Boat trackers reorganized to tow boats in Shennongxi

Photo taken on April 30, 2015 shows 56-year-old boat tracker Shen Qianquan tows a boat along the Shennongxi River in Badong county of Central China's Hubei province. As early as the 1950s, local people relied heavily on boat trackers as the traffic was quite limited. With no access of roads, Shennongxi is the only way in and out and thus being a boat tracker was very popular then. By the end of the 1980s, with new roads built into mountains and the development of tourism, many of those boat trackers began to provide drift service for tourists. After the impoundment of the Three Gorges Reservoir Region, boat trackers in the proper sense actually disappeared. In order to preserve this old profession in Badong, the local government has reorganized boat trackers to tow boats for tourists in this May Day holiday.[Photo/Xinhua]