Water carrier

A water carrier or “bhisti” in India,

Water carrier (also water seller) is a profession that existed before the advent of centralized water supply systems.^[1] A water carrier collected water from a source (a river, a well, water pumps, etc.) and transported or carried containers with water to people's homes. After the construction of pipe networks, the profession of water carrier became unnecessary and disappeared.^[2]

In late Qing dynasty Chengdu, there were over one thousand people who worked as water carriers. They didn't just perform their official duties, but also helped the elderly and sick who could not take care of themselves with housework. In the 1940s Chengdu water carriers still went barefoot to show that they go deep into the river to collect the purest water.^[3]

See also

• Aquarius (astrology)
• Les deux journées, an 1800 opera by Luigi Cherubini also known as The Water Carrier.

References

1. Angelakis 2012.
2. Rakhimov 2009.
3. Wang 2003.

• R.R. Rakimov, Музей антропологии и этнографии им. Петра Великого (Кунсткамера) (2009). Центральная Азия: традиция в условиях перемен. Центральная Азия: традиция в условиях перемен v. 2. Nauka. p. 365.
• A.N. Angelakis, L.W. Mays, D. Koutsoyiannis (2012). Evolution of Water Supply Through the Millennia. IWA Publishing. p. 209. ISBN 9781843395409.
• Di Wang (2003). Street Culture in Chengdu: Public Space, Urban Commoners, and Local Politics, 1870-1930. Stanford University Press. p. 75–76. ISBN 9780804747783.