"Up the Yangtze"

Last week our class watched a documentary called "Up the Yangtze," which chronicled a peasant family as they struggled to make a daily living in modern-day China. By the end of the movie, their small patch of land and their hut were completely submerged in the rising waters as the result of the construction of the Three Gorges Dam. Obviously, poor peasant families living along the banks of the Yangtze River have suffered the most from the dam's construction, usually losing their homes and being forced to move to an urban area. As seen in the movie, it is difficult for older individuals moving from the country to cities to acclimate themselves to a completely new way of life, especially when they are so used to being self-sufficient and growing their own food. However, many people in China do benefit from the dam; the electricity that it produces is enough to keep fueling the country's rapid urbanization and industrialization. However, the dam, plus rapid urbanization and industrialization, all have severe environmental consequences that will ultimately force China to develop more sustainably in the future and use more fuel-efficient technology.