China

Before the Flood II

By Ling Woo Liu | March 31, 2009 | +
Courtesy of the Hong Kong International Film Festival
Does This Mean War? — On Swampland, TIME's Mark Thompson explains the U.N. resolution on Libya and mulls the possibility of  war. From Grief to Anger — In a dispatch from Niigata, Hannah Beech tells the stories of those fleeing Japan's devastated northeast by train. Full coverage, here. Mighty Pricey — The United States is spending $1 trillion dollars to buy and operate a fleet of F-35s. (That's more than Australia's GDP! ) They're a symbol of "everything that's wrong with defense spending in America,"says Dominic Tierney. Getaway Cars — The China Car Times (yes, they're real) notes that the Toyota Hilux, the long-time favorite of guerilla warriors, is being surpassed by made-in-China pickups. The times, they are a-changing. 'Near Misses'— A report by the Union of Concerned Scientists details safety problems at 14 American nuclear power plants in 2010 alone. TIME's Eben Harrell dissects their findings. Appraising Petraeus — The LA Times gathers the most interesting responses to the general's testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee this week. Does That Fly? — A no-fly zone over Libya isn't necessary when Libya's neighbors have enough air-power — and the responsibility — to deal with the situation themselves, argues Leslie H. Gelb at the Daily Beast. David Scheffer says the measure was necessary to put Gaddafi "on a leash" and protect the populace. Buon Compleanno! — Italy turned 150 yesterday.  The Economist salutes the boot in video. No comment, yet, from the cast of the Jersey Shore.

Though I haven’t seen Li Yifan and Yan Yu’s first documentary Before the Flood (淹没), I just watched Before the Flood II at the Hong Kong International Film Festival. The last couple years have produced a fair amount of cinematic attention on the impact of the Three-Gorge Dam, with films like Jia Zhangke’s 2006 feature Still Life (三峡好人)and Canadian director Yung Chang’s 2007 documentary Up the Yangtze. But Yan Yu’s long-term commitment to the subject matter (he has spent the last six years working on these films) shines through in this latest effort to chronicle the human cost of a project that has forced 1.4 million people to relocate.

In this film, Yan profiles the residents of Gongtan, a 1700-year-old Chongqing village perched on the banks of a Yangtze River tributary. His intimate access to the villagers and their grassroots resistance is incredible (the fact that he’s from Chongqing didn’t hurt). In one scene, officials from the relocation committee have come to meet with the villagers. The officials struggle to get the crowd’s attention as a group unfurls a large red banner that reads, “The people of Gongtan stand together to protest relocation.” In another scene, villagers face off with construction workers who have descended on Gongtan, ready to tear down homes without anyone’s consent. With the determination reminiscent of the nail house owners, one man declares, “Why would I be scared of the government? We’re going to take this to the end.”

Yan’s cinematography, editing pace and style (no narration or long title cards) have combined to produce a sensitive portrait of a community that has drawn closer in the face of unprecedented change. When the fight is over, we see villagers moving their belongings without any assistance. Men walk on sloped mountain pathways with massive wooden armoires and full-size refrigerators strapped to their backs. Still, Yan remains optimistic: “There are legal ways of protesting now,” he told me after the screening. “Thirty years ago, something like this couldn’t have happened in China. The fact that there is dialogue now—that’s the biggest improvement.”

Related Topics: before the flood, documentary, Environment, jia zhangke, li yifan, movies, nail house, three gorge dam, yan yu, yangtze, China

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  • conscienceinchina

    Shocking news from China’s official International Radio:”Exposure: At Least 8 Million American were Starved to Death in 1930′s Great Famine(揭秘:1930年美国大饥荒至少饿死了800万人)”. And its reporter has been awarded “the best screenwriter prize” on Hong Kong International Film Festival

    http://news.sina.com.cn/w/2008-01-18/085513283355s.shtml

    See how this unprecedented lies be debunked:

    http://www.aboluowang.com/news/data/2009/0331/article_72790.html

  • johnsmith9876

    Another piece of evidence that the dirty CIA has infiltrated China.
    China should give people food on the table instead of rights and freedom. That is the Chinese way. It is democracy with Chinese characteristics. It is Chinese cultural heritage for millennia. It is an inseparable of China. Claiming anything otherwise is hurting the feeling of all Chinese, and should be denounced immediately, strongly, and seriously.

    http://tinyurl.com/c4ry3f

    This concludes my rant victoriously and successfully, like all meetings in China.

