FEATURE MATCHER FOR STORY BC-CHINA-DRY, 1998-10-15 (photo)

FOR RELEASE WITH STORY BC-CHINA-DRY - Chinese visitors look at the partly dried up Yellow River in Shanxi Province's Wanjiazhai area. The Yellow River, dubbed "China's sorrow" for its disasterous floods over the centuries, now frequently runs dry some 250 km (150 miles) short of the Yellow Sea. Shanxi Province is building a U.S.$3.0 billion Wanjiazhai Water Transfer Project which will sluice an annual 1.2 billion cubic metres of Yellow River water some 540 km (265 miles) south through tunnels, canals and river beds. By tapping water from a river which already runs dry every summer, the Shanxi government has drawn complaints from the downstream provinces. Picture taken 17SEP98. ASW/JJ