When the water stops

There was only sporadic drizzle over the supposedly wet summer months. And the rain simply disappeared after autumn took hold. The Beijiang, one of the three tributaries of the Pearl River in Guangdong, is drying up. In parts that run through Qingyuan's city centre, the riverbed is visible. Working and sightseeing boats have disappeared from the usually busy river, as navigation has become too difficult.

But this is not the only part of Guangdong suffering at the hands of the drought. With precipitation only 40 per cent of the seasonal average over the past months, the Xijiang and the Dongjiang - the other two tributaries - are also showing the effects of drought. Many Guangdong cities, such as Meizhou, Shaoguan , Shantou, Chaozhou and Qingyuan, have reported serious water shortages. In Qingyuan and the neighbouring city of Shantou alone, at least 40 hectares of farmland are affected, while 70,000 people are short of drinking water. But the drought was not even reported in the Qingyuan city newspaper, because of the tight press censorship there.

Luo Zhihui, 42, is one of the drought victims. Luo and his family own a fifth of a hectare of rice paddy in rural Qingyuan, and they started planting sweet potato recently.

'Sweet potato doesn't need much water; it can survive in a drought. We're supposed to harvest the rice crop this month but half of the yield has died, so we will have to buy rice from the market for our food,' he said.

Luo works at a hotel in the city and returns to the field once a week on his day off; the rest of the time, his parents and wife are responsible for tending the crop. 'We need cash for other necessities and to pay for my children's tuition fees. If I don't work in the city, how can we have cash?'

Luo's neighbour Huang Yongsen faces the same hardship. 'There is no rain. The land has dried up. Half of the harvest has [gone]. I will have to go to town for work more often; otherwise, we will not have money to buy rice,' said Huang, who has previously worked at construction sites during lax times. He believes he will have to head to the city for work more often in the coming months.