducted with the funds mainly from the central governments and secondly from local governments. The MOT planned to allocate 1.2 billion while the state Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development of 1 billion. The central government should spend 1.137 billion to support the execution of the project to change ropeways into bridges in Yunnan, providing Yunnan with a great opportunity to completely resolve the ropeway problem.
Original, GPIG, 03-13-2018
The ropeway is a contraption to cross the river, which is mainly distributed over the cliffs and valleys in Hengduan Mountains Region. People use a steel cable or a thick string to connect the two sides of the valley, and fly over valleys and rivers by means of the overhead cable. One side of the steel cable or thick string connecting both sides of the valley is usually liigher at one end and low at the other. Due to harsh natural condition, the ropeway has been the only “overbridge” for the people in remote mountain areas in Tibet and Yunnan to get out of the mountains and establish a connection with the outside world. “The perilous narrow meandering footpath, ropeway and single-log bridge” is indicative of people’s difficulty in getting out.
The ropeway in Zogang County, Tibet Autonomous Region
In 2009, the Chinese government began to launch a pilot project in Sichuan, Yunnan and Tibet to change ropeways into footbridges. In 2010, initial success was achieved with the pilot project under the efforts of governments at all levels. Sichuan, for the first time initiated a project to change ropeways into ten chain bridges with a total length of 980.17 meters in seven counties like Ganzi Prefecture and Liangshan Prefecture, etc., directly overcoming the difficulty in walking out, going to school, seeing a doctor and increasing income. Yunnan launched five such projects in five counties like Baoshan City, Nujiang Prefecture, Diqing Prefecture, etc. In 2013, as the last bridge in the project to change ropeways into chain bridges was completed, the 84 ropeways stretching over the valleys and cliffs in remote areas in Tibet became a thing in the past, the project to change ropeways into chain bridges has benefited more than 40,000 farmers and herdsmen.
Xiangbaquzhen, a 67-year-old lady who has lived her whole life in Reba Village, Qamdo, Tibet said that, “Since there were bridges, supplies in our village has become more plentiful. And it’s no longer a difficult to go to the county to grind grains and purchase groceries.”
In Qamdo, new bridges were built, but the ropeway still remains. Dawa Tsering, director of the villagers committee in Reba said that, the ropeway is of some historical and cultural importance as it witnessed the transportation development in Tibet and carried in the memory of the local residents. Therefore, they planned to develop it as a travel program with local personality to lead villagers to step into a path pf prosperity.
In 2011, Deng Qiandui, a rural doctor in Nu ethnic group in Lamadi Village, Yueliang Town, Fugong County, Nujiang Lisu Autonomous Prefecture in Yunnan Province came into the public view: the 47-year-old “Ropeway Doctor” with medicines chest flies over the rampant Nujiang river by means of the ropeway.
28 year moving forward, Deng Qiandui, carrying his medicine chest kept going to one bank form the other by means of the ropeway and running on the rough mountain road regardless of day or night. He, who visited patients more than 5,000 times, guarded people’s health with painstaking efforts.
Villages distributed on the two sides of Nujiang River are very close to each other, but it takes people several hours to climb up on the mountain road to see a person in the opposite village. Although the ropeway is convenient, it is hazardous indeed.
At the age of 19, Deng Qiandui started his work as a doctor after completing the training at the township health center. There was a village with over 20 households in the opposite mountain ridge and it took two to three hours to reach there by making a detour to cross the suspension bridge. If Deng did not want to waste time on the road to see a patient, he had to depend on a 125-meter ropeway. Work as well as responsibility forced him to learn to use the ropeway.
Deng Qiandui, a local doctor, is going his rounds by ropeway
Gradually, Deng became proficient in using the ropeway and his medical skill also improved because of his efforts. His patient, not confined to residents in his own village, also included those from other villages. Even treating an old lady over 80, whose hand has many wrinkles, he could still precisely prick the needle into her blood vessel and cured the ailments.
However, behind the sight of the Ropeway Doctor was the bitterness of the backward transportation in the ares on Nujiang, Yunnan. After the report concerned the Ropeway Doctor Deng Qiandui, Weng Mengyong, the vice minister of the Ministry of Transport (MOT), led a team to the area to have and investigation. On that investigative trip, the vice minister promised to resolve the ropeway problem during the 12th Five-Year Plan period.
In 2013, a symposium on the project to change ropeways into bridges was held in Beijing. The symposium decided to launch 289 such projects in China from 2013 to 2015. The project is to be conducted with the funds mainly from the central governments and secondly from local governments. The MOT planned to allocate 1.2 billion while the state Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development of 1 billion. The central government should spend 1.137 billion to support the execution of the project to change ropeways into bridges in Yunnan, providing Yunnan with a great opportunity to completely resolve the ropeway problem.
