(June 11, 2011) Peter Lee takes a poignant and pithy look at the sordid history of the Three Gorges dam. From its questionable inception to the recent drought, Lee examines the government’s methodologies in dealing with critics and problems which come under fire as the Three Gorges faces its toughest challenges to date.
Gagging to be free
(October 21, 2010) Speaking to The Economist, Probe International fellow Dai Qing says liberal change is coming to China’s press.
Introduction to Xie Chaoping’s book, “The Great Relocation”
(October 15, 2010) Probe International has translated the introduction by Long Pingchuan, a Chinese writer, to Xie Chaoping’s controversial book, “The Great Relocation,” which details the struggles of migrants relocated to make way for the Sanmenxia dam.
Dai Qing: People’s power
(October 14, 2010) Dai Qing, one of China’s foremost writers, recently wrote in Radio Free Asia about a dinner held in honour of Xie Chaoping, the author of “The Great Relocation” who was detained in August at his Beijing home on charges of “illegal activities” and held until September 17 in a Shaanxi Province jail.
The great relocation that failed
(October 13, 2010) Peter Lee, writing for Asia Times Online, provides a comprehensive look at the decades-long struggle of the Sanmenxia dam migrants and Xie Chaoping’s determination to bring the details of this struggle to the public.
How Chinese science lost its backbone
(September 23, 2010) This China Media Project piece discusses the political and commercial interests skewing Chinese science today – and the lack of scientists like Huang Wanli with the backbone to say no to foolish mega-projects.
Huang Wanli’s predictions for the Three Gorges come to pass
(June 12, 2010) Huang Wanli, renowned hydraulics engineer and Tsinghua University lecturer, first voiced his opposition to the large-scale damming of rivers by opposing the construction of the Sanmenxia dam in 1957. In the 1980s he became a vocal opponent of the Three Gorges project and contributed to Yangtze! Yangtze!, the important critique of the dam compiled by China’s celebrated investigative journalist, Dai Qing. Now, as the Three Gorges dam is beset by monumental operational problems, Huang Wanli’s prescient analysis helps explain why it was a mistake to build the biggest dam in the world. Read his 1993 interview with Dai Qing.
