Up In The Yangtze Analysis
* Leslie L.
* Film Log * * Up in the Yangtze * * The building of The Three Gorges Dam along the Yangtze River has brought negative impacts and problems to the nearby residences that have been occupying the areas for generations. The documentary, Up In the Yangtze, reveals the life of one particular family that was extremely affected by the dam project. The population that is most negatively affected by the Three Gorges Dam is the residents and cities that have resided by the Yangtze River for a very long time. Like the protagonist, Cindy, and her family, many of them are peasant families living below the poverty line, uneducated, and use the river to farm. The dam has caused water level to increase in the Yangtze and …show more content…
Instead, they are introduced to a lavish lifestyle on the ship and are given a tour that reveals the new spacious apartments and told by tour guides that many of the relocates are compensated with better living arrangements and are happy. Foreigners are exposed to a lie because families are suffering and are angry while the government is the one that is truly economically benefits from the project. The impacts from the development of the dam are merely visible to the outside …show more content…
However, compensations were either never given as promised or had fell into the hands of corrupt local officials and the families end up receiving nothing. Many of these families are the ones that are in most needs and cannot afford to lose their home, and jobs. Cindy’s family old farm was only enough to provide her family with vegetables; this shows how her family really struggles in their day-to-day life to survive and feed a family. In response to the influx of changes, Cindy was unable to fulfill her dreams of pursuing a higher education and was forced by her parents to work because neither of her parents is skilled and literate. This reveals that as the rest of the nation progresses, families and young adults like Cindy are left behind, making barely enough to survive with minimal education. If the government were focused on helping impoverished families develop and progress rather than the development of the countries capitalist economy, there would be a more balanced population between the rich and poor, educated and
* Film Log * * Up in the Yangtze * * The building of The Three Gorges Dam along the Yangtze River has brought negative impacts and problems to the nearby residences that have been occupying the areas for generations. The documentary, Up In the Yangtze, reveals the life of one particular family that was extremely affected by the dam project. The population that is most negatively affected by the Three Gorges Dam is the residents and cities that have resided by the Yangtze River for a very long time. Like the protagonist, Cindy, and her family, many of them are peasant families living below the poverty line, uneducated, and use the river to farm. The dam has caused water level to increase in the Yangtze and …show more content…
Instead, they are introduced to a lavish lifestyle on the ship and are given a tour that reveals the new spacious apartments and told by tour guides that many of the relocates are compensated with better living arrangements and are happy. Foreigners are exposed to a lie because families are suffering and are angry while the government is the one that is truly economically benefits from the project. The impacts from the development of the dam are merely visible to the outside …show more content…
However, compensations were either never given as promised or had fell into the hands of corrupt local officials and the families end up receiving nothing. Many of these families are the ones that are in most needs and cannot afford to lose their home, and jobs. Cindy’s family old farm was only enough to provide her family with vegetables; this shows how her family really struggles in their day-to-day life to survive and feed a family. In response to the influx of changes, Cindy was unable to fulfill her dreams of pursuing a higher education and was forced by her parents to work because neither of her parents is skilled and literate. This reveals that as the rest of the nation progresses, families and young adults like Cindy are left behind, making barely enough to survive with minimal education. If the government were focused on helping impoverished families develop and progress rather than the development of the countries capitalist economy, there would be a more balanced population between the rich and poor, educated and