What is "water carrier"

alt. 1 (context usually historical English) A person who carries water from a spring or well, especially in antiquity and pre-modern era when it was a common job. 2 An arrangement of wires on which a bucket of water, raised from a well, etc., may be conveyed wherever required, as to a house. 3 A pipe or tube that conveys water. 4 A transportation ship that is water-based. 5 (context astrology English) Aquarius, or a symbol for it. 6 (context figuratively colloquial English) An individual doing simple, ordinary work, usually in opposition to somebody considered more valuable. n. 1 (context usually historical English) A person who carries water from a spring or well, especially in antiquity and pre-modern era when it was a common job. 2 An arrangement of wires on which a bucket of water, raised from a well, etc., may be conveyed wherever required, as to a house. 3 A pipe or tube that conveys water. 4 A transportation ship that is water-based. 5 (context astrology English) Aquarius, or a symbol for it. 6 (context figuratively colloquial English) An individual doing simple, ordinary work, usually in opposition to somebody considered more valuable.

Water carrier (also water seller) is a profession that existed before the advent of centralized water supply systems. 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.

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.