Up the Yangtze : A Moving Documentary Film by Yung Chang
Canadian filmmaker Yung Chang displays a remarkable sense of cinematic storytelling in his first feature-length documentary, Up the Yangtze, in which the contested Three Gorges Dam forms an unsettling backdrop to a richly detailed narrative of life inside contemporary China.
A luxury cruise boat motors up the Yangtze – navigating the mythic waterway known in China simply as “The River.” The Yangtze is about to be transformed by the biggest hydroelectric dam in history.
At the river’s edge – a young woman says goodbye to her family as the floodwaters rise towards their small homestead. The Three Gorges Dam – contested symbol of the Chinese economic miracle – provides the epic backdrop for Up the Yangtze, a dramatic feature documentary on life inside modern China.
Stunningly photographed and beautifully composed, Up the Yangtze juxtaposes the poignant and sharply observed details of Yu Shui’s story against the monumental and ominous forces at work all around her.
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