History shows that cities, towns and settlements sprout close to rivers.  So, it is timely for a documentary to be made on how the damming the third largest river in the world, the Yangtze in China affects the people living close.  The problem arises from what is called the Three Gorges Dam project, the dream child of ex-Chairman Mao.  In the Canadian documentary, UP THE YANGTZE, director Yung Chang (EARTH TO MOUTH) chooses one such peasant family with the young daughter, Yu Shui as his protagonist to illustrate the confrontation between progress and nature.  Her family’s future is uncertain once flooding occurs from the dam.  Farmland and house will be lost.  She is sent to work on a cruise boat that travels the Yangtze before the areas around are no more.

Chang’s film illustrates the hardships of the Chinese people as seen by the events associated with the Yangtze.  A major part of the film is set on board one of the boats of the Victoria Cruise Line.  As Yu Shui speaks her mind and works, the audience is drawn into the solitary world of survival of the poor.  In the mean time, Chang injects a subplot involving Yu’s co-worker, a hot-headed Chen Bo Yu from a wealthier middle class family. Funniest scene is him crooning, flat, to the tourists on the cruise ship.

What is intriguing is the compensation given by the government to relocaters.  Chang shoots a segment of an argument between officials and relocated villagers.  One interviewed subject complains of corrupt government officials and another of unfair payment.  The film is also scored with an old song sung by Yung’s grandfather that symbolizes an era past.

One would wish for an ideal solution to all the problems.  But Yung’s film offers none or even a hint of his insight.  UP THE YANGTZE is an earnest no-nonsense documentary with the intent just to inform and educate and not to preach.  Chang never over dramatizes - though he includes scenes of two if his subjects crying – or trivializes the troubles resulting from the relocation of the villages.  It achieves its purpose allowing the audience to draw their own conclusions on what is happening in China.  UP THE YANGTZE won the best Canadian documentary at the Vancouver International Film Festival.