Up the Yangtze I watched a movie documentary recently called Up the Yangtze. It was an over the shoulder view of a few different Chinese people, and how the rising of the Yangtze River as part of the Three Gorges Dam project is affecting their lives, and the lives of their family. First and foremost, I am unsure whether these were real events and real people, or whether the documentary was based on the stories of these people. At times it felt set up and scripted, but having lived and worked in China, I also recognised that what was happening on screen was also very true to life. The main focus was on two people - a young arrogant male from a middle-class family, who had learned how to 'play' the foreign guests upon the cruise ship in which he worked - earning himself large money tips and gradually becoming more and more obnoxious. The other was following a young girl, whose family was suffering absolute poverty. This family lived in a tiny shack made of rubbish and was located along a grassy strip, right beside the Yangtze. These people had nothing, grew their own food and had to make do as best as possible. As the river slowly rose, it gradually and completely swallowed their home, forcing them to find work elsewhere. The young girl had started to work on the cruise ship, which took loads of foreign tourists up and down the Yangtze, and to the Three Gorges dam itself. Her parents could not afford to send her to school so she had to instead work. As with most documentaries on China, I found it really sad and depressing, yet extremely interesting too. It's impossible not to feel sympathy for these people. When I was in China, I saw so much of this. Extreme wealth and extreme poverty. My heart always went out to those poor people. I would see elderly women, bent over carrying huge bundles of items they had recycled, or going through bins, salvaging the bottles. Watching this documentary made me really badly want to return to China. I miss it so much. It is such an interesting place.