Up the Yangtze (2007)

The flood on the Yangtze river caused by a big dam project is chronicled in Up the Yangtze (2007), a recent documentary by Yung Chang. By following a few workers on a cruiser catering to affluent Americans, the film provides many perspectives on a country in drastic change. Going up and down the Yangtze river, the cruiser passes by cities and villages doomed to be drowned in a few years time. The inhabitants are left with no choice: they are forced to move (the documentary offers us hints of what kind of changes those concerned will be confronted with). One elderly woman has decided to stay. We see her kneeling in front of a cross, praying for the younger generations. What the inhabitants by the river have to say reveal their often suspiscious relation to the government and government officials.

The workers on the cruiser are given American names, they are called stuff like "Cindy", "Jerry". The training of the staff involves language skills, but also the ability to tend to the needs of the tourists in a "fitting way". It is obvious that the film maker's perspective on tourism is very critical. In one scene, a boy carries an elderly woman's bags. She offers him a generous tip, "I expected you to be much more intrusive!" she barks. Next scene: The young kid is beaming: 30 dollars. The dreams about progress are illuminated with equally critical pictures. We are shown people who are dragging all their property along to a very uncertain future. The cruise passengers relish the scenery of the Yangtze river before the floods will change the landscape, while the inhabitants, of course, have no such romantic interest in "Old China".

IMDB users reviewing Up the Yangtze mention Sanxia haoren (Still life), a film directed by Zhang Ke Jia, which is another portrayal of life around the Three Gorges dam. I haven't seen that one yet. I also want to recommend Xi wang zhi lu (Railway of hope) by Ning Ying because it taught me a lot about China. The film crew follows a trainful of people, mostly female peasants, hoping to find cotton picking work in the northwest. It is a very moving account of work, hope, desperation - and travelling in a hot, steamy train for 3 long days. Somehow, the film maker has been very successful in reaching out to the people on the train as the documentary simply felt very sincere.

The dam project has been called an environmental catastrophy, causing floods, triggering andslides, altering ecosystems and causing pollution (among other things), and in addition to this many suspect that it will not turn out to be the huge electricity producer it is assumed it will be (it is presented as the world's largest hydroelectrical power station). 1.4 million people have to move away because of the rise of the water level, which will destroy fertile land. The promise of economic compensation to the inhabitants for the relocations has not been fulfilled completely either. On the other hand, it will be a solution to energy needs, it will help reduce the emission of greenhouse gas and the dam is also actually an attempt to come to terms with flooding (but the efficiency of the dam in this respect has also been contested, while the dam is also said to have caused draught at some places). Read about the project here and here.