(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.
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:…”
Bright Sun City’s Dark Intent
(January 1, 2010) The third in a series of oral histories from China’s Three Gorges region. Banned and famed Chinese environmentalist and journalist Dai Qing has 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.
Lost Lives: The Plight of the Migrants
(January 1, 2010) The fourth in a series of oral histories from China’s Three Gorges region, Banned and famed Chinese environmentalist and journalist Dai Qing has 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.
The Wushan Governor’s Murder
(January 1, 2010) Second in a series of the Three Gorges oral histories from the riverside towns and villages affected by the Three Gorges dam on China’s Yangtze. River. — A county governor accused of spending thousands ear-marked for Three Gorges resettlement on lavish feasts and women is murdered in cold blood. …
The Yangtze River Tow Men
(January 1, 2010) “The Yangtze River Tow Men” is the fifth in a series of oral histories from China’s Three Gorges region. — “When I was 10, I followed my dad into life on the boats. When I worked the boats then, we used to see a lot of cedar boats, really huge ones. It was only later that a few little steam ships appeared on the river. Older people used to say, “You can become a scholar after 10 years of study, but it’s nearly impossible to become a river man.” I remembered this my whole life—to try and be a true river man.”
The relationship between large reservoirs and seismicity
(January 2010) Following the 12 May 2008 Wenchuan earthquake in China, Chen Houqun, Xu Zeping and Li Ming discuss the question of whether large reservoirs can trigger strong earthquakes.
China auditor finds US$34 billion misused funds
(December 30, 2009) China’s auditor has found that 234.7 billion yuan (US$34.37bil) in public funds was misused in the first 11 months of 2009, with much of that tied to China’s massive stimulus package, the Caijing magazine said on Monday.
Liu Xiaobo, Chinese democracy advocate sentenced to 11 years
(December 30, 2009) On December 25, a Chinese court sentenced that country’s most prominent democracy advocate, Liu Xiaobo, to 11 years in prison. Now the 54-year old literary scholar is being likened to Vaclav Havel, Nelson Mandela, and Burma’s Aung San Suu Kyi.
UMass Amherst Environmental Scientist Monitors Water Quality, Helps World Communities Threatened by Giant Hydro Projects
(December 29, 2009) Guy Lanza, director of UMass Amherst’s Environmental Science Program, says the hydro electric industry has mounted a public relations offensive to promote itself as green, and powerful institutions like the World Bank are buying it, but the reality is these projects are just the opposite of green and can cause severe, long-lasting damage. “I have real reservations about promoting hydropower as green power when in most cases it’s not,” he says.
China redirects trillions of gallons of water to arid north
(December 25, 2009) The villagers of Machuan, whose houses were bulldozed in August this year, were just the first of more than 330,000 Chinese peasants who will have to be delivered to new homes before the South-North Water Project is complete. At £37bn the project will cost more than twice as much as the Three Gorges Dam, delivering nearly 12 trillion gallons of water along three networks of tunnels and canals that will branch out into northern, eastern and central China.
Black day for Burma’s Irrawaddy: junta ministers host Myitsone dam “celebration”
(December 22, 2009) Hundreds of local villagers were forced to greet the Minister of Electric Power and Minister of Energy today at an official “celebration” ceremony to launch the construction of China’s Myitsone dam, which will block the Irrawaddy River for the first time and impact millions living along Burma’s main waterway.
China’s green energy goes to waste in distribution bottleneck
(December 23, 2009) Green electricity from north China’s growing wind power generators is being wasted because the country’s power grid cannot absorb it, power experts said.
Trial today, prison tomorrow: China’s rites of Christmas (Update 1)
(December 23, 2009) Today, China tried that country’s most prominent dissident, Liu Xiaobo. Tomorrow, Christmas Eve, it will sentence him. He is expected to get 15 years for “inciting subversion of state power” for co-authoring “Charter 08” — a petition signed by some 10,000 fellow citizens calling for democratic reforms and the rule of law.
More Three Gorges migrants returning home
(December 18, 2009) Migrants displaced by the construction of the Three Gorges dam are returning to their hometowns after they struggled to make a living in their new homes, says a recent report in Shanghai Daily. According to the report, almost 200,000 residents from the Hubei Province and Chongqing Municipality were forced to move last year after the Three Gorges reservoir submerged 20 districts or counties.
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