A poignant account of the resettlement woes suffered by Three Gorges migrants in Gaoyang township offers little comfort to the many other communities that stand in the way of China’s myriad planned dams.
Downstream groups back a free-flowing Nu River
(October 19, 2005) As controversy swirls in China around development plans for the Nu River in Yunnan province, 90 environmental and community groups in Burma and Thailand have lodged their own appeal with Beijing to keep the pristine international river free of dams.
Five years in Wuhan Women’s Prison for requesting fair treatment
Wang Xidong was attending a meeting at her son’s school when the police arrived for her. They took the mother of three away on April 21, 2004, and if she serves her full sentence, she won’t be home again until 2009.
The villagers who seek to safeguard Shangri-La
(September 29, 2005) ‘The government talks about environmental protection being a priority, so why then do we have to move away from this beautiful valley at the expense of the environment?’ – A villager’s lament in a CCTV documentary on Tiger Leaping Gorge.
Open letter to the PRC from the Salween Watch Coalition
(September 29, 2005) ‘We would appreciate it if your government shared with us on what basis decisions are being made that will have huge and irreversible impacts on our lives, livelihoods and environment.’
Nu River campaign gathers steam
(September 27, 2005) A bold open letter calling on Beijing to release documents related to controversial plans to dam the Nu River in southwest China has sparked an Internet petition drive that is steadily gaining momentum.
Rivers in chaos and Shanghai at risk
In a wide-ranging interview, prominent scientist Chen Guojie says he is ‘extremely worried’ about the impacts on Shanghai of a number of colossal projects on the Yangtze River, including the Three Gorges dam.
Open letter puts pressure on Beijing over secretive dam plans
(September 7, 2005) Dozens of Chinese environmental groups and close to 100 concerned experts have joined forces to publish a dramatic open letter urging the government to release documents related to secretive plans to dam the Nu River in southwest China.
Call for public disclosure of Nujiang hydropower development’s EIA report in accordance with the law
(September 6, 2005) The text of the open letter endorsed by a coalition of Chinese environmental groups and experts calling for disclosure of the environmental impact assessment for proposed dams on the Nu River.
China ‘faces imminent power-overproduction crisis’
(August 9, 2005) Lin Boqiang, a leading Chinese energy economist with the Asian Development Bank, warns of the impending overproduction of power in China, a long-term problem that he says will be more serious than the short-term shortages the country has experienced.
Villagers isolated by a rising reservoir
Villagers on the Xiangxi River find it harder to visit loved ones, and to access vital services such as shops, schools and hospitals, since the filling of the Three Gorges reservoir caused their river to become much wider and more expensive to cross.
Translation by Three Gorges Probe The people of Wangusi village on the Xiangxi River, a major Yangtze tributary 45 kilometres up
(June 19, 2005) Eight years ago, Lu She Zhong and the other residents of Guan Yang, a hamlet in central Henan Province, were forced to move to this resettlement village about 40 miles away.
Small dam collapses as flood season starts early
(June 7, 2005) As the death toll climbs above 200 at the outset of an unusually early flood season, the rumour of a disastrous dam collapse has swirled in hard-hit Hunan province, and on the Internet. So China Youth Daily sent a reporter to investigate and try to set the record straight.
Yangtze dams driving ‘panda of the water’ to extinction
(June 3, 2005) The Chinese sturgeon is believed to have inhabited the Yangtze River since the dinosaur era. But since the first dam blocked China’s longest river in January 1981, the Yangtze’s oldest species has been decimated, and could soon be lost forever.
Artificial water reservoir-triggered earthquakes with special emphasis at Koyna
(May 25, 2005) Globally, about one hundred sites are known where filling of artificial water reservoirs triggered earthquakes. It is noteworthy that a majority of the sites where triggered earthquakes exceeding magnitude 5 have occurred are in Stable Continental Regions.
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