My Thoughts on Up The Yangtze

June 11, 2011 Zhang Yang (Allen) 4421293

If you have any time to look at the big news of China, you must not be ignored the severe drought of some provinces in Southwest China, which is a big calamity for people there. At this time, we turn to Three Gorges Dam for help. According to the report from Beijing daily, in order to decrease the drought, the government decided to release nearly four fifths of the adjustment to alleviate the drought situation. However, Three Gorges Dam seems have no use, which makes most of Chinese angry with such big money-costing program.

When I saw the news about There Gorges Dam, I remembered a film named Up the Yangtze. Actually, first heard of Up the Yangtze was in 2008, but till last month I have the chance to watch it. Up the Yangtze is a film which is rich in detail about ways of life, dreams, and aspirations. It provides a great view into the reality of Chinese life. Because the public media is controlled by government, the films like this are seldom usually to be released in mainland China. After watching the film, I realize that poverty will keep you away form education, even secondary school. This film impressed me most.

Yu Shui (Cindy) is the focus of the film. Yu Shui is a girl from a poor peasant family living on the banks of the Yangtze. She left her family to work on one of the cruise ships serving wealthy western tourists, at the same time her family was being forced from their home due to the flooding that accompanied the building of the Three Gorges Dam. Actually, millions of girls have the similar fate like her in China. They say goodbye to their education and families and turn to face the future. Although there are just teenagers, they have to look for a job to support not only themselves but their families as well. In China, whether the teenagers of poor families could continue to study is not depend on kinds, but parents. Therefore, these kind of life/fate decisions are not by teenagers themselves, these are decisions made by the family.

Yu Shui says that her country needs educated workers, so she wants to continue her education by attending high school, but her family cannot afford to send her. I know it is the fact that some students have to give up higher education such as college and university education for lacking of money. According to Zhou (2010), in the Three Gorges Reservoir region ‘national minority villages’, for the investment to compulsory education is not insufficiency, the scale is small and the system not perfectly, the education fair of region is unbalanced, and its development power is insufficient. I always think primary and secondary school education have nothing to do with the money, for the tuition is so cheap and all the teenagers in China have the same chance to accept the public education. However, it seems not the truth.

On the positive side, the three gorges dam is projected to create new economic opportunities that will help people escape from poverty. However, it was a fact that more than 1 million people who lived in the area flooded by the dam have been displaced and the government has made substantial attempts at resettlement, but there have been complaints of inadequate housing, unfair compensation for lost property, lack of economic opportunity for farmers resettled in urban areas and vulnerable pockets of poor people who have been left to fend for themselves. Displaced twice by the building of the three gorges dam, the family struggles to make a living.

Zhan (2007) pointed that the basic education was too weak and the whole development of education was really slow in three gorges area. As a teenager in poor families, how you wish to go to school when living is a problem. Here, I have a better understanding of what the antique store owner saying, “it is hard being a human being, but being a commoner in China is even more difficult. China is too hard for common people.” When secondary education of children is becoming a dream, I can not image how hard the life of a rural poor family is.

I searched internet and knew more information about Yu Shui. As the leading actress, I am sure her fate must be changed after performed this film. Just as my expectation, the report said she made her decision to return to high school after watching the film. No one knows the future she will have, but till now the change is positive. As feeling happy for her, I still can not help worried about the other teenagers’ fate. Hope all teenagers form poor families in China would be given chances to accept education.

References

Zhou, Y. J. (2010). Thoughts on the problems of rural compulsory education of national minority in three gorges reservoir region. Journal of Panzhihua University, 27(5), 112-118

Zhan, P. M. & Wang, W. B. (2007). Research on the development and countermeasure of the three gorges reservoir district e ducation. Journal of Chongqing Three Gorges University, 5(23), 1-8