Cruise
Control
by Jiang Nan
A Chinese saying goes: if there is water, there
will be spirits. A giant city government project may return some lost spirit to the
modernization-obsessed capital city, long regarded by the rest of the country as a windy,
dry city, perhaps even lacking a little soul.
Travelers can now cruise Beijing's waterways after completion of the boating phase of a 30 billion yuan (US$3 billion) urban water beautification project.
Luxury eco-friendly boats --equipped with air
conditioning, telephones and televisions --now cruise three 10-kilometer waterway routes
to one of eight stops: Summer Palace, Bayi Lake, Rear Lake of the Beijing Exhibition
Center, Changhe Bay, Binjiao Garden, CCTV Tower, Wanton Temple and Ziyu Bay.
"Our boats are the first in China to be fueled by clean energy, liquefied petroleum gas, instead of gasoline or diesel oil," says Hua Jie, general manager of the new Beijing Urban River Tourism Development Corp.
Hua said the change of fuel would reduce noise by 40 percent, carbon monoxide pollution by 90 percent, hydrocarbon emissions by 72 percent and eliminate exhaust fumes. Tail gas is lead free.
Luxury and special tourist tours hope to
capitalise on the new, cleaner waterways. There is also an ordinary passenger boat
service, which seems likely to gain popularity as the city's roads grow increasingly congested.
Plans are also in the offing for 20 bamboo "rafts" serving up beverages, snacks and karaoke.