Resettlement Problems of the Three Gorges Darn: Resettlement Problems of the Three Gorges Darn: A Field Report by Wu Ming I. Introduction Construction is now under way on the world’s largest hydroelectric dam, at the Three Gorges at the middle reaches of the Yangtze River. If all proceeds on schedule. in the year 2003, water will fill its huge reservoir at a level of 135 meters above sea level to allow the first group of electrical generators to begin operation. The entire project is to be completed in 2009. To make way for this ambitious project, the Chinese government says 1 .2 million people will he relocated. Critics of the darn, however, predict that the total number of resettlers will actually be much higher: between 1 .6 million and 1.9 million. About half of these will be urban residents and the other half are rural residents who will need either new farmland or urban jobs to restart their lives. Although a relatively small number of people have been relocated since ground was broken on the dam in 1994, serious problems have already emerged. Official statements give the impression that resettlement is proceeding smoothly, but in reality it has been plagued by mismanagement, official corruption, inadequate compensation, and a shortage of farmland and lack of jobs for the resettlers. Resentment and foot-dragging opposition to resettlement is widespread. presaging a major crisis if the dam project continues as planned. My report on these problems is based on interviews conducted during January 1998 in five of the 22 counties that will be partially flooded by the darn. The people 1 interviewed included workers, farmers, small-business owners, and local officials in Yunyang, Fengjie, and Wushan counties in Sichuan Province and in Badong and Zlgui counties in Hubei Province, from which a total of 420.000 people arc scheduled to be relocated. II. Routine Falsification of Figures one fundamental problem in assessing the Three Gorges resettlement program is that the official figures appear to be false, and the success stories fabricated. For example, four Sichuan journalists who are assigned to report full-time on the progress of resettlement told me that county officials in Sichuan and Hubei claimed at a conference in .January that 200,000 people had already been resettled. If accurate, that number would mean that resettlement was ahead of schedule. But the journalists explained the 200,000 figure was an file:///A|/yangstze.htm (1 of 14) [10/15/2001 3:30:50 PM] Resettlement Problems of the Three Gorges Darn: exaggeration by local officials wishing to impress their superiors. One journalist said that he had traveled extensively in the Three Gorges area, and that the actual figures were generally no more than half the official ones. Even senior officials at the Three Gorges Project Resettlement Bureau, he said, do not believe that 200,000 people have been resettled. Several days after our conversation, a report appeared on the front page of Wanxian Daily in which Qi Fin, the head of the Three Gorges Project Resettlement Bureau, was quoted as saying that only 100,000 people had been resettled so far. The report did not say whether these people had been properly resettled according to the governments own definition, namely that they must he found a new home, new livelihood and compensation for their losses. Interviews in Yunyang County demonstrated why it is difficult for even the head of the Three Gorges Resettlement Bureau to get hold of reliable information. Yunyang has 120.000 people slated for relocation. In early January, the Yunyang Counly government opened an exhibition on resettlement. A chart at the exhibition listed three categories of resettlers. First, 5,940 people were identified as "productively resettled" (shengchan anzhi). meaning that they had either new farmland or new factory jobs. Second. 2,610 people were said to be "residentially resettled" (xhenghuo anzhi). meaning a place had been found for them to re-establish their homes. And third. 187 people were classified as "account-closed resettlers" (xiaohao Yemen). meaning they had received their share of the compensation and moving expenses and the authorities had no further responsibility towards them. All these figures are problematic, if not completely false, according to a Yunyang official. In a private conversation, this official pointed out that the actual figure for the "productively resettled" people (those who had been given new land or industrial jobs) was at most 3,000. At this early stage of the resettlement program, he explained, the people the county government was tiying to relocate were mostly farmers, hut only 2.000 of the 24,367 mu of farmland that has reportedly been prepared for resettlers was usable He said the rest of the newly opened land was described by local farmers as "looking like ditches from a distance and like pigsties at close." As for the "account-closed resettlers," this actually referred to an unfortunate group ot farmers who had been persuaded to move to the island province of Hainan under a deal that was struck by Yunyang county and Hainan officials. They returned to Yunyang six months later, complaining that they had been cheated. One of these farmers said in an interview that he and his fellow villagers had been promised a good life in 1-Iainan but found the resettlement site uninhabitable. Now they have exhausted the moving expenses they had received from the government to travel to and then leave Hainan, and are not eligible for any further compensation. They have returned to their old homes, but will still have to move when the water rises. Like the uselessness file:///A|/yangstze.htm (2 of 14) [10/15/2001 3:30:50 PM] Resettlement Problems of the Three Gorges Darn: of the farmland in Yunyang, the resettlement officials have covered up the failure of this scheme to move farmers to Hainan. There are people who have been appropriately resettled in the Three Gorges area, with fine new homes, jobs and compensation. In l3adong and Zigui counties in Hubei Province, I met six rural families who were enjoying a comfortable life after resettlement. They had even opened small shops in the new county seats. These families explained, however, that they were prospering largely because they had been designated as "model resettler" yimin dianxin), which means that they had received preferential treatment. These families were showcased by local officials as success stories both to persuade other farmers to relocate and to impress senior inspectors. But creating such "model" households is expensive: Each one has cost about four times the average amount available for the relocation of a household. And since the central government insists that the total sum for resettlement is fixed, there is a question as to how much money will be available for those resettled later. The extent to which some local officials have gone to fabricate a favorable image for the resettlement program was demonstrated last fall when Premier Ii Peng visited a township where residents were about to he resettled. However, these residents were angry about the meager compensation they had been offered and had organized petition drives demanding more money. So the police and local officials barred them from attending the meeting, according to a county official who handled their petitions. Another group of people, who were not faced with resettlement, were brought in to pose as resettlers and to listen to Li Peng’s speech. Local officials cannot take all the blame for such deceptions. The central authorities have made the Three Gorges Dam project a priority political task, in which failure is simply not permitted. There are three elements to this: First, the project is said to be fully supported by the people in the affected area who supposedly view it as an all-out campaign to alleviate poverty, an epic effort against often-lethal floods and a major contribution to China’s overall development. Second. the project is hailed as a monument built by the second- generation leadership of the Chinese Communist Party ((2(P) to the memory of Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai and Deng Xiaoping. They are said to have given their unreserved blessing to building "a high lake within the gorges," as Mao wrote in one of his poems. Third, the project is presented as a matter of national pride, an opportunity to show the world what the new China is able to achieve. Showing enthusiasm for the project is, therefore, a matter of demonstrating loyalty to the central authorities, to dead revolutionaries and to the Chinese people. Thus criticizing the project openly would he a dangerous political mistake. All local officials know that their careers depend on saying what the center wants to hear. Hence it is hardly surprising that file:///A|/yangstze.htm (3 of 14) [10/15/2001 3:30:50 PM] Resettlement Problems of the Three Gorges Darn: many local officials have kept any reservations about the project to themselves, while the less upright among them try to advance their careers by participating in deceit. The political importance of the project combined with strict controls over the reporting of sensitive, critical or negative information in the media generally mean that problems relating to resettlement arc rarely exposed, even in local media outlets covering areas directly affected by the project. Journalists are aware that raising serious questions about the progress of relocation, let alone its very feasibility, could ruin their careers. The tone and substance of their reporting are, therefore, mostly set by the position which local officials consider appropriate. In terms of day-to-day coverage in the Three Gorges area, media reports in Sichuan Province expose somewhat more of the problems than do those in Hubei Province.