(May 3, 2009) By: Dai Qing – Strange and ridiculous things can happen in today’s China, and here is a good example. A purely academic work, a sociological study of the impacts on about 20,000 people of a small dam built 30 years ago in southwest China, was published in a modest print run of 7,000 copies as part of the Harvard-Yenching Institute monograph series and, within six months, was banned by the Chinese government.
The Story of the Dahe Dam
(May 3, 2009)
Many of the farmers uprooted for the Dahe dam, built 30 years ago on a Yangtze tributary in what is now Chongqing municipality, are being moved again for the Three Gorges project. "To learn more about what goes on behind the scenes in China, this book about the ruinous consequences of one small dam is an excellent place to start," Dai Qing writes in her introduction to the translation of this important work by sociologist Ying Xing. The original Chinese version of the book, published under the title Dahe yimin shangfangde gushi (A Tale of Migrants Displaced by the Dahe Dam), was banned in China in 2002, but is available on our Chinese site. The on-line publication and translation of this book have been made possible by the Open Society Institute.
Dissident At Large
(May 7, 2009) From Red Princess to Communist spy to death-row dissident, China’s Dai Qing has always gone her own way, enraging Communists and democrats alike. On a recent trip to Canada, China’s most famous iconoclast tells Kelly Patterson her story.
China’s secret death toll
(April 25, 2009) Nearly a year after the deadly earthquake, relatives and others who ask questions are harassed, spied upon and arrested.
Top fisheries scientist wants upper Yangtze dams scrapped
(April 24, 2009) One of China’s top fisheries scientists has warned that further dam construction on the upper Yangtze will drive the region’s rare fish to extinction. Professor Cao Wenxuan, a Sichuan native and senior researcher at the Wuhan-based Institute of Hydrobiology, says government officials ‘know only how to eat the fish and don’t bother about protecting them.’ He wants the government to scrap its plans for more dams and remove those dams already under construction on the upper Yangtze.
Earthquakes too mysterious to predict
(April 21, 2009) According to an article in the April 13th edition of The New York Times, the ability to determine in advance the location, timing or intensity of a seismic event is beyond the abilities of modern science. Though that hasn’t stopped scientists from trying.
China says planning more dams on troubled Yangtze
(April 21, 2009) China will build at least 20 more reservoirs or hydroelectric projects in the Yangtze river system by 2020, the government said Tuesday, despite growing concerns over dam construction there.
Three Gorges reservoir sees 166 geo-disasters since last September
(April 17, 2009) The rise and fall of the water level in the Three Gorges reservoir has triggered 166 geological hazards and forced 28,600 people to relocate in Chongqing Municipality since last September, local officials said.
28,000 more moved from China Three Gorges area
(April 17, 2009) Landslides and mudflows caused by rising and falling waters behind China’s gigantic Three Gorges Dam has forced the relocation of over 28,000 people since September, state press said Friday.
Three Gorges dam faces 14.5-billion-dollar cost overrun
(April 16, 2009) China’s Three Gorges Dam, due to be completed in November, is getting bigger every day on all fronts. While officially the government said it has spent 180 billion yuan (26.35 billion dollars) on building the 185-metre dam and a reservoir stretching more than 600 kilometres, local critics and foreign observers said the real figure could be more than twice that amount, and that’s just in the construction phase.
Three Gorges landslide threat worsens
(April 14, 2009) The threat of a massive landslide has prompted government authorities to issue an emergency warning to boat operators plying the Three Gorges reservoir, according to Chinese news sources.
FACTBOX: Hydro development along the upper Yangtze and tributaries
(April 6, 2009) A table showing dams with generating capacities along the upper Yangtze and tributaries
Geological risks and sediment problems with dam building in southwest China
(April 7, 2009) Scores of high dams and deep reservoirs newly-built or under construction in seismically-active southwestern China are “truly dangerous,” a leading geologist warns in this Science Times (Kexue shibao) article.
Chinese scientist forewarned of deadly Sichuan quake
(March 30, 2009) The popular online media community AlterNet has unearthed another expert to join the scientific battle of opinion over what exactly caused the M7.9 earthquake that killed 80,000 people in China’s Sichuan province last May.
Endnotes
Introduction
1. “Yao Yilin Says That for the Time Being China Will Not Consider Starting the Three Gorges Project Immediately,” Zhongguo Tongxun She, 23 January 1989.
2. Edward Goldsmith and Nicholas Hildyard, The Social and Environmental Effects of Large Dams, (San Francisco: Sierra Club Books, 1984), p. xi.
3. CIPM Yangtze Joint Venture (CYJV), Three Gorges Project Water Control Project Feasibility Study, Vol. 1, p. 16-12.
Probe International 