Yuanli (3)

We left and walked back under the train tracks, and from there passed some fields and irrigation ditches. Toby always stops to examine the putrid water at one spot, trashy and black of mud. I saw two dead fish last week. I sat Paxy next to a smaller ditch and lined up pebbles for him to throw in, which he did, avidly. Then I brought him over to the bigger canal, where the water is deeper, and found things for him to throw in. Toby looked at the retractable gates. I guess before the local water resources bureau built the current system of cement ditches, villagers themselves would have organized to build and maintain canals and allocate watering times. The march of modernization.