Tuesday, April 2, 2013

The Three Gorges Dam


The Three Gorges Dam is associated with a lot of controversy within China. The Dam brought about environmental change however, it came with the cost of its people. In the movie titled, Yangzte, an undercover Canadian camera crew went behind the scenes of the less common view of Chinese Life. The gap between the impoverished and wealthy in China is one that is far wider than that of the United States. The movie follows a young girl who lives on the Yangtze river and whose family is very poor. She wants to obtain a high school education but her parents cannot afford one; therefore, she is sent to work on the boat so that she can learn a skill and make money for her family. Even though she is not obtaining a higher education she is still learning a skill and most likely will end up better off through this family decision. In the movie one business man states while tears are dripping from his face, "It is so hard to be a normal person in China." The camera crew brought a farmer to view that dam and although he found it to be quite impressive he also said that it would not do him much good in the farming business. Upon constructing the dam, the Chinese government moved farmers and other agricultural workers from their homes into apartments they had built for them. This sounds like a great idea right? However, it proved not to be. This is due to the fact that one is placing farmers in an environment they are no longer used to and can no longer provide income for themselves by farming. Subsequently, uneducated farmers are forced to adapt at an unpractical rate in order to survive.

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