Up The Yangtze

Date: Oct. 5th
Time: 7:00 pm
Year: 2007
Country: Canada
Director: Yung Chang
Genre: Documentary
Runtime: 93 min.
Rating: PG-13
Language: English, Mandarin

 

A luxury cruise boat motors up the Yangtze, navigating the mythic waterway known in China simply as “The River.”  Upon completion, China’s Three Gorges Dam – the contested symbol of the Chinese economic miracle on the Yangtze River -- will be the largest hydroelectric power station in the world. Progress, though, comes at a price: the dam will displace more than a million residents and destroy numerous cultural and archaeological sites, upending a way of life. In this documentary, filmmaker Yung Chang sensitively examines the effects of this massive project on personal lives as he follows two young people, each one transformed by the construction. Up the Yangtze is a visually stunning meditation about the changes confronting modern China.