The onrushing streams lap heavily against the sides of the boat and the precipitous cliffs along the turbulent river. The passengers on the boat, mainly tourists from overseas or elsewhere in China, hold their breath.

Chen's three young and strong partners, also just wearing shorts, bend forward and pull the boat with thick and rough towropes. Their heads almost kiss the cobbles on the bank, with sweat swelling and shining on their sun-tanned backs and tight tow-lines embedded into their shoulders.

The entire course is 15 kilometers. Chen and his companions make the same trip twice a day during the Three Gorges' busy tourism season from April to October.

The Madu, which passes by Chenjiacun village, Chen's home, is an offshoot of the Daning River, the largest tributary of the Yangtze River in the Three Gorges area.

Honored as the "Mini Three Gorges," the Madu is famed for its beautiful and elegant natural scenery on both sides. But it is no more than two meters deep hidden with risky shoal, which causes great trouble for boatmen but has created a new career for locals -- boat tracking.

"We are the last boat trackers in the Three Gorges area," said Chen, who started his career 10 years ago when local tourism began to emerge and flourish.

"But unlike our fathers and forefathers, our work is not merely for survival," said Chen.

There are more than 100 boat trackers waddling on the Madu, all hired by a local travel firm. Usually, four trackers form a team and each of them can earn tens of yuan per day.

Like most of his competitors, Chen has his own fields of business and he is a good farmer and an experienced pig-raiser during slack times on the river.

But the tracking game is coming to an end as the reservoir of the Three Gorges dam project is scheduled to begin storing water from June 1.

As a result, the water level in the 436-km-long Three Gorges areas will be raised dozens of meters, finally becoming a gigantic lake, eliminating the need for boat trackers on the Madu.

(Eastday.com May 31, 2003)