A builder (L) of the Dongjiang-Shenzhen Water Supply Project displays old pictures at an award ceremony in Beijing on April 18 in this photo released yesterday. She was one of the builders awarded the title “Role Model of the Times” for their efforts to ensure a safe and stable supply of fresh water to Hong Kong over the past five decades. Back in the 1960s, tens of thousands of construction workers from Guangdong Province completed the 83-km-long project in just one year, diverting water from the Dongjiang River to Shenzhen, Dongguan and Hong Kong, and effectively alleviating the problem of water scarcity for Hong Kong residents. In over 50 years, more than 30,000 people have worked on the project’s construction and maintenance, which supplies 80 percent of Hong Kong residents’ fresh water. Xinhua