(January 4, 2010) An excellent brochure, providing details on the deadly May 2008 Sichuan Earthquake and the possibility that the Zipingpu Dam may have caused it.
Oral History: Yongding River in Mentougou District
Below is the sixth in a series of oral histories about Beijing water, as told to Shi He by 60-year-old Wang Yongsen. Wang Yongsen is a farmer and longtime resident of a mountain village in Mentougou District about 70 kilometres due west of downtown Beijing.
Oral History: Three-Eyed Well in Xuanwu District
Below is the eighth in a series of oral histories about Beijing water, as told to Wang Jian by Wang Yumin, Chef, and Yin Jingxiu, Fitter and Turner.
Oral History: The Xishan Dajue Temple’s Spring Runs Dry
Below is the tenth in a series of oral histories about Beijing water, as told to An He and Wang Jian by Guan Zhanxiu, a forestry specialist at the Xishan Dajue Temple (Great Awakening Temple, or Temple of Enlightenment) in Beijing’s Haidian district
Oral History: The Vanishing Haidian
People of our age can’t avoid talking about water when Haidian is mentioned. I was born in 1949, the year New China was born. Since I was young, I’ve lived in the area near Yiheyuan (SummerPalace) and Dayouzhuang (Abundance Village). Between 1958 and 1968, I was at school there and I remember it was like a solitary boat in a marsh— with the Western Hills, the sunsets and water everywhere. It was absolutely beautiful.
Oral History: The Lost Rivers of the Forbidden City
Below is the second in a series of Beijing water oral histories, as told to Wang Jian by Sun Jiaming and Sun Jiayi.
Oral History: Remembering Miyun Reservoir
Below is the third in a series of Beijing water oral histories, as told to Wang Jian by 60-year-old Huang Deyu and 59-year-old Guo Shulian of Miyun County. Wang Jian is a Beijing-based water resources expert. Download the pdf here.
Oral History: Old Beijing’s Goldfish Ponds
Below is the seventh in a series of oral histories about Beijing water, as told to Wang Jian by Wang Zhidong, an 80-year-old physicist and lifelong resident of Beijing. Download the pdf here.
Oral History: Magic Water Village of Mentougou District
Below is the fifth in a series of oral histories about Beijing water, as told to Wang Jian and A.H. by 52-year-old Tan Julin of Lingshui Cun (Magic Water Village) in Mentougou District. Mentougou is 70 kilometres due west of downtown Beijing. Download the report here.
Oral History: Jiayukou Village on Great Rock River
Below is the fourth in a series of oral histories about Beijing water, as told to A.H. by 52-year-old Yue Jingxian, a surveying engineer with the Beijing Research Institute of Surveying and Design. Yue Jingxian was sent to Fangshan County for re-education in the early 1970s.
Oral History: Daxin Country’s Water Gone Forever
Below is the eleventh in a series of oral histories about Beijing water, as told to An He and Wang Jian by Li Zhenwe. Mr. Li is from Shahe Village in Daxing County and a former engineer at the water bureau in the Daxing County. You can download the pdf here.
Oral History: A River Returns
Below is the ninth in a series of oral histories about Beijing water, as told to An He and Wang Jian by Li Yuling, a long-time resident of Beijing.
Banned Aid: Why international assistance does not alleviate poverty
(January 1, 2010) As the Zambian economist Dambisa Moyo argues, the concept of foreign aid is flawed — not just because corrupt dictators divert aid for nefarious or selfish purposes but also because even in reasonably democratic countries, aid creates perverse incentives and unintended consequences.
The Language of Human Rights
(January 19, 2010) The very grammar of justice has fallen into the wrong hands, writes Robert Amsterdam in the Wall Street Journal.
Absence of Justice
(January 1, 2010) First in a series of oral histories, banned and famed Chinese environmentalist and journalist Dai Qing organized a team of journalists to record a remarkable collection of oral histories from the riverside towns and villages affected by the Three Gorges dam on China’s Yangtze River. “On November 18, 2002, the government of Dachang Zhen (Great Prosperity Town) in Wushan County, Yangtze River, sent the following dispatch about the wharf and the house belonging to Lu Chengming, who was to be relocated:…”
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