The Yangtze rising

BY PAUL RUSH

Paul Rush cruises the Dragon Gate Gorge tributary of the Yangtze River in China.

Our petite Chinese guide, Sarah, is positively gushing as she describes how the mighty Yangtze River will rise rapidly behind the Three Gorges Dam, the world's largest hydro-electric power project.

"This is the Bye Bye Bridge. When the water level reaches the bridge two weeks from now on September 30 the bridge will be tearing down," she says.

Our group of eight intrepid travellers from Auckland, Melbourne and London are utterly incredulous, looking first at the massive bridge 50 metres above our heads and then back at Sarah.

I offer a tentative, "Do you mean September next year?" Sarah gives me a puzzled look and insists that the replacement bridge will be ready and Bye Bye will surely come down.

I have to conclude that something has been lost in translation. Perhaps Sarah's original briefing may have specified the September target and things have changed. When we cruise under the new Dragon Gate Bridge, a steel span is being raised into position and completion is many months away.

We joined our Lesser Gorges cruise on the floating piers of new Wushan city at the confluence of the Daning and Yangtze rivers.

Sarah shows us photos of the old town and adjacent farm allotments (all land in China is owned by the government) which are now flooded by the rising 600 kilometre-long lake.

Later I resolve the riddle of the Bye Bye Bridge when I Iearn that the water level will fluctuate greatly over time, especially after heavy spring thaws in the Tibetan mountains at the Yangtze's source. The ultimate water level won't be reached for at least another year.

As we penetrate the Dragon Gate Gorge, the cliff faces rise sheer towards the sky. Precipitous pathways hewn out of the cliffs provide access to the highlands where subsistence farmers scrape a living.

The people of Sleeping Lady Ridge have lived here for many generations, and some are more than 100 years old. The people still carry their produce to the river to be ferried by water taxi to Wushan markets, as they have done for centuries.

We are intrigued by large, square fishing nets suspended on poles over the river margins. These are lowered into the water at night under the glare of a powerful spotlight to attract fish.

There are grass fish, carp, whitebait and salamander here and oysters are farmed on wooden racks. Farmers grow sesame, potatoes, peanuts and corn. In the mountains and fertile flats, goats, rabbits, deer, pigs and monkeys are hunted.

The region of the Daning River was called the Ba Kingdom 2,000 years ago. Among the strange customs was the interment of deceased Ba nobles in wooden coffins formed from a hollow tree trunk.

The coffins were suspended in cliff crevices and some are still perched high in inaccessible, narrow clefts. Sarah points out crevices where coffins were found in recent years and transferred to museums.

As we pass through the Misty and Emerald Gorges, sampans, made of bamboo logs with thatched bamboo shelters glide silently past. Rhesus monkeys swing to and fro in the lush bamboo forest and laze on the shoreline rocks. Wispy waterfalls cascade down from the mountains.

The town of Dachang lies around the final bend. Once a prosperous trading centre in the Ming Dynasty (1400 to 1700AD), the old town is slowly being engulfed by the rising waters and will soon be only a memory.

Some of the 500-year-old houses have been moved to higher ground. The farming residents are determined not to lose the rich alluvial soil deposited by countless seasonal floods and they struggle under the weight of baskets of soil they are carrying to new high terraces.

In the high country above Dachang the Tujia indigenous minority people have an interesting custom. A young man stages a kidnapping of his chosen girl and elopes, but not too far away.

The girl makes a show of crying to demonstrate her loyalty to her parents. If her crying is very convincing, the family grants permission to marry her abductor.

It's a good system, but I have lingering doubts about what would happen if the crying is genuine and she can't stand the guy.

There are less savoury legends about man-eating trees that reach out their mangrove-like branches and grab passersby. Then there's the fabled ye ren, a three-metre-tall yeti-like primate with reddish fur that is occasionally sighted in the remote mountains.

More than 1.3 million people have been moved to make way for the Three Gorges Dam reservoir. Young people are generally happy as they acquire modern apartments on low-interest loans and receive modest compensation payouts for their old accommodation.

Sarah's old apartment was just two rooms with no bathroom ore kitchen and a shared toilet. Her new 130 square metre apartment has three bedrooms, two bathrooms and a kitchen.

The new Wushan city where she lives has taken over the land of four farming villages, causing some hardship to the tenant farmers who have known no other lifestyle.

They are offered apartments in high-rise blocks, which are anathema to people who have always lived and worked in open fields.

Sarah tells us that city folk can make a good living in Wushan and foreigners are welcome. "Maybe you will make a good neighbour for me."

She explains that apartments with two bathrooms usually have a Western toilet, which is favoured by children and older people, as well as a Chinese hole-in-the-floor toilet.

Andre, a male guide on this cruise, explains that his new 100 square metre Wushan apartment has three bedrooms, a sitting room, kitchen and bathroom. He shares it with his wife and 10-year-old daughter.

The government paid compensation for his old 40 square metre apartment, which he has used as a deposit on the new one.

Andre works for a travel agency, which built its own office premises with two adjacent staff apartments. He was fortunate to get one of these for 38000 yuan (NZ$9,634).

Decorating and furnishing costs are a heavy financial burden for young people and Andre was forced to borrow a further 30,000 yuan from the local construction bank at 4.3 percent interest. He will need to pay it back at 320 yuan a month over 10 years. The average monthly salary for office and tourism workers is about 1500 yuan.

Andre is confident he will meet his commitments and own the apartment in 10 years' time. "Our living conditions have been greatly improved," he says.

"If the Three Gorges Dam relocation had not occurred it would have taken me 30 years to achieve the goal of a freehold home."

Andre explains that the government's one-child policy does help couples to save money to pay off home loans.

Farmers, who are generally poorer folk, have a different policy. If farmers have a girl as a first child, after five years they can have another child. In all cases, if a person from a one-child family marries someone from another one-child family, they can have two children.

Our group disembarks from the Lesser Gorge cruise in a contemplative mood, still absorbing the impact of the massive dam project on the lives of the Yangtze valley people.

Paul Rush was hosted by Adventure World, in association with TravelIndo China and Cathay Pacific.

GETTING THERE: Cathay Pacific has regular flights from Auckland to Beijing and Shanghai.

TOURING CHINA: Travel Indochina has small-group tours throughout China. Bookings can be made with Adventure World in New Zealand.

WEBSITES: www.cathay pacific.co.nz www.adventure world.co.nz www.travel indochina.com

- The Marlborough Express