(November 8, 2004) Troops with steel helmets and machine guns have moved in to the Hanyuan county seat in Sichuan province as tensions run high in the Pubugou dam conflict, according to Chinese-language Hong Kong newspaper reports today.
Tiger Leaping Gorge under threat
(October 8, 2004) One of the world’s most spectacular natural attractions is threatened by a plan to build eight big dams on the Jinsha River (as the upper Yangtze is known), and the Chinese press and environmental groups are speaking out.
Hutiao dam project demands reconsideration
(September 28, 2004) Were it not for the nine non-government organizations focusing on environmental protection, most people would not know that a dam is going to be constructed at Hutiao Gorge in South China’s Yunnan Province.
Stop the Hutiaoxia dam!
(September 26, 2004) Endorsed by Green Earth Volunteers, Institute of Environment and Development, Green Island, Global Village of Beijing, Friends of Nature, Partnership for Community Development, Global Environment Institute, Alashan SEE Ecology Association and Beijing Brooks Education Centre.
Clean Development Mechanism in China: Taking a proactive and sustainable approach
(September 1, 2004) A report from the World Bank detailing China’s efforts to utilize the United Nations Clean Development Mechanism.
Don’t get bogged down in dam ‘details,’ Lu Youmei urges
(August 6, 2004) A commentator who takes issue with views expressed by the former manager of the Three Gorges Corp. praises environmental groups opposed to big dams for their ‘respectful, constructive and effective’ campaigns.
Nu River residents get a shock from the Manwan dam
(June 29, 2004) Farmers who would be displaced by the controversial Nu River scheme were shocked at how people resettled a decade ago have fared: ‘We don’t like to see a situation where dams make power companies and governments richer, and poor people only poorer.’
Landslides cause havoc in Three Gorges area as heavy rain forecast
(June 16, 2004) Dozens of landslides in the Three Gorges reservoir area have claimed the life of a train driver, destroyed hundreds of houses and forced more than 40,000 people to flee their homes, the Chongqing Evening News reports.
Dearth of industry in the reservoir region
Many aging factories in the Three Gorges reservoir area are being shut down because they are so polluting. The closures entail heavy job losses, and a shortage of employment alternatives is fast becoming a widespread problem.
China’s State Council approved Jinghong dam project
(April 27, 2004) According to the Yunnan Provincial Development and Reform Committee, State Council recently approved the Jinghong hydropower project on Lancang River.
Chinese journalist can’t forget nightmare of Tiananmen Square
(April 23, 2004) Looking back and looking forward. It is a preoccupation in China these days. The push forward is seen in the rapid economic reform and expansion that has made the nation with its teeming population the envy of many and a magnet for new investment. But the glance back is always there, too, as the ghosts of Tiananmen Square haunt the nation of 1.3 billion.
No Nu news as Beijing cracks down on crusading papers
(April 16, 2004) The uncertainty swirling around China’s plans for a cascade of 13 dams on the Nu River in Yunnan province is precisely the kind of story that a beleaguered Guangzhou-based media group would have been keen to cover in happier times.
Human rights abuses and the Three Gorges dam
(March 19, 2004) Dai Qing, eminent Beijing-based journalist and veteran campaigner against the Three Gorges dam, discusses the suppression of opposition to the project in a recent talk at the University of Toronto in Canada.
The dam, the petition, the lawyer and his diary
(March 11, 2004) People displaced by a dam in Hebei province sought the help of a Beijing lawyer to present a petition to the National People’s Congress. The lawyer, who has been forced into hiding, has written a dramatic on-line account of what happened next.
Dam implicated in dangerous downstream drought
(February 18, 2004) The Three Gorges dam is partly to blame for dangerously low water levels in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River that have caused dozens of ships to run aground, official Chinese media reports say.


