The movie has surprisingly heartbreaking scenes; it’s a wonder that the participants didn’t ask the director to shut off the camera.
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Please visit www.uptheyangtze.com for information about helping Cindy Yu Shui and her family. Donations have already paid for some of her education expenses as well as an operation on one of her father´s eyes.
For several years now, everyone has been talking and writing about China´s economic rise, culminating in the 2008 Summer Olympics. There have been complex feelings, including awe, joy, anger, fear, and sorrow. Western leaders and democracy activists hope that capitalism will foster an environment of political freedom, but they don´t understand a fundamental issue--if the Chinese people continue to be prosperous, continue to buy fancy material goods, and continue to be fed, then there will be no agitation. Agitation comes from being poor, being unable to buy nice things while robber barons flaunt their wealth, and being hungry.
There is civil unrest in China, of course, but these incidents tend to occur inland, away from the swank cities on the eastern seaboard. The violent uprisings in Tibet and the earthquakes in Sichuan Province are two dramatic examples of such unrest, but they were noticed mainly because there was violence and death. Not meaning to sound callous, but to be honest, the dead are sometimes the lucky. The living have to deal with the problems.
Consider the plight of the millions who live along the Yangtze River (also known as the Chang Jiang, or Long River). Decades ago, Mao Zedong dreamt of building a huge dam across the Three Gorges in order to harness the river´s power for electricity. As China´s huge infrastructures projects continue, topographical and geographical maps have to be re-drawn on a weekly basis. For example, coastal cities such as Shanghai are literally sinking into the ocean, much like Venice in Europe. With the Three Gorges Dam, up-stream valleys are being flooded to the extent that villages and towns--even cities--are submerged.
Director Yung Chang took his camera to the Yangtze River for Up the Yangtze, capturing footage taken during cruises up and down the waterway as well as documenting the lives of many people affected by the flooding. Chang shows villagers fighting with each other and against government officials in order to receive just compensation for being evicted. There are cruise-liner executives showing genuine interest in the well-being of young employees who are hired to work as cooks, washers, servers, bartenders, and greeters. A young man named Jerry initially excels because of his good command of English and his outgoing nature, though his final fate stuns even him.
The documentary spends the most time focusing on the Yu family, which is comprised of a father, a mother, Cindy Yu Shui (the eldest child), another daughter, and a son. The parents are illiterate and make do by growing vegetables right next to the river. Cindy wants to attend high school, but her family is too poor to afford the tuition. Therefore, her parents make her go to work on one of the cruise ships.
The movie has surprisingly heartbreaking scenes; it´s a wonder that the participants didn´t ask the director to shut off the camera. For example, the night before Cindy leaves home, she asks her mother to go with her. Her parents are trying to be stoic, so they tell her that she´s a big girl who knows her way into town. However, tears stream down Cindy´s face. Everyone is too embarrassed to admit just how much they love each other and how much it hurts to have the family torn apart so early in Cindy´s life.
As Cindy begins working as a dishwasher, she frequently cries on the job. She is fortunate to meet co-workers who help her with her tasks and find ways of making her smile. Little by little, Cindy manages to emerge from her shyness and learn about life beyond a shack by the river.
As the dam causes flooding, the Mr. and Mrs. Yu slowly carry their belongings up steep hills to a new home, where they will have to pay for everything (food and water used to be free when they were by the river). This includes Mr. Yu carrying a dresser on his back, by himself, for quite a distance. Mrs. Yu is able to carry a huge urn pot, but they have to make several trips while enduring stares by onlookers. One clueless guy talks about how powerful China is since the country is able to stop even the Yangtze River from flowing.
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[release]25049[/release]