On Wednesday, thanks to friend Virginia, I had an opportunity to see a special showing of the fascinating documentary Up the Yangtze by Canadian director Yung Chang.
The movie is beautiful to look at, with gorgeous cinematography and scenery. But more importantly, it tells of the impact the new China is having on the old China, both good and bad. It outlines the catastrophic effect that the Three Gorges Dam is having on the people that live along the Yangtze River. By the time “the gates are closed”, as everyone repeats in the movie, entire towns will be submerged and about two million people will have been displaced from their homes. As his framing device Chang did most of his filming aboard a luxury cruise ship that takes Western tourists along the Yangtze for a last look-see of the river that was.
The film focuses on two young people who start work aboard the ship, most notably 16-year-old farmer’s daughter Yu Shui, who dreams of a high-school education but who is forced by her poverty-stricken, illiterate parents to become a kitchen drudge. The Upstairs, Downstairs nature of the ship is presented, with the young people slaving away below decks while the tourists listen to a lounge act singing “It’s so easy/to speak Chinesee”.
Chang makes detours to doomed towns along the riverside, stopping to turn his camera on various people. An antiques dealer, about to lose his shop, at first prattles on about how sacrifices by a few must be made for the good of society. A small riot breaks out outside the shop between some townspeople and minor officials; suddenly the dealer bursts out weeping how corrupt the local officials are and how China is “very difficult” for ordinary people to live. It’s a heartbreaking moment.
Yu Shui’s parents, displaced twice by the rising river, end up carrying their meager possessions to a tiny apartment with no access to farmable land, unable to earn any money. In a riveting scene (perhaps set up by the filmmaker?) they visit the site of the dam and stare at the huge structure in utter incomprehension. They may as well have been 17th century Flemish peasants staring at a space shuttle for all they understood.
In the Q & A session that followed the showing, director Chang gave a hopeful coda: Yu Shui quit the ship and—thanks to a fund set up by the filmmakers—is now attending high school.