The photo, which is currently exhibited at the Zhejiang Provincial Archives, shows people work hard to enclose the tideland of the Qiantang River in 1960s. [Photo/hangzhou.com.cn]

A photo depicting the massive-scale tideland enclosure program initiated in Xiaoshan district, Hangzhou, 1960s, recently went viral on the internet.

The photo, which is currently exhibited at the Zhejiang Provincial Archives, shows a crowd of people working hard to enclose the tideland of the Qiantang River.

Throughout history, Xiaoshan district has taken many measures to regulate the Qiantang River but these efforts have failed due to a lack of project planning and funding.

In the late 1950s, Xiaoshan achieved success in enclosing a small area of tideland. In mid-1960s, the massive Xiaoshan tideland enclosure project started.

From 1949 to 1995, Xiaoshan people built a long dam enclosing more than 33,333 hectares of mud flats, creating a large area of farmland for locals. As the enclosure areas grew larger, more people came to the reclamation areas and settled down.

As the mud flats were reclaimed as land, a number of agricultural production bases were set up there. In addition, the engineering industry mushroomed. Financial institutes, hospitals and schools were also built there.

Officials from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations called the project a miracle in the human's history of expanding land.