Probe International

(May 6, 2002) The Three Gorges Project Corp. is to begin building the Xiluodu dam later this month.

(May 5, 2002) ‘China’s power shortages have eased over the last year, but experts say they are baffled by official claims that the country has started to produce more electricity and coal than it needs.’

(May 5, 2002) ‘By agreeing to help build a large dam in military-ruled Myanmar, Thailand’s state-run power utility has laid the groundwork for a potential water war in an area already troubled by ethnic conflict and human-rights abuses.’

(May 2, 2002) Of all China’s problems, none will be more critical over the long run than how it resolves the tension between economic development and environmental protection. Nowhere are the consequences of this struggle clearer than in the Himalayan foothills of Yunnan Province.

(May 1, 2002) One observer says the growing protests in China are a result of rising economic inequality and a lack of political rights. ‘Because of the lack of protection of their rights, farmers are more willing to resort to desperate means,’ she says.

(May 1, 2002) Villagers displaced eight yeas ago for the Xiaolangdi dam on the Yellow River are suing local officials over compensation they have yet to receive.

(March 21, 2001) A family of farmers from the Three Gorges region ekes out a living in the garbage business in Shanghai.

(March 19, 2001) A CPPCC member urges an open feasibility study, including public consultations, on the plan to dam one of the most magnificent canyons on earth.

(March 13, 2001) Hong Kong newspaper Wen Wei Po again reports that four of the planned 13 dams on the Nu River are likely to be developed first.

(April 28, 2002) A toxic spill in Guangdong province is threatening water supplies to millions of people, state media have said.

(April 24, 2002) The director of the statistics department of the China Electricity Regulatory Commission recently submitted a report to the State Council saying that China’s attempt to reform the power industry has basically failed.

(April 22, 2002) Construction began Monday (Dec. 26) on the Xiluodu project on the Jinsha River (upper Yangtze).

(April 17, 2002) The chief of the National Audit Office, Li Jinhua, has become a folk hero in China, where his reports on government finances have drawn attention to massive abuses. In 2006, his inspectors will turn their atention to the Three Gorges dam.

(February 28, 2001) After the Kunming-based NGO Green Watershed helped lead a fight to halt construction of the Nu River dams, it lost its operating licence and its founder, Yu Xiaogang, had his personal freedom restricted.