Shanghai: Upon the Ocean: The city's deep relationship with its waterways

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Shanghai's ports may be China's busiest, but locals say more work remains. In Chinese, "Shanghai" literally means "upon the ocean". The city has always had a deep relationship with its waterways, and now experts hope the future smiles upon them much like the past has. Yang Chengxi reports.

The Huangpu River. The last significant tributary of the Yangtze River before it flows into the East China Sea. The people of Shanghai have a special place in their hearts for this body of water.

SHANGHAI RESIDENT "The Huangpu river is the mother river. We grew up drinking its water."

Historically, Shanghai thrived around the Huangpu as a commercial city. Until the 19th century, the river had accommodated mostly small sailboats. But when world superpowers forced open China's doors in 1901, one of their demands was to deepen the Huangpu so their big boats could better ship goods into the country. They needed to form a company to do the dredging.

YANG CHENGXI SHANGHAI "This is a replica of the decree signed by Guangxu, China's emperor at the time. The measure approving the establishment of the company simply read 'noted'."

This exhibition room that shows part of that history is owned by this century-old corporation. Today it is called the Shanghai Dredging Company.

ZHOU XINYIN SECRETARY OF YOUTH LEAGUE COMMITTEE, CCCC SDC "My grandpa was first generation navy of the People's Republic of China. Later he came to work for the Shanghai Dredging Company. My dad was a ship captain, and now I'm with the company too."

For decades, their workers have excavated waterbed soil and made land. The ships and technologies they used have changed dramatically over the past century.

ZHOU GUOZHU, FORMER SENIOR CAPTAIN CCCC SHANGHAI DREDGING COMPANY "I worked on a ship for 22 years. In the past, we didn't have these high-end ships so sea life was tough. During my wife's pregnancy I was mostly out at sea. I still regret it."

ZHOU XINYIN SECRETARY OF YOUTH LEAGUE COMMITTEE, CCCC SDC "My dad would spend nine months every year out there. Whenever he would come back, he always spent a lot of money buying me and my mom good food."

Generations of hard work have transformed these waterways.

YANG CHENGXI SHANGHAI "The company has deployed about ten of these massive dredging ships along the Yangtze River estuary. These high-end dredgers are now working full swing on projects of much bigger scope and scale."

The Yangtze river estuary dredging project was the company's biggest undertaking of the last 20 years. Their goal was to make the estuary deep enough for ships up to 150 thousand tons to pass through.

HOU XIAOMING, PRESIDENT CCCC SHANGHAI DREDGING COMPANY "Before 1998, the depth wasn't even 7.5 meters. Depth is very important. As the depth went from 7.5 to 12.5 meters more and more, bigger and bigger ships got into the port."

Shanghai hopes to become even more of a top global shipping center. Having a deep shipping route is a prerequisite for the city's next big step towards that ambition: the Yangshan deepwater port.

HOU XIAOMING, PRESIDENT CCCC SHANGHAI DREDGING COMPANY "Two things are very important. One is the depth of the waterway, the second is of course some land for the port. We took more than 100 million cubic meters of sand to make the land, and we dredged to make the water deeper."

From the Huangpu to the Yangtze river, these waterways have shaped Shanghai's history, people's lifestyles, and its future. YCX, CGTN, SHANGHAI.