  • laohong

    johnsmith
    -”It is Chinese cultural heritage for millennia. It is an inseparable of China. Claiming anything otherwise is hurting the feeling of all Chinese”?
    You can hurt Chinese except your beloved pal conscienceinchina who already considers himself a Yank by defending USA as real patriot, even though a salivar dropping yank from midwest.
    Wish you both a best screw to each others in one pair of pants. oh, dont forget to teach him your National Anthem, lol!

  • avotius

    I have lived in Chongqing for the last 5 years and have made several trips to Gong Tan and took a lot of time to take pictures and talk to the people there. What I will remember though is the amazing natural landscape of the town next to this beautiful river in the mountains.

    I have a bunch of photos on flickr if anyone wants a peek http://www.flickr.com/photos/avotius/sets/72157616219679136/

  • johnsmith9876

    So laohong still don’t know anything other than name calling. It must be a Chinese.

  • laohong

    Johnsmith

    while the only things the talented Johnsmith knows are that Chinese are not allowed to go abroad and Japaness is now the number one owner of debt of swindler USA.

  • conscienceinchina

    John, so far the five-jiaos still can’t do anything except their dirty mouth.

    The communist called themselves “a ghost loafing in the air on Europe”, so the CCP is also spook, not human being, undoubtedly not Chinese! Therefore their flunkies are neither human beings nor Chinese. So you must target the “five-jiao-party(五毛党)” exactly, instead of Chinese people who are also victims, considering this gang has terribly damaged the reputation of Chinese by representing “all Chinese people” and pretending the “patriots”.

  • conscienceinchina

    Though Chinese people have much “inferior-root-quality(劣根性)” by now, apparently aggraded from the thousands-of-years’ feudal rules including current regime, I am still having confidence on them who will sooner get strong after getting rid of the autocracy, because Chinese are such a hard-working group who can suffer anything to survive. How can they overthrow the devil? A former CCP official JiaJia (贾甲), who has defected to US not long ago, tells us in his latest article “End Communist Tyranny, and Come True Democratic China”:

    http://forum.edoors.com/showthread.php?t=495217

  • laohong

    To conscienceinchina,

    While being hired by FLG sect leader Li Hongzhi and calling everybody on your long list wumao or five jiao, you’ve already proven to everybody that you are the only one here hired, by sticking to the blog 24*7 hours.
    Idiotic of you is when you still play a warrior, everybody are laughing at your naked and well-lubed azz, lol!

  • conscienceinchina

    The five jiao “laohong” ever said: “I was fighting for democracy some 30 years ago in China”. Now seems he has made a typing error. The right one must be “I was fighting democracy some 30 years ago in China”, hahahaha! Mr.(Ms.?)”laohong”, Now apparently you have been desperate to finish the task your master deputes you. Yet though you have emptied all your tricks, you still can’t do anything except showing up your dirty mouth once again.

    As for the “FLG” you mention, I will reply you once again with the same words that have ever been used to respond your praise:

    1. Don’t flatter me any more, please!

    Thank you for flattering me with “Falon Gong”. It’s my honour to have chance to be praised as a member of them. They have been fighting the dictator and the evil with peaceful ways for many years, and a large number of them have been detained, tortured, persecuted and butchered by your masters, but they are still persisting in doing that. I am verily unable to have enough condition and volition to become one of them, so, don’t apple-polish me once again, please!

    Comparing the five-jiaos who are the lowest-ranking animals just as you, they are saints!

    2. Is it a shame to be a “Falun Gong”, or a “five-jiao(五毛)”?

    Though I don’t know what the “Falun Gong” is believing in, and what they are practicing, there is still one key point I surely know, and also known by the world, that they are fighting the CCP, your master, with the whole they own, even their blood, organs(been harvested while they were still alive! ), and lives! So they are of course the enemy of the CCP, and of you. Therefore suppressing, torturing, persecuting and butchering them are the CCP’s working emphasis, logically attacking and vilifying them are you five-jiaos’ major tasks.

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