China completes salvaging operations of wartime ships in Yangtze

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 ◆ China completes salvaging operations of wartime ships in Yangtze

China has removed the remaining seven ships which were deliberately sunk in the Yangtze River to create a defense line during the Anti-Japanese War (1937-1945).

The salvage operations, which cost 26 million yuan (about 3.13 million US dollars), has freed up the bottleneck at the Madang section of the waterway, say experts.

In December, 1937, the then ruling Kuomintang government ordered 18 ships and one hundred wooden boats to be sunk along the Yangtze River in Madang County, central China's Hubei Province, to build underwater fortresses. Alongside these fortresses 39 mines were laid to prevent the Japanese from making further progress up the Yangtze.

Though a 140-meter wide, 5-meter deep waterway was later dredged, the fortresses continued to be an invisible barrier to passing ships and other vessels.

The Chinese government began to salvage the submerged ships in 1956 and removed 11 of them.

Removal of the remaining seven ships started in early 2000. It took two years to complete as the clean-up operations could be carried out only during winter and spring when water level was lower.

High technological devices including the GPS have been used to locate and remove the wrecks, which yielded 1,400 tons of waste iron, five tons of waste copper and many mammoth stones, said experts.

There are 38 shoals in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, three of which have been removed.