Return of the Naked River Trackers?
March 9, 2010 4:49 PM Subscribe
Once upon a time, before boats had motors, the only way to move vessels up the Shennong River (a tributary to the Yangtze River near Badong, Enshi) was for labourers, known as River Trackers, to haul them by hand using heavy ropes along a dangerously narrow ledge hacked from solid rock.
And while naked (slightly NSFW).
Being naked was practical, as wet clothes restricted movement and caused chafing, not to mention the clothing itself never lasted very long anyway. Over the years the tradition waned, with trackers
wearing clothes to haul tourist boats and while singing
folk songs.
But in February 2010, Enshi's deputy party secretary Yao Benchi suggested at a meeting of the local people's congress that a return to the tradition of nude tracking would turn Shennong into a major tourist attraction, an announcement that has generated some controversy.
Yet the trackers themselves don't care about wearing clothes if it makes money. As lead hauler Zhang Houfang told a Wuhan web site: "So long as there is a demand for this from tourists, and they are ready to pay, the majority of rope handlers are happy to haul ropes in the nude. Foreign tourists and amateur photographers find it more interesting."
Soon we may see the return of the Naked River Trackers, which in my mind wouldn't be a bad thing.
posted by Babblesort at 4:54 PM on March 9, 2010 [4 favorites]