Xia Debo helps a villager to climb onboard his ferry. [Photo/zjol.com.cn]

Xia Debo is the helmsman of a 30-seat ferryboat on Qianxia Lake in Jingning She autonomous county – administered by Lishui city in East China's Zhejiang province.

Jingning has 77 kilometers of waterways and along them are 14 wharfs. For the villagers living on the banks of Qianxia Lake, the ferry is an important means of transportation.

One of the wharfs is Lyucao Wharf which is 3.5 kilometers away from Jintouhui Wharf. It's the waterway the residents of Shenkeng, Shanchawan and Dacu villages travel and it's also the fixed route that Xia Debo steers his ferry on every day.

One afternoon recently, Xia answered a phone at 3 pm when the temperature had reached 41C. It was an old villager who wanted to go back to the village from the county hospital. Xia immediately steered his ferry to Lyucao Wharf to pick him up.

It's not an easy job. In the narrow cockpit, without an air-conditioner, the temperature can reach 55C in summer. But Xia never complains.

"Most of the people who go out by ferry are the elderly who were left behind in the village," he said.

"It is not convenient for them to go out to see a doctor or buy daily goods. So as long as they call, I will pick them up at any time," Xia added